Members of Nadeshiko Japan, the national women's soccer team, will run as a group as the "leadoff runner" of the Olympic torch relay scheduled to kick off next week, the Tokyo Games organizing committee announced Monday.
The relay, which will start on March 25 from the J-Village soccer facility straddling the towns of Naraha and Hirono in Fukushima Prefecture, will be launched with a scaled back ceremony and no spectators as preventive measures against the novel coronavirus.
As planned prior to the one-year postponement of the Games, players from the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup championship team will be the first to carry the relay torch on its nationwide journey, to be cheered on by about 100 local elementary school students.
The victory at the World Cup came in the same year as the Great East Japan Earthquake, lifting the spirits of the devastated nation.
Prior to the pandemic, the starting ceremony was planned to be held with about 3,000 spectators from the general public. But now, the organizing committee has decided to shorten the event and hold it without spectators. The number of VIPs and other special guests has been reduced from about 410 to about 170.
At the venue, hula dances and other performances will be held to express gratitude for support of reconstruction in the region, with flowers produced in the disaster-hit areas adding color to the event.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
