TOKYO OLYMPICS Team GB go for gold as the 2020 Games finally kick off

THE GAMES BURST INTO LIFE WITH A SPECTACULAR CEREMONY AS ROYALS LEAD SUPPORT FOR TEAM GB

The Tokyo Olympics got off to a glittering start when the host city put on a breathtaking display to officially open the games. Lit up by spectacular fireworks, the city’s Olympic Stadium shone for the opening ceremony.

But unlike in previous years, there were no crowds of spectators invited to watch the spectacle, owing to Covid- 19 restrictions. Instead, around 950 VIPs watched the proceedings, one of the highlights of which was when five wooden rings were carried into the stadium and then pulled together to form the Olympic symbol. The rings were created from trees that grew from seeds brought by athletes to the 1964 Games, also held in Tokyo.

Team GB took part in a parade across the stadium, led by flagbearers Hannah Mills, a sailor, and rower Mohamed Sbihi. Waving to the cameras in their team tracksuits, the pair were followed into the stadium by 20 team-mates.

ROYAL SEND-OFF

Meanwhile, last week the Duke of Cambridge lent his support to our athletes when he met medal hopeful Lauren Price at Kensington Palace. He told Lauren, 27, Wales’s first female Olympic boxer, who is ranked world No. 1: “We’ll all be wishing you well, Lauren, and cheering you on. You’ll do us very proud in the Olympics, I’m sure, and you’ll do everyone proud in your home town, and your grandparents as well, so best of luck.”

The Princess Royal – president of the British Olympic Association, who competed herself in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal – also had a message of support for Team GB, comprising nearly 400 athletes. “Although I am sad not to be there in person, I and the whole nation will be cheering for you and proudly supporting you from home,” she said. “I do remember from my own Olympic journey the anticipation and excitement of stepping onto the Olympic stage. But also the single-minded focus on what you need to do.” She added: “It will be different, but not in its importance to you.”

‘I and the whole nation will be cheering for you’ The Princess Royal

The Princess Royal recalls her own Olympic experience in 1976 in a video wishing Team GB well, while the Duke of Cambridge gives Olympic boxer Lauren Price his support (right) Team GB athletes enter the stadium, which due to Covid-19 restrictions was almost empty (main photo), though Emperor Naruhito, Prince Albert of Monaco and US First Lady Jill Biden were among 950 VIPs there