Our live coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has moved here.
Competition began Wednesday, more than a year after the original start date. The Games were delayed due to the pandemic, but with Covid-19 still spreading unchecked in Japan, organizers have been forced to take unprecedented steps to keep competitors and the public safe.
Athletes who contracted coronavirus have seen their Olympic dreams dashed. Some tested positive in Japan, some before coming.
These are some of the athletes we know who have publicly dropped out due to Covid-19 health and safety protocols.
Team USA: 5
Team Great Britain: 3
Team Czech Republic: 2
Team Mexico: 2
Team South Africa: 2
Team Australia: 1
Team Chile: 1
Team Netherlands: 1
Team Russia: 1
US hammer thrower Gwen Berry, along with famed 1968 medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos, are three of over 150 athletes, human rights and social justice experts, and sports organizations who cosigned an open letter to high-ranking International Olympic Committee (IOC) members on Thursday, calling for amendments to the IOC rule that threatens to punish athletes for protesting or demonstrating on medal podiums at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Days ahead of her first appearance at the Summer Games, Berry tweeted her support of the petition, saying, “We need to take STAND.” Berry, a contender to medal in Japan, drew much attention when she refused to face the American flag during the playing of the National Anthem at June’s US Olympic Track and Field trials. Berry, 32, is slated to begin her Olympic competition on July 31.
The letter calls upon the IOC to “refrain from imposing sanctions on athletes protesting and demonstrating in accordance with internationally-recognized human rights frameworks… in any Olympic/Paralympic sites, venues or other areas – including the podium” for the Tokyo and Beijing Games.
After a 10-month consultation process with over 3,500 athletes who represent 185 different National Olympic Committees and all 41 Olympic Sports, the IOC decided to uphold the rule 50 ban on protests in April. On July 2, the IOC amended rule 50 by adding section 50.2, which loosened previous guidelines, allowing athletes to express their views in mixed zones, news conferences, during interviews, as well as prior to the start of competition.
While offering appreciation for the strides the IOC made in promoting athlete expression, the open letter claims the changes made do not “reflect a commitment to freedom of expression as a fundamental human right nor to racial and social justice in global sport.”
The letter states “…with this letter we add a collective voice – representing academic experts, educators and advocates on the intersection of sport, human rights, and racial/social justice in global society – to call for amendments to the IOC’s and IPC’s approach to athlete expression generally, and IOC Rule 50.2/IPC Section 2.2 specifically, while reaffirming a commitment to human rights and racial/social justice in the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.
CNN has reached out to the IOC for comment on the group’s request for policy change and full freedom of expression.
Smith and Carlos, the former US sprinters, famously raised gloved fists on the podium during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics.
On the heels of Typhoon In-fa, which is bearing down on the southern Japanese islands, is the potential for a new tropical cyclone to form in the western Pacific Ocean.
There are many unknowns surrounding the forecast on this next storm but the model guidance for several days has indicated a tropical storm or typhoon risk for northern and central portions of Japan around Sunday or Monday.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center gives this area to watch a medium chance for potential tropical development in the short term.
At this time, heavy rain and gusty winds are possible for east central Japan by early next week, which could interrupt some events at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Opening Ceremony for this year’s Summer Games — which were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic — will take place Friday in Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.
Usually held in a stadium full of ecstatic fans, this year’s ceremony will have athletes from across the globe parading in a near empty venue after it was announced that fans would not be allowed to attend because of rising Covid-19 cases in Japan.
“The most difficult part of the process was that the postponement meant a simplification of the ceremonies and the message had to be drastically revised,” said Takayuki Hioki, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee executive producer of ceremonies.
Due to restrictions, only a select number of officials and some dignitaries will be present for the Friday’s ceremony.
Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Hidemasa Nakamura told CNN that about 950 VIPs will take part in the event. The total will include around 800 foreign guests and 150 from Japan, CNN affiliate TV Asahi reported.
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, who will declare the Olympics open at the ceremony, will be attending without any other member of the imperial family, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
The agency says that the decision was made in keeping with the plans for other Olympic officials who are also attending unaccompanied by their spouses.
With all the struggles and difficulties that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has faced to stage the Games in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, president Thomas Bach believes it will be a moment of “joy and relief.”
