The Tokyo Olympics came to an end on Sunday with no end in sight for the coronavirus that continues to spread across the nation.
The Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed for a year due to the spread of the coronavirus, attracted about 11,000 athletes from 205 countries and regions, plus a team of refugees, in a record 339 events across 33 sports. Russian athletes that were cleared to compete made up the Russian Olympic Committee.
Japan won a national record of 27 golds and an overall total of 58 medals in the first Summer Olympics held in Tokyo since 1964. By gold medals, Japan placed third, behind the United States with 39 and China with 38. The United States also led the overall medal count with 113, followed by China with 88 and the Russian Olympic Committee with 71.
The Olympics began amid a state of emergency declared for Tokyo and Okinawa Prefecture. The competitions took place mostly as planned, with no spectators at most of the venues and with other measures taken to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
However, infections surged in the host nation during the Olympics. On Thursday, the number of newly infected people in a single day in Tokyo surpassed 5,000 for the first time.
The Japanese government expanded the areas subject to a state of emergency to four more prefectures on Aug. 2, and the area subject to pre-emergency priority measures was also expanded to 13 prefectures on Sunday, the final day of the Tokyo Olympics.
The Tokyo Paralympics are scheduled to begin on Aug. 24 and run for 13 days through Sept. 5.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will be hosted by Paris.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
