Final preparations for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
With 49 days until the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony, the host city and teams from all over the world are making their final preparations for the Games.
Here are just a few examples of this:
First team arrives in Japan
The first international team to arrive in Japan was the Australian women’s softball team. Head coach Robert Laing Harrow said: “We look forward to putting on a good show for the Japanese people as thanks for their generosity in hosting us."
Tweet from Australian Ambassador to Japan Jan Adams welcoming team to Japan:
Eleven-time Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson
“The IOC has said 80 per cent of the Village will be vaccinated, some countries are prioritising vaccination of athletes. There are loads of things to take into account. If it was me competing, if I was in that position, I would want to go because you don’t know how many Games you’ve got the chance of being at, and ultimately it’s your career that you’ve trained a lot of years for. You would want to know that it was safe and not just the social distancing on the plane, but also in the Village, on transport, in dining hall. If it was me, I would want to be there.”
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farah
"Last year, we were supposed to have the Olympics and it got postponed for another year, and this year it will happen […]. I think for a lot of athletes like myself, it's just thinking that we need to get on now and see what we can do. For me, I'm at the top of my age, right at the top, and it will be my last Olympics. For some athletes, it may be their first.”
Team Canada Canoeist Haley Daniels
“I AM GOING TO THE OLYMPICS! I have been waiting for this moment for 12 years, and I am so stoked and excited to officially be qualified for Tokyo in the first wave of women canoeists to ever compete at the Games!!”
DOSB nominates 14 more German athletes for Tokyo 2020
Fourteen more German athletes have been nominated for the Games, the German National Olympic Committee (DOSB) said on Tuesday 1 June. This brings the team to a total of 68 athletes, with the next rounds of nomination coming up on 15 and 29 June.
Team GB women’s football squad named for Tokyo 2020
Hege Riise, Head Coach of Team GB Football for Tokyo, said: “I know first-hand as a former player just how proud my players will feel today at having been selected to represent Great Britain. There is no greater sporting occasion in the world and I am honoured to lead this hugely talented team into the Games. We will go there aiming to win and we will give everything we have to achieve success. I hope that Great Britain’s inclusion once more in the Olympic Football Tournament can inspire the next generation of young girls to play the sport we love.”
Olympic silver medallist and Assistant Professor at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Tara Kirk Sell
“The need for these Olympics has never been greater. The Olympic Games bring us more than collective celebration and competitive spectacle. They highlight a shared global experience which inspires people of all ages, ability and life circumstance. This year the Games will serve another purpose as well – as a beacon of hope that we are emerging from this pandemic and a signal of brighter days ahead.”