Tokyo 2020 Olympics Notebook - Day 14

Tokyo Olympics

An aerial view shows Blue Impulse, Japan's Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) aerobatic team, displaying five-Olympic-colour smokes in the skies over Tokyo on July 23, 2021, ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Photo credit: Motoya Taguchi | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The crack “Blue Impulse” team overflew the National Stadium, venue for the opening ceremony, drawing the five Olympic rings with coloured smoke in breathtaking formation.

Third Olympic aerial display for Japan’s ‘Blue Impulse’ team

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Japan’s Air Self-Defence Force was involved at an opening ceremony for the Olympic Games for the third time on Friday when they made an exhibition flight at the Tokyo 2020 stage opener. The crack “Blue Impulse” team overflew the National Stadium, venue for the opening ceremony, drawing the five Olympic rings with coloured smoke in breathtaking formation. They team was also involved in opening ceremonies for the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympic Games and the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic Games. Friday’s display featured a six-jet formation which awed locals who were not allowed into the stadium for the festivities as a Covid-19 control measure.

South Koreans give Olympic Games wide berth

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Latest polls indicate that only 32 percent of South Koreans are interested in the Tokyo Olympic Games, with 66 percent showing no interest at all. According to the Korea Gallup polls, the low level of interest is partly due to the fact that spectators aren’t allowed into Olympic venues, and also owing to current concerns over Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the South Korean delegation received one of the loudest rounds of applause during march-past from the sparse crowd that attended Friday’s opening ceremony at the Tokyo National Stadium.

‘Olympic diplomacy’ mission for PM Suga

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His political future hugely pegged on how the Tokyo Olympic Games turn out, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga continued with his global charm offensive, meeting with top world leaders yesterday at Tokyo’s State Guest House. After an “Olympic diplomacy” meeting with US First Lady Jill Biden, Suga hosted World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and pharmaceutical firm Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla. Today, Prime Minister Suga will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron whose country will host the next Olympics in Paris.