Olympics where is the torch

Only the leg in the remote Ogasawara islands, south of Tokyo, will go ahead as planned, officials said. Tokyo is due to begin on 23 July despite public opposition.

People in Japan have taken to the streets in recent months calling for the Olympics to be cancelled or postponed, amid coronavirus fears. The nationwide torch relay has faced numerous problems since it began in March - nearly half of the legs on the route have been disrupted.

Kyoto and Hiroshima also scrapped plans for the relay to go through public roads. Video has also emerged of a woman attempting to extinguish the Olympic torch flame during the leg in Mito city by squirting a water pistol.

In a clip widely shared on social media, Kayoko Takahashi can be seen shooting water from a small plastic gun at a runner carrying the torch. The year-old was stopped by officials while she shouted: "No Olympics. Stop the games. A burning flame has been part of the modern Olympics since , but the tradition goes all the way back to the ancient Games in Greece. So the Olympic flame lighting ceremony, which was first incorporated along with the torch relay for the Berlin Games, is held at the ancient Olympic site of Olympia in Greece.

The flame is then passed on to the first torchbearer of the Olympic torch relay. This is usually done months in advance of the Games, but the flame for the Tokyo Olympics actually was produced over a year ago. The lighting ceremony was held on March 12, , shortly before the Games were officially postponed to due to the COVID pandemic. You can watch it here. The top of the Olympic torch for the Games resembles a Japanese cherry blossom with five petal-shaped pieces where flames come out of.

The torch is made out of aluminum, with some of it being recycled material from the temporary housing that was built following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The flame is transferred from one torch to another during the relay. The first torchbearer, traditionally a Greek athlete, attends the lighting ceremony to receive the flame and then delivers it to the second torchbearer at the nearby monument for Baron Pierre de Coubertin , who founded the modern Games.

The Olympic flame served as a symbol of the Olympic Games and traversed the length and breadth of Japan for a period of days. Tokyo Torch Relay. Olympic Torches.