The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games have officially begun. This year’s showpiece sporting event underwent multiple changes and postponements due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But after waiting for an extra year, the world’s greatest sporting festival is up and running in Tokyo, Japan.

But the path to Tokyo was not an easy one, by any means. It all started in Olympia, Greece, with the lighting of the Olympic torch. However, what followed next was unprecedented at many levels. The coronavirus outbreak took the world by storm and all human activity was brought to an eerie halt.

But against all odds, the ‘Recovery Olympics’ is up and running. Find out what it took to reach this milestone.

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A Look at The Journey of the Olympic Flame from Greece to Tokyo

The above traditional lighting ceremony was held on 12 March 2020 at Olympia, Greece. The flame was then handed down to the first torchbearer, Anna Korakaki. Additionally, this was the first lighting ceremony since 1984 that didn’t have any spectators. The Olympic torch was to visit 31 cities and 15 landmarks across Greece but that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After it was decided to postpone the Summer Games to 2021, the torch display remained in Fukushima for a month. The torch relay in Japan was from 26 March to 24 July 2020. But that was also postponed by 364 days due to the coronavirus crisis. One of the changes in this year’s torch relay was that participants of the relay would carry the torch for about 30 meters before passing the flame to another participant as opposed to carrying it for long stretches.

Tokyo Olympics Torch Relay

While speaking about the torch relay, here’s what 31-year old Takumi Ito from Futaba had to tell Reuters about the event. “This town is where I was born and raised, and I never thought a torch relay would be held here…We are still in the coronavirus pandemic, but I think it’s great we could hold the relay.”

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Futaba was one of the towns that sustained massive damages during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

“For the past year, as the entire world underwent a difficult period, the Olympic flame was kept alive quietly but powerfully. The small flame did not lose hope, and just like the cherry blossom buds that are ready to bloom, it was waiting for this day,” Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said at the opening ceremony of the quadrennial showpiece.

As per the previous schedule, the Dream Bridge cauldron will be the place where the flame will burn during the 16 days of the Games.

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