Olympic Rings Removed From Open Water Venue To Return Ahead Of Next Year’s Games

olympic-rings-tokyo-bay-Tokyo20-olympics20-thomas-bach-ioc-olympics
The Olympic Rings have been removed from Tokyo Bay for maintenance - Photo Courtesy: Tokyo 2020

The Olympic rings installation on a barge in Tokyo Bay has been temporarily removed for maintenance with plans to return in December ahead of the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games.

The structure – which stands 15.3m tall and 32.6m wide – was installed seven months ago in the Odaiba Marine Park, where the open water swimming and triathlon were due to be held before the Olympics were postponed in March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Had they gone ahead, Tokyo 2020 would have been moving into its final stages with the Closing Ceremony originally scheduled for Sunday 9 August.

tokyo 2021

Instead, they have been rescheduled for this time next year although at the moment it is unclear how they will go ahead or