Naomi Osaka had the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron in the highlight of the Opening Ceremony at Tokyo 2020.

The tennis star was the... final torchbearer in a journey that had lasted over a year because of the global pandemic.

Osaka’s hopes of an Olympic gold medal in her home Olympic Games ended in the third round when she lost to Marketa Vondrousova (CZE), who ended up winning the silver medal in the women’s singles gold medal match against Belinda Bencic (SUI).

But the image of Osaka lighting the cauldron on behalf of the Japanese host will live long in the memory.