The loudest sporting event of the year kicks off in Japan. With a delay of a year, against the backdrop of protests against the holding, but - the 32nd Summer Olympic Games did begin. The opening ceremony took place at the stadium in Tokyo - practically without spectators. All subsequent competitions will be the same.. More than 11 thousand athletes from all over the world came to Japan. Among them, one and a half hundred Ukrainians.

About what achievements our athletes are counting on in Japan - on July 23, it is said in the TSN story. 19: 30.

Tokyo Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Starts With Giant Fireworks. In the stands - about a thousand officials. They are practically the only spectators.. Among them - Emperor of Japan Naruhito, President of France Emmanuel Macron, First Lady of the United States Jill Biden. But the main ones here are the athletes who walk through the arena under the national flags.. Our champions Elena Kostevich and Bogdan Nikishin carried the blue-yellow flag. Usually, at such ceremonies, Ukrainian Olympians go at the end, because the countries are arranged alphabetically. However, this time the alphabet is Japanese. So ours were closer to the beginning.

At these Olympic Games, Ukraine is counting on a dozen medals - said Minister of Youth and Sports Vadim Gutsait. The main thing, he says, is to overcome the excitement.

" Now everyone is able and able to fight for awards. We need to withstand this nervous pressure on everyone and go to victory, "

The current Ukrainian team is the smallest in the history of participation in competitions. Victories - President Volodymyr Zelensky wished the Ukrainian Olympians " And I believe that you will give us something that is dearer than gold, silver and bronze. These are emotions from victory, pride in being Ukrainian, "

Meanwhile, protests against the competitions demanding to cancel them did not subside in Tokyo until the last moment.. Indeed, according to opinion polls, the majority of the Japanese are against the Olympics because of the fear of the spread of COVID-19..

Hundreds of people gathered right under the Olympic Stadium and rallied even during the opening ceremony of the competition.. Not without a crush with the police.

However, many Japanese were eagerly awaiting the start of the competition.. In the morning, under the Olympic Stadium, a queue of people wishing to be photographed with five rings, which were installed in front of the entrance, lined up. People came here despite the heat - plus 33, which holds in the city.

Until recently, the Olympic Games were under threat of cancellation - even a day before the start, the organizers did not rule out such a possibility. However, although this morning the number of positive tests for COVID-19 in the Olympic Village has already exceeded a hundred, it was decided in Japan that the competition would take place..