By Corky Siemaszko - NBC News
TOKYO —It's time for Japan to take its Olympic bow.
Tokyo will pass the baton to Paris this Sunday after hosting a Games will go down in history for having been delayed a year due to COVID-19 and dismayed a skeptical public, but still offered powerful moments of sports drama.
The closing ceremony, which began at 8:00 pm Tokyo time, 7:00 am Eastern time, began with the solemn arrival of the Japanese flag at the Olympic stadium.
The flag-bearers of all the countries then paraded until they formed a gigantic circle in the center.
Later, and in the midst of a festive atmosphere, the members of each delegation entered, many of whom proudly showed the medals they had won to the television cameras.
This ceremony capped two weeks of Olympic action that were enjoyed by millions of people around the world but seen in person by only a select few due to a pandemic that will stalk the host country long after the athletes have left.
"We know that by the end of the Games, we will have 200 million cheers coming from every country in the world," Yiannis Exarchos, who heads the Olympic Broadcasting Services, said on Saturday.
"It's a huge number," he added.
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Marked by logistical challenges and internal opposition in their early days, these Olympics gave way not only to the spectacle of sporting glory and defeat, but to geopolitical intrigue, athletes' mental health and much more.
The United States once again led the world with 113 medals, of which 39 gold, followed by China and Japan, according to the official tally.
[Allyson Felix achieves 11th medal: most decorated US athlete]
President Joe Biden thanked American athletes for "showing what we can do together as one United States and as one team," in a video message to the delegation posted on Twitter on Saturday.
"Beyond the medals and the results, it reminded us that we are stronger than we thought," he said.
Masa Takaya, a spokesman for the Games who has spent much of the event answering questions from skeptical reporters about the coronavirus and other controversies, made no secret of his satisfaction during Friday's daily press conference.
"It is important that athletes from all countries perform their best, but it is also good to see athletes who participate from their own home perform well," he said.
Japan achieved
a very important gold
on Saturday
by defeating the United States in the baseball final, which returned to Olympic competition after several stoppages.
The host country organized the world's largest sports celebration, tackling a pandemic that has infected more than 200 million people and killed 4.3 million worldwide.
Days before the start of the sporting event, the virus regained momentum in most countries due to the delta variant.
Cases increased rapidly in Tokyo, forcing organizers to take further containment measures.
History will judge whether these Olympic Games were a success.
But, in the meantime, we can safely state that:
- It was the Games where gymnastics star Simone Biles took home a team silver medal and a bronze on the balance beam, and left a golden legacy after retiring by surprise from most competitions to focus on your mental health.
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- It was the Games in which the athlete Allyson Felix and the swimmer Katie Ledecky enlarged their legend by adding more medals to their record.
In addition, new Olympic stars were born, such as swimmer Caeleb Dressel, surfer Carissa Moore, gymnast Suni Lee, and runners Sydney McLaughlin and Molly Seidel.
- American basketball once again imposed its greatness and revalidated itself as a world power: the men won their fourth consecutive Olympic gold and the women their seventh.
- The United States women's soccer team fell short in their quest for another gold medal.
But the seasoned Alex Morgan, one of the many stars of this golden generation who could have played their last Olympics in Tokyo, told NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo, that they are proud of the effort made.
"We are very happy to have gotten a bronze medal," Morgan said.
[United States wins its fourth consecutive Olympic gold in men's basketball]
- The Americans also saw Olympic heroes from far away play, such as Alaskan teenager Lydia Jacoby, who won gold in the women's 100-meter breaststroke.
In his state there is an Olympic swimming pool in which he could not train for months due to the coronavirus.
- Several minors competed in these Olympics, such as 15-year-old American swimmer Katie Grimes, and a group of teenagers who participated in
stakeboarding
, including 13-year-old champion from Japan, Momiji Nishiya.
Chinese dive jumper Quan Hongchan made history by receiving two 10s at just 14 years old.
American basketball player Sue Bird, 40, and jockey Phillip Dutton, 57, also defied age.
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- These were the Games in which Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya challenged her country's authoritarian leader by criticizing her coaches and
escaped those who tried to send her back home to a Tokyo airport
, before taking refuge in Poland.
- Other athletes stood or knelt for the Black Lives Matter movement and #MeToo, or rebelled wearing full-length suits instead of traditional attire to denounce that sexualization in sport.
- There were Olympic displays of kindness and class: runners Isaiah Jewett, from the United States, and Nigel Amos, from Botswana, helped each other to their feet after falling during the 800-meter semi-finals.
High jumpers Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar embraced after agreeing that they would
share the gold medal
without seeking a tiebreaker.
- There were also moments of frustration: Serbian number 1 in world tennis, Novak Djokovic broke his racket as he saw the option of winning the gold slip away and the possibility of becoming the first man to win the Golden Slam fading : four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.
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- Algerian judo competitor Fethi Nourine defied the Olympic ideal by retiring to avoid fighting an Israeli.
On the other hand, a coach of the German modern pentathlon team was expelled from the Games for hitting a horse that refused to jump.
Just three weeks ago, the Tokyo Games seemed to be imploding.
Polls showed that a solid majority of Japanese were opposed to the Olympics.
One of its main sponsors, Toyota Motor Corp., withdrew its local television ads to avoid ties to an event that seemed doomed to doom.
In parallel, the number of athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Olympic village was increasing, despite assurances from Japanese leaders that the Games would be "safe."
[Mexico beats Japan and takes the bronze medal in soccer at the Olympic Games]
Olympics historian Jeremy Fuchs told NBC News at the time that "there have never been completely happy Games" and that these events, on more than one occasion, have been overshadowed by controversies over human rights and politics, including spending. excessive.
"I think this amount of controversy is unprecedented," Fuchs said however.
"I think it would be difficult to find an example in history where the citizens of a host country have been so unhappy."
In an interview with NBC News on the eve of Tokyo-2020, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga admitted that it was laborious to sell the idea of the Games to the Japanese.
But he said the event would be held.
And so it happened.