“I think It will be a moment of joy and relief when entering the stadium,” Bach said during a news conference.
“A moment of joy in particular for the athletes because I know how much they’re longing for this moment. They can finally be there and can enjoy this moment under very special circumstances. And a feeling of relief because the road to this Opening Ceremony was not the easiest one.”
However as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Tokyo, there will be notable absentees on Friday. Japanese car manufacture Toyota has confirmed its CEO, Akio Toyoda, will not be attending the opening ceremony.
“The motto of the Tokyo 2020 Games is “United by Emotion,” added Hioki.
“We spent a lot of time and energy struggling and what we came up with was ‘achieving personal best,’ ‘unity in diversity,’ ‘connecting to tomorrow’; in other words, the Games vision.
“We have created something with a strong message that will resonate with the audience. It’s more about the emotional connection than the excitement.
“We took the athletes very seriously. We had to make sure the athletes who finally have come from abroad don’t feel anxious, and yet we want them to be energised and ready for competition,” Hioki said.
Marco Balich, a former opening ceremonies executive producer and now a senior adviser to the Tokyo ceremony, told Reuters that Friday’s event will be a “sobering” ceremony.
“Nevertheless with beautiful Japanese aesthetics. Very Japanese but also in sync with the sentiment of today, the reality,” said Balich, who was in charge of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The Olympics Opening Ceremony will take place tomorrow, signaling the official start of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
With many events following throughout the day tomorrow, here are some major events you’ll want to watch live on Friday:
In case you missed it, here are some events from earlier this week that will be replayed on Friday:
View NBC’s full schedule for Friday and Saturday here.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony will officially kick off the beginning of the Games tomorrow. The ceremony will take place in the early hours of US Eastern time due to Tokyo’s time difference.
What is the time difference?
Tokyo, Japan is 13 hours ahead of US Eastern time, so many of the events — including the Opening Ceremony — will be replayed each day. However, if you are interested in watching the events live, many will be held during the early morning in US Eastern time.
When can I watch the ceremony?
The Olympics Opening Ceremony will take place at 8 p.m. local time in Japan on Friday, which is 7 a.m. ET. This will be the first time NBC broadcasts the ceremony live, and it will feature talent from NBC’s “Today” show.
If you miss the live broadcast, the roughly four-hour event will also be replayed at 7:30 p.m. ET.
How can I watch the Olympics?
NBC, its sister cable networks, its dedicated site NBCOlympics.com and the company’s new streaming platform, Peacock, will broadcast the Olympics.
In linear form, coverage will spill across NBC and eight other Comcast-owned cable channels, including USA, CNBC, NBC Sports Network and Telemundo. The menu will total more than 7,000 hours encompassing 35 sports, with NBC serving as the home for highlights and top events.
Tokyo 2020’s Opening Ceremony is “currently proceeding as planned,” according to a press statement from the Tokyo 2020 International Communications Team.
The statement says an investigation into the Opening Ceremony has been conducted following the dismissal of former show director Kentaro Kobayashi over anti-Semitic comments he made in the past.
According to the statement, multiple creators have contributed to the Ceremony, and “no single part of the Opening Ceremony was specifically directed solely by KOBAYASHI Kentaro himself.”
The Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony is scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. local (7 a.m. ET)
Some more background: Tokyo 2020’s Opening Ceremony show director, Kentaro Kobayashi, was dismissed Thursday following past comments that “ridiculed the painful facts of history,” according to Tokyo 2020 organizers.
Local media reports said Kobayashi made anti-Semitic comments in a 1998 comedy act about the Holocaust.
Kobayashi released a statement following his dismissal, saying he apologized “to anyone who may have felt unpleasant” by his former remarks.
“As it was pointed out, there were some inappropriate expressions in the scripts from my past skit,” he said.
“I understand that my foolish choice of words at the time was a mistake, and I regret it,” Kobayashi continues, adding that he was grateful he was able to be involved in the ceremony.
On Monday, Tokyo Olympics opening and closing ceremonies music composer, Keigo Oyamada, decided to resign from his position following criticisms for past interviews that emerged where he described past bullying of classmates.
