Overview
- The torch-lighting ceremony at Tokyo’s National Stadium on Tuesday launched the official countdown and will be followed by flame events in Hiroshima before the relay combines in Nagoya.
- Organisers say preparations are in their final stages and have contracted the Italian cruise ship Costa Serena to house about 4,000–5,000 athletes in 571 cabins and leisure spaces.
- About 2,000 athletes and officials will be housed in wooden shipping-container style huts at Nagoya’s Garden Pier while the remaining competitors will stay in hotels, including in Tokyo for events held there.
- Officials express confidence the Games, set for Sept. 19–Oct. 4 with roughly 15,000 competitors and officials, will go ahead as planned but acknowledge Japan’s September–October typhoon season is a material operational risk.
- The event will feature more athletes than the Olympics, add new sports such as mixed martial arts, padel, teqball and virtual taekwondo, and highlight teenage talents including Alexandra Eala, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yu Zidi.