The Olympic flame has arrived in Japan, but will there be games for it to illuminate?
The flame will touch down Friday aboard a white aircraft painted with the inscription “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay” along its side, and “Hope Lights Our Way” stenciled near the tail section.
Thousands of people from the region are still in temporary housing and life has not returned to normal for many. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to use the “This isn't a phrase that the press could like to hear, but it's true,” said Aso, who was a member of Japan's shooting team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.“We certainly hope to have a situation where everyone can at least come to Japan feeling safe and happy." Aso said."But the question is how we do that. It is something that Japan alone cannot achieve, and I don’t have an answer to this.
In a conference call on Wednesday, IOC president Thomas Bach got support for holding course, but is also getting push back from athletes who can't train, are confused about the qualification process, and worry about their health. Critics are also complaining about the unfairness of qualifying, which might give some athletes advantages over others.
“Keep them safe. Call it off,” Matthew Pinsent, a four-time Olympic champion rower and former IOC member, wrote on Twitter. The flame was handed over, by proxy, to Tokyo organizers in Athens on Thursday in a bare-bones version of the usual elaborate ceremony in the stadium where the first modern games were staged in 1896.
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