Brazil striker Richarlison scored a stunning first-half hat-trick as the defending Olympic champions beat Germany 4-2 in their opening game of the men’s football tournament on Thursday.
The Group D encounter was a repeat of the gold medal match from Rio five years ago which Brazil won in a dramatic penalty shootout.
The game was played at the International Stadium in Yokohama – the same venue where Brazil beat Germany in the 2002 World Cup final.
Elsewhere on Thursday, hosts Japan got off to a winning start defeating South Africa 1-0.
South Africa had been depleted by Covid-19 infections after two players and a video analyst tested positive for Covid-19 in Tokyo on Sunday.
At least 18 players were subsequently identified as close contacts and were forced to isolate in their respective rooms in the Tokyo Olympic Village.
A squad of 17 South Africa players did, though, pass pre-game Covid-19 protocols allowing for Thursday’s game to take place at the Tokyo Stadium.
There were also several surprises in the men’s tournament with none of Spain, France or Argentina winning their games.
Mexico stunned France 4-1, Australia upset Argentina 2-0 and Spain, the last European men’s team to claim gold in 1992, were held to a goalless draw by Egypt.
The 2020 Summer Olympics are finally underway in Tokyo ahead of the official opening ceremony on Friday after the Games were postponed until this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Games are scheduled to run until Aug. 8. The Paralympics are scheduled to take place Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
Here’s a look at the Games:
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now underway ahead of the opening ceremony tomorrow. However, several athletes have withdrawn from the Games due to positive Covid-19 tests.
Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto isn’t ruling out a last minute cancellation of the Olympic Games amid rising Covid-19 cases — and this wouldn’t be the first time the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been altered in the wake of the pandemic.
In March 2020, the International Olympic Committee agreed to postpone the Games until 2021 due to concerns over Covid-19. The event was set to begin July 24, 2020 and end on Aug. 9, 2020.
With the postponement, officials decided that the Games — which would take place in 2021 — would still be called the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The decision to push back the event was the first of its kind in Olympics history. The Games have never been postponed, although they have been cancelled on three occasions due to World Wars in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
Beach volleyball player Markéta Sluková-Nausch, one of the Czech athletes who won’t be able to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo because of a positive Covid-19 test, said she felt very disappointed about the way her Olympic dream has ended.
Sluková-Nausch’s positive test – announced on Thursday – also rules out her playing partner Barbora Hermannová from the Games.
Tokyo was due to be the third Games for Sluková-Nausch and the second for Hermannová.
The pair were scheduled to open the Olympic women’s beach volleyball tournament against Japan on Saturday.
“We cried, then we swore, then we cried again. I am just hoping that no other athletes will follow us, because I think that something like this is a nightmare for any athlete, for any Olympian, who gets this far, this close to the Olympic competition,” Sluková-Nausch said.
Sluková-Nausch said she discovered she traveled on a flight with an individual who tested positive for Covid-19 right after her arrival to Tokyo.
“I was tested roughly eight times in the past 24 hours, some results were positive, some were ambiguous, some were negative, but unfortunately, the final verdict is that I’ve tested positive and that means that we will not be able to play at the tournament,” the 33-year-old added.
Since returning from the 2016 Rio Olympics, US shot putter Raven Saunders’ mental health spiraled.
Five years later and she is traveling to her second Olympic Games, wanting to destigmatize mental health.
Read more about her inspiring journey HERE
Czech women’s beach volleyball player Markéta Sluková-Nausch has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss the Games, the Czech Olympic Committee said in a statement on Thursday.
Sluková-Nausch becomes the fifth member of the Czech Olympic team to have tested positive for Covid-19 in Tokyo.
The 33-year-old joins table tennis player Pavel Širuček and men’s beach volleyball player Ondřej Perušič in athletes missing out on competing at the Games.
Sluková-Nausch’s coach and husband Simon Nausch tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Following a report by the Czech online news site Seznam Zpravy, the Czech Olympic Committee confirmed that the first member of the Czech delegation in Tokyo to test positive for the virus was one of the team’s doctors, Vlastimil Voracek.
Voracek tested positive after the team’s arrival in Tokyo. His previous test, taken the day before departing for Tokyo, was negative.
