Tokyo Olympics Torch Relay begins after Covid-19 disruption

The Tokyo Olympics torch relay has begun on Thursday after Coronavirus made it delay for one year.

Officials are hoping it will be a ‘ray of light’ after the problems caused by the pandemic.

Spectators were barred from the departure ceremony and first leg over ongoing fears about the coronavirus, which forced the 2020 Games’ historic postponement a year ago.

But they will line the rest of the route during the 121-day relay, which will criss-cross Japan and involve 10,000 runners before the torch lights the Olympic cauldron on July 23.

Organisers are hoping the relay will dispel doubts about holding the Games during a pandemic, and Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto called the flame “a ray of light at the end of the darkness”.

“This little flame never lost hope and it waited for this day like a cherry blossom bud just about to bloom,” she told the ceremony at Fukushima’s J-Village sports complex, which was a base for responding to the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Azusa Iwashimizu, one of Japan’s 2011 World Cup-winning women’s footballers, was the first to carry the rose-gold, cherry blossom-shaped torch, accompanied by former teammates.

She passed the flame to Fukushima high school student Asato Owada, who like all the runners wore an official white tracksuit with a red diagonal stripe.

A handful of fans, wearing their compulsory masks, watched the relay from its second section. But with cheering and large crowds banned for virus safety, the loudest sound came from clicking cameras.

Organisers were making final preparations for the relay last year when the virus prompted the unprecedented decision to postpone the Games, as sport around the world ground to a halt.

A year on, the pandemic is still in full swing despite vaccine roll-outs, and many in Japan fear the Olympics will cause a spike in cases.

Overseas spectators are barred from the Games, and limits are likely on domestic fans, so the relay is seen as a vital opportunity to build positive momentum.

The Fukushima launch also puts the spotlight back on the northeastern region of Tohoku that was affected by the 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

The Games were initially billed as the “Recovery Olympics”, showcasing reconstruction in the region.

The relay will pass through some towns that remain only partially open to the public, as radiation decontamination continues.

Officials from one region have warned they might cancel the relay there if virus countermeasures aren’t improved, and parts of the event will be suspended if too many people gather.

Organisers are hopeful however that the relay will offer respite after a difficult year, and convince the public that the Games will go ahead.

AFP/Confidence Okwuchi