On Thursday, the sports complex will house the starting ceremony for the Olympic torch relay, kicking off a countdown to the Games in Tokyo — the first-ever organised during a deadly pandemic. Members of the Japanese national women’s football team will use the Olympic flame, flown in from Greece, to light the torch. The first section of the relay will not have spectators, and as some 10,000 runners take the torch across Japan’s 47 prefectures, including far-flung islands, onlookers must wear masks and socially distance. Over time, the nuclear workers left. Homare Sawa, who led Japan’s women’s football team to victory at the Fifa World Cup four months after the 2011 earthquake, withdrew from the torch relay, citing health reasons.

Source: The Star March 24, 2021 21:00 UTC