Eleven outstanding moments from the Olympic opening ceremony
A mostly sombre affair that reflected the pandemic backdrop to the Games, the ceremony nevertheless celebrated Japanese culture and entertained
Before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic opening ceremony an adviser to the production, Marco Balich, had promised a sobering ceremony, with beautiful Japanese aesthetics. It felt mostly very subdued indeed until the last half-hour. Here are 11 of the key moments.
1. A heartbreaking opening for Arisa Tsubata
The opening section depicted athletes training alone and despondent as the Games were postponed. One person in particular was taking part in a seemingly endless lonely treadmill session.
It was then revealed she was Arisa Tsubata, a Japanese boxer whose hopes to compete at Tokyo had been dashed. Her qualifying bout was cancelled because of the pandemic, and so when places were allotted on the basis of world rankings instead Tsubata, who works as a nurse, missed out.
2. A history-making moment of silence
The ceremony then paused to remember those whose lives were lost to Covid, with a stark performance by a single dancer on a darkened stage.
There was also an explicit mention of the lives lost in the attack on the 1972 Munich Games, when 11 members of the Israeli Olympic party were murdered. Relatives of the victims have long called for them to be remembered formally in opening ceremonies, but until now the International Olympic Committee had refused.
That silence. You could hear a pin drop. #Olympics pic.twitter.com/jxXrjcnYXV
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) July 23, 2021
3. A wooden theme
Tokyo 2020’s Olympic stadium contains a huge quantity of wood, symbolically sourced from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures. Wood was a strong theme in the ceremony, with a tap-dance routine based on traditional woodcrafts. The Olympic rings were then assembled from the material.
Tokyo has tried to stress sustainability as part of its Olympic hosting – the cardboard “anti-sex” beds have been part of that effort – and the Olympic rings in the ceremony were made from trees grown from seeds donated from around the world by athletes who competed in Tokyo’s first Olympics in 1964.
4. The pictograms come to life
By far the most fun part of the ceremony was near the end, with a routine in which the Olympic pictograms – the little graphic symbols that represent each sport first introduced in those 1964 Tokyo Olympics – bought to life in the arena in a hilariously costumed dance routine that demanded elite athlete levels of precision.
5. A video game soundtrack
The soundtrack for the athletes’ parade was orchestral versions of famous of themes from one of Japan’s greatest cultural exports – video games. The tunes featured included music from Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Gamers hearing Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest music playing during the #OpeningCeremony of the #Olympics pic.twitter.com/pNLW62Gxpy
— Summer Feast @ Green Man Gaming (@GreenManGaming) July 23, 2021
6. Italy’s Pac-Men and Latvia’s space dresses
Designed by Giorgio Armani, Italy’s suits were the sartorial hit (or disaster) of the athletes’ parade, depending on your taste. They featured a play on the Japanese flag, using the colours of the Italian flag in the circular design of the Hinomaru. Or looking like an inaccurately coloured Pac-Man, if you wanted to stick with the video games theme.
Latvia’s 1970s aluminium space dresses ran Italy a close second, though.
7. Yoko Ono and Imagine
Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo and Imagine, which she co-wrote with her husband John Lennon, was used in the ceremony, sung by singers from each continent. Ono was not included, but tweeted a message of support saying: “The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together.”
IMAGINE.
— Yoko Ono ☁️ (@yokoono) July 23, 2021
John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other. The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together.#IMAGINE50 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/mj2wJEUIiV
8. The topless Tongan was back
It was Pita Taufatofua’s third stint carrying the Tongan flag bare-chested and oiled up. He went viral for doing it at Rio in 2016, and then reprised it after he switched disciplines from taekwondo to cross-country skiing to represent his country in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The IOC has introduced the concept of joint flagbearers in a bid to increase the gender equity on display in the opening ceremony, and so this time Taufatofua was accompanied by Malia Paseka, who wisely opted not to follow his example.
Organisers will probably be less concerned with Taufatofua not wearing his shirt than they will be with athletes from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan spotted flouting Covid protocols and going maskless into the parade.
9. The baffling TV crew
No Olympic opening ceremony is complete without a comedy skit that makes absolutely no sense outside the host country. Occasionally we got glimpses of this slapstick comedy TV crew.
10. It’s a drone thing
Easily the most impressive moment visually of the night was a display of drones, forming the Tokyo 2020 Olympic symbol and then the planet Earth live over the top of the stadium. Ceremonies in the past have been criticised for using CGI to augment their displays for television viewers. There was no need for CGI here.
11. Naomi Osaka lights the Olympic flame
The tennis superstar, who has been so open this year about her mental wellbeing, was the laudable choice from Japan’s Olympic team to be the person to light the cauldron and signal the climax of the ceremony.
