The Olympics has always been an event anticipated by millions of fans and athletes. Held every four years, winning the Olympic medal is the greatest honor and winning it is the dream of every athlete. With so many sports and medals to win in the Olympic games, fans could be sure of witnessing the greatest battle in sports between the best athletes of the time. 

This year, four years after the Olympic in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, we are finally going to witness another Olympic and the birth of a new generation of Olympic champions. And this time it will be held in Tokyo!

Flame lighting ceremony 

The flame lighting ceremony is held in the ancient Olympia in Greece. For years, this has been one of the most sacred ceremonies of the Olympics, connecting the Olympics to the Ancient Olympic Games which is a festival held for Zeus. For years, it has been the tradition to use the flame that was lit on this day to light the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Games.

However, the flame lighting ceremony this year was kept very quiet as there were no spectators due to the spreading of the COVID-19 virus outbreak and this has laid a gloom over the ceremony as the future of Tokyo 2020 was held in doubt.

Anna Korakaki as the first torchbearer

The first torchbearer is Anna Korakaki, the reigning Olympic gold medallist for the 25m pistol who passes the torch to Noguchi Mizuki, an Olympic champion in marathon in Athens 2004. Noguchi will be the first Japanese to start the torch relay. The torch will remain in Greece for 8 days, from 12 March to 19 March, completing the Greek leg of the relay before being sent to Japan.

Torch Relay

The torch relay in Japan will begin on 26 March 2020, starting from the Fukushima prefecture and ending in Tokyo. This will take around 121 days and arrives in Tokyo for the opening ceremony on July 24. The Tokyo Olympic official states that their concept of the torch relay is "Hope Lights Our Way". The concept was indeed well-chosen and more so as it is only with the hope that the virus will be under control that the torch relay will still be carried out since there have been talks that the Olympics this year will be canceled.

The Tokyo 2020 Torch Ambassador is Ishihara Satomi, a Japanese film star and actress who is well known for her role in Shitsuren Chocolatier.

It is a very good sign that the Olympics torch lighting ceremony has been carried out as planned and there are no signs of the authorities planning to cancel or postpone the Olympic Games. Though citizens have been warned not to crowd around the streets to watch the torch relay to minimize the spreading of the coronavirus, there is still hope that by July the virus will be under control and all will be well.

Let "Hope Lights Our Way" that we may witness another Olympics this year.