Tokyo 2020 Paralympics: Opening Ceremony – Live Updates! | sports

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12.07 PM BST12: 07

Now we will have a welcome from the hosts.

The national flag of Japan was brought to the center of the field and we are invited to look at the last year. Dark piano music plays in the background.

It is a touching and respectful moment. Empty seats in the stadium add to the sense of loss.

12.04 PM BST12: 04

The opening ceremony has begun!

We are abroad. There is a big 10 to 1 countdown timer and the stadium is lit with fireworks. It’s exactly what you’d expect from an opening party. Dancers, lights, noises, a wonderful mix of seriousness and absurdity.

The view from above. Photo: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 12.06 pm GMT

12.01 PM BST12: 01

The view from inside the Olympic Stadium.

The opening ceremony is only a few minutes away. Here are some pictures from the stadium as we start in Tokyo. Not everyone is a gaming enthusiast. There are protesters outside.

Olympic stadium. Photo: Tommy Dixon/INPHO/Rex/Shutterstock Demonstrators squabble with police outside the party. Photo: Issa Kato/Reuters

11.54 AM GMT 11:54

Paralympic trivia

Inspired by Martin’s mention of dartchery, I wonder if anyone else has any great Paralympic questions. If so, send me an email to [email protected].

Japan’s aerial acrobatic team performs on the Olympic Stadium. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated at 11.57am GMT

11.52 AM GMT 11:52

Our email for disabled games

If you haven’t signed up for Martin Belam’s Daily Olympics Email, you’ve missed out. But all is not lost. He’s back at the Paralympics.

Martin distills the big stories of the day into one easy-to-use email, which also serves as a preview of the next day’s events. You can register here.

His daily summary always contains a great fact about games. Yesterday he had this gem:

Between 1960 and 1980, the Paralympic Games program included a sport known as darts, in which wheelchair athletes shot darts at a target arranged like a dart board from a distance of thirty metres, with the scoring act like a 301 game of darts.

11.45 AM GMT 11:45

Ade Adepitan, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, is providing Channel 4’s coverage of today’s opening ceremony. He also wrote to us this week about the excitement and pressure athletes feel before the games start. I thought this line sums it up perfectly: “The whole Games are like getting in your car and driving at 100mph every day.”

There’s still something inside of me that knows it’s the year of games. Despite my participation in the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, it is as if my body is getting ready to prepare. You wake up and there’s a feeling: “Wow, I know something special is going on.” And this is true even in this strange fifth year of the cycle.

I get a sense of the excitement as the games approach, but — thankfully — I don’t have any of the pressure; The stress of qualifying for the games and now making sure you’re ready for them. About this point of reinforcement, athletes start to really worry. You are trying to get your form correctly. But you also get paranoid about getting infected, and stay away from anyone who might have a cold. This year, of course, there’s Covid to think about, too. You realize it, you’re probably out of gaming or even worse. I can’t imagine what it must have been like getting ready for Tokyo now, people must have wrapped themselves in cotton wool.

Coming out of the Olympics, one of the great things was that the athletes were finally able to talk about the impact these stresses had on their mental health. I don’t think the general public really understands that, the emotional turmoil we’re feeling. I think they like the idea that we are indestructible beings capable of handling all of that; Do or die every four years. We go into sports wanting to do it, don’t get me wrong. We want to put ourselves in this position. But for us, the full cycle of gaming is like getting in your car and driving at 100mph every day.

11.37am BST11:37

How we reported on the 1964 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

This isn’t our first rodeo. The Guardian was at the Paralympics in Tokyo 57 years ago. On November 4, 1964, our correspondent Jessica Young wrote about the various athletes participating in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

I spoke to Carol Tetley, 21, who was a cycling champion until a crash paralyzed her from the waist. She took up archery and table tennis instead and went on to represent her country at the Games. Here’s what Carol told our reporter: “I never thought I’d be thrilled with something static like archery, but when I tried it I found I could do it. That was my first thrill. Now it’s great to sit there and go to Zheng Xing Zheng!”