The Czech Olympic Committee also announced on Thursday it has launched an investigation into the alleged breaking of Covid-19 rules on a charter flight from Prague to Tokyo at the end of last week.
The result of the investigation will be published within 14 days.
Thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries will be competing in this year’s Summer Olympics.
From household names to rising stars, these are the 25 athletes to watch closely as the Games progress.
Read here.
Dutch taekwondo athlete Reshmie Oogink has tested positive for Covid-19 in Japan and will miss the Games, the Dutch Olympic Committee announced in a statement on Thursday.
Oogink is the second Dutch athlete to be ruled out of competing in Tokyo after skateboarder Candy Jacobs tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
“I have no words for it,” Oogink said in the statement.
“I have done everything I can and worked hard to get here, even after my serious knee injuries. And now it stops like this. This is the end of my career.”
The 31-year-old, who was due to compete in the Women’s +67kg category on Tuesday, will now go into mandatory 10-day quarantine, the statement added.
Oogink participated in the Women’s +67kg category at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. She was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
The Dutch Olympic Committee also announced that a staff member of the rowing team has also gone into mandatory 10-day quarantine having tested positive for Covid-19.
“We are doing everything we can to keep the infections at bay. And yet we are confronted with it (Covid-19),” Chef de mission Pieter van den Hoogenband said in the statement.
“I see around me that our athletes continue to focus on why we are here. That is not always easy, but we are here with professional top athletes who always adapt to the circumstances,” van den Hoogenband added.
Tokyo reported 1,979 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday as the Olympic Games are just one day out from its official start.
The jump in new cases is the Japanese capital’s highest increase in new cases since January 15.
The number of Covid-19 cases in Japan linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has risen to 91, according to Tokyo 2020 organizers Thursday.
Nine of the 91 cases reported were residents of the Olympic Village, five of whom are athletes and four are “Games-related personnel.”
The capital is currently under a coronavirus state of emergency — set to expire on August 22 — while the Tokyo 2020 Games are set to officially begin on Friday.
With temperatures already soaring in Tokyo, athletes could be set for the warmest Olympic Games in decades.
When compared to host cities dating back to 1984 in Los Angeles, Tokyo’s average high temperature is the warmest and also the wettest for the two weeks when events are scheduled to take place.
The average temperature combined with humidity in Tokyo has the potential to make these Games feel even hotter than Atlanta and Athens.
Tokyo is also threatened by typhoons, which can bring torrential rain, high winds and flash flooding. The threat of typhoons lasts from May through October but usually peaks in August and September.
When Tokyo last hosted the Olympics in 1964, it did so in the cooler month of October.
Read more here.
With the opening ceremony just a day away, plenty of athletes are now arriving in Japan. One of them will be six-time Olympic champion Allyson Felix.
The USA track and field star spoke to CNN earlier this year about her eventful journey to Tokyo 2020 and how she managed to keep training amid the pandemic.
Felix’s two-year-old daughter Camryn has also made a few appearances on the track as the Olympian has juggled motherhood and training.
Read more about her journey to Tokyo 2020 HERE.
A number of athletes from around the globe have withdrawn from the Games due to positive Covid-19 tests. From Team USA, at least five athletes will not be competing due to the virus.
Here’s what we know about the US athletes:
CNN’s Alyssa Kraus, Homero De la Fuente, Amir Vera, Kevin Dotson, Dan Moriarty and Chie Kobayashi contributed to this post.
While all eyes are on Tokyo, there were celebrations in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday after the city was officially awarded the 2032 Summer Olympics.
But amid the excitement, there was an awkward moment when Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was publicly berated by the head of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) over her plans to not attend the opening ceremony in Tokyo on Friday. Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland.
Palaszczuk had already said she would not attend the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony.
After being berated by Coates at the news conference, Palaszczuk replied: “I don’t want to offend anybody.”
Coates was criticized on social media by people who said his attitude was sexist. “This is disgusting. And yet another example of how women are treated in sport,” said former chief executive of Swimming Australia Leigh Russell on Twitter.
In a statement Thursday, Coates said his remarks had been “completely misinterpreted by people who weren’t in the room.”
This post has been updated with John Coates’ statement.
