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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

The host city for the Olympic Games held in 2021 was Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Tokyo was announced as the winning host bid over Madrid and Istanbul in September 2013. The Games, originally planned to be held in 2020, were postponed to a year later due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was held from July 23th to August 8th, 2021, though some events started before the opening ceremony, with baseball, softball, and soccer games on July 21. Although the games were held in 2021, for marketing and branding reasons, it was still referred to as 'Tokyo 2020'.



This was the second time that Japan had hosted the Summer Olympics, they previously hosted the event in 1964. Japan was also selected to host the canceled 1940 Games. Japan has also hosted the Winter Olympics twice, in 1998 in Nagano and 1972 in Sapporo.

For the first time on several Olympiads, there was no Michael Phelps and no Usain bolt. Who will be the new Olympic sporting superstars?

Memorable Performances and Sportsmanship

Impact of Coronavirus

There was a significant impact from the coronavirus pandemic on the Tokyo Olympics. The Games were postponed to a year later than scheduled. Although the pandemic was still affecting most parts of the world, the Games still went ahead, albeit with changes from the usual. Athletes were tested on arrival and then tested every four days if they continue to be negative. The athletes were also limited to the Olympic Village and transported to their venue for competition and training, and only stayed in Japan for the duration of their events. No spectators were able to attend events.

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Sports

Five new sports were added to the program since the last Olympics: baseball and softball, karate, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. See the List of Sports for Tokyo.

Teams

There were a total of 205 National Olympic Committees involved at the Games, plus the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

Following sanctions due to state-sponsored doping, only Russian athletes who meet certain criteria were able to compete, though they had to participate at the Tokyo 2020 under the name "ROC" (the acronym of the Russian Olympic Committee).

North Korea withdrew from Tokyo 2020 citing COVID-19 fears, their first absence in the Summer Olympics since 1988. Guinea also withdrew from the Games, but reversed this decision the day before the Games began.

Again there was an IOC Refugee Olympic Team competing. Selection in this team was based on their sporting performance, their confirmed refugee status, as well as balanced representation across sports, regions and genders.

Mascots

There were two 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots: Miraitowa (Olympic Games) & Someity (Paralympic Games). Japanese school children voted for their favorite designs from three shortlisted illustrations, and another vote was used to select names for them. They decided on two futuristic, superhero creatures, the blue Olympics mascot and pink Paralympics digitally designed creatures echo the country's anime obsession. The Olympic mascot is a blue and white checked character called miraitowa (pronounced miray-towa), inspired by the combination of two Japanese words: 'mirai', which means future and 'towa', which means eternity. The Paralympic mascot is a pink and white checked superhero named someity (pronounced soh-may-tee), the name derived from the cherry blossom someiyoshino and with hints of the English phrase 'so mighty.'

Medal Tally

See the Predictions of the Medals To Be Won at the Tokyo Olympics, and the actual medal tally.

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Olympics Extra

The next Olympics will be in LA 2028, the next Winter edition in Milan-Cortina 2026. Check out the list of Olympic Games sports, as well as discontinued and demonstration sports.

Major Events Extra

The largest sporting event in the world is the Olympic Games, but there are many other multi-sport games. In terms of single sport events, nothing beats the FIFA World Cup. To see what's coming up, check out the calendar of major sporting events.

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