Naomi Osaka.Photo: Dylan Martinez - Pool/Getty Images
On Friday,Naomi Osakalit the cauldron with the Olympic torch, which was handed off several times after entering the stadium, including from New York Yankees legend Hideki Matsui and a Japanese doctor and nurse. NBC Sports' Mike Tirico later said during the broadcast that the tennis star’s opening match was pushed back to Sunday so she could take part in the ceremony.
Paralympian Tsuchida Wakako passed the torch on to several local students, who in turn took it to Osaka.
Osaka’s mother, Tamika Osaka, is Japanese, and the tennis star is representing Japan in the Olympics.
“The most important thing was to deliver a message of diversity and inclusion. In the end, we decided on [Osaka] because she is a great athlete and she has been delivering a variety of messages so we thought she was the best person to be the final torchbearer. It was a decision that the whole organizing committee came to,” said Hioki Takayuki, who was the executive producer of the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony.
Osaka’s big moment comes shortly after she took a step back from the spotlight, citing her mental health, and opted to sit out the 2021 French Open and Wimbledon. In her first match in nearly two months, Osaka is set to take on 52nd-ranked Saisai Zheng of China in the opening round of the Olympic tournament.
The torch paid homage to the cherry blossom, a symbol for the host country, with its shape of five “petals” from which the flames emerged, according toNBC Olympics, which also reported that the torch was made out of aluminum using the same technology used to produce Japan’s bullet trains.
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Naomi Osaka.Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visitTeamUSA.org. The Tokyo Olympics begin July 23rd on NBC.
source: people.com
