The start after the long and painful postponement of one year. Italy with a record-breaking team
ROME. The last is always the most beautiful. And for this it will not be just a rhetorical exercise, which is repeated every time at the closing ceremony because after the annus horribilis the IOC president, Thomas Bach, was clear as soon as he landed in Tokyo: “It is the best prepared Olympic city ever «. Certainly they will be Olympics never seen before: thanks to the unprecedented wait after the postponement of a year due to Covid, the Games that will open on 23 July and will go on until 8 August in the Japanese capital represent a bit of the light at the bottom at the tunnel as well as in these months of uncertainty and slalom among the difficulties everyone has pointed out. The global rebirth following 15 months of pandemic and distorted agendas, an edition, the XXXII, which fought with the specter of cancellation until the end and which in any case will take place in armored mode.
Meanwhile, without an audience: the surrender behind closed doors came right behind the event, after the IOC and the Committee had tried – already sanctioned the stop to foreign spectators – to open the plants to 50% (for a maximum of 10 thousand admissions) to Japanese only. But the numbers of infections in Tokyo and the fears related to the Delta variant led to the decision to be definitively closed. After all, the decision to postpone the Games that arrived on March 24, 2020 established that there was a before and after Tokyo: from the lighting of the torch to the opening and closing ceremonies, these Olympics will experience a new way. However, the first Bubble Games are expected to be in style: 207 participating countries, 306 competitions scheduled for 42 disciplines, with some new entries: surfing, climbing, karate and skate. News that definitely wink at the younger audience.
The big absentee will be Russia, banned from the IOC due to doping: in Tokyo there will be only the athletes who will parade, however, without the flag of Moscow. The United States will have the usual monstrous squadron (613 athletes), China will also have a contingent of 431 champions (300 women).
The theme of gender equality is another key that has been pressed a lot (men and women will be represented equally at the swearing-in ceremony): England moved forward by sending a team of 367 athletes to Tokyo for the first time. in which women (201) outnumber men. New Zealand has also already set a record, having in the team Laurel Hubbard, weightlifter and first transgender to participate in a five-circle review.
Many stars awaited in the 15 days of competitions: Usain Bolt’s orphaned athletics seeks Noah Lyles and the very young (17 years old) Erriyon Knighton for the heirs of the Jamaican in speed. Spotlight also on the blue Marcel Jacobs who, by lowering the Italian record to 9 “95, has already stemmed the internal competition. The marathon – moved to Sapporo to avoid the risks of high temperatures and humidity in Tokyo – will have Eliud Kipchoge l The man to beat. In the swimming pool it will be the American Katie Ledecky (already five gold medals on the showcase) who will try to emulate Michael Phelps. In tennis, on the other hand, the absences of Nadal and Federer, still favorite Djokovich, weigh.
As for Italy, at least in terms of numbers, it is already a record: in Tokyo there will be 384 blues competing (198 men and 186 women) with Lombardy and Lazio the most represented regions, in 36 of the 42 disciplines in the program. Apart from the individualities with the champions of the pool from Gregorio Paltrinieri to Simona Quadarella, passing through Federica Pellegrini at the fifth and last Olympic participation, and those of fencing (there will be Aldo Montano, also for him Olimpiade number 5), Italy Team a Tokyo also relies heavily on team sports. After 17 years, basketball is back on the court, which snatched the pass from the pre-Olympic season by surprisingly beating the Serbian battleship. The 3 against 3 girls are also in the race, another novelty of the program. And then volleyball, both women and men with renewed hopes for a medal, water polo (absent the girls of the Setterosa) and softball with the fresh blue of the European title. The football box is empty, an absence that clashes with the triumph just celebrated at Euro 2020. Double standard-bearer with Jessica Rossi and Elia Viviani.
However, Tokyo is ready: it has waited, suffered, feared but has reached the goal. The Olympic Village has opened its doors, the athletes (85% vaccinated or immune) are coming: they will be different, unpublished Games, but they will once again renew the miracle of the five circles.