After a yearlong delay brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer time Olympics in Tokyo are formally open.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito declared the video games open in the course of the Opening Ceremony Friday at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

“I greet you all from the underside of my coronary heart,” Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee, advised athletes on the official opening of the video games.

“Right now is a second of hope. Sure, it is extremely completely different from what all of us had imagined. However allow us to cherish this second. Lastly, we’re all right here collectively,” IOC President Thomas Bach stated.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka later lit the Olympic torch, the symbolic opening of the 2021 video games.

The Opening Ceremony passed off in a largely empty Olympic Stadium largely devoid of spectators. Japan is in a state of emergency within the midst of a surge in COVID-19 circumstances.

First Girl Jill Biden and different world leaders are among the many handful of spectators in attendance.

As per custom, athletes from all collaborating filed into the stadium. America delegation arrived simply after 9:30 a.m. ET, led by flag-bearers Eddy Alvarez, a baseball participant, and Sue Fowl, a basketball participant.

Regardless of the dearth of spectators, this system moved ahead with typical theatrics, together with a large-scale fireworks present.

The opening portion of this system centered on the themes of “aside however not alone,” as a choreographed dance represented what it was like for athletes to return collectively after months of coaching solo.

This system additionally featured a second of silence to honor these killed by COVID-19.

The efficiency is going down simply hours after this system’s director, Kentaro Kobayashi, was fired after anti-Semitic jokes he made throughout a comedy set within the Nineteen Nineties resurfaced.

This system’s composer, Keigo Oyamada, additionally resigned in latest days after an interview he carried out within the Nineteen Nineties resurfaced wherein he boasted about bullying folks with disabilities.

The Opening Ceremony is airing reside proper now on NBC. The community will re-air the efficiency tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET in an edited and “enhanced” primetime broadcast that options extra commentary.