We’ve come up with more of our reporting from the 1964 event.

11.29am BST11:29

What we have in stock for the next two weeks

My colleague Paul McInnes, who is in Japan for the Games, was writing about what we should expect from the Tokyo Paralympics.

“Any athlete you talk to, he has flexibility,” Shahrad Nasajpur said during a press conference in Tokyo on Monday. “Part of it comes from the athletic background, so any athlete you talk to enjoys it. But when you’re a refugee-athlete or Paralympian, which makes it more difficult, the adversity behind you makes you more stable in your life and in your career.”

Nsajpour, who has cerebral palsy, left his homeland Iran in 2015 and was granted asylum in the United States. He was instrumental in forming the Paralympic refugee team that first competed in Rio in 2016, and has already made up 50% of its number. Now, as part of a six-man squad, he will be competing in the F37 discus again and when the games begin in Japan on Tuesday, the resilience, tenacity and athletic talent that Nasajpour represents will be the qualities organizers hope to highlight. To a world watching.

As with so many Tokyo 2020 events, hope remains a powerful word at the Paralympics. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in both the capital and Japan more broadly, reaching record levels last week. There have been cases in the athletes’ village in recent days and four Pacific nations withdrew from competition after being unable to afford a quarantine in Australia en route.

There will be fewer spectators than the Olympics, with fans allowed to attend some venues outside Tokyo, although there are still plans to allow up to 140,000 schoolchildren to attend the events. The latest development is the proposal to turn Paralympic venues into emergency medical facilities once the Games are over, a very different legacy from anything anticipated 18 months ago.

11.26 AM GMT 11:26

Some facts and figures about the next 13 days.

Tokyo is the first city to host two Summer Paralympics, having also hosted the event in 1964 (the city also hosted the Winter Paralympic Games in 1998).

The Paralympics have transformed in the past 57 years. In 1964, there were 375 athletes from 21 countries competing in nine sports. This year there will be 4,500 athletes from 162 countries competing in 539 events across 22 sports.

Here are those 22 sports:

archeryathleticsBadmintonBucha Equestrian CyclingFutballFootballGodobara Canoebara TriathlonPower Lifting RowingShootingSitting VolleyballSwimming Table Tennis TaekwondoWheelchair BasketballWheelchair Fencing

Badminton and taekwondo were introduced this time, replacing kitesurfing and seven-football.

11.21 am GMT 11:21

The organizers have lofty ambitions — and why not.

“When people look at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 50 or 100 years, the Games should be seen as a catalyst for change in culture, society and values ​​that leads to a more sustainable, spiritually richer and happier society.”

I would be very happy if I could remember anything at all in 100 years, but these events are special. I was thinking about the previous festivities today and one moment stands out for me. Caliban’s dream song played at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times over the past nine years. It’s amazing work.

I would like to hear about your memories of past ceremonies – the Olympics or Paralympics, the opening or closing. Email me at [email protected] or send me a message on Twitter.

Here is the song:

11.15 am GMT 11:15

Preamble

So, are you ready for another two weeks of great sports?

That’s what we have, as we begin with the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games today in Tokyo. Over the next 13 days, 1,617 medals will be awarded across 539 events in 22 sports.

With around 1,500 athletes from 162 countries participating, it will be worth watching. In fact, the International Paralympic Committee estimates that 4.25 billion people from 177 regions around the world will participate in some event over the next 13 days.

It all starts with today’s opening ceremony, which will be centered around the theme of “We Have Wings”. Organizers say the idea is to raise awareness of the bravery of Paralympians trying to spread their wings “no matter which way the wind is blowing”.

By the way, the concept of the closing ceremony will be “Harmony of Tones”, which is about recognizing diversity among people and transforming their differences into a common unity.

These terms don’t offer much, so we’ll just have to see what Tokyo has in store for us over the next few hours. The party starts at 8pm Tokyo time (which is 12pm in London, 9pm in Sydney, 7am in New York, and 5pm somewhere).

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