Olympic organisers on Friday thanked medical workers at a Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony overshadowed by the coronavirus, as athletes from across the world paraded into an almost empty stadium, for the first time their smiles hidden behind masks.
Normally a star-studded display teeming with celebrities, the ceremony had fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules and signs calling on spectators to “be quiet around the venue.”
The organisers also sent the traditional message of peace as global pop stars sang the John Lennon and Yoko Ono hit Imagine while drones formed the shape of the Olympic emblem in the sky and transformed into the shape of the globe.
Most countries were represented by both male and female flagbearers in an Olympic first, but not everybody took pandemic measures. Teams from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the Pakistan flagbearers paraded maskless in an awkward contrast to the vast majority of other athletes at the ceremony.
Regardless, it marked a coming together of the world, with an audience of hundreds of millions around the globe and at various stages of the pandemic tuning in to watch the start of the greatest show in sport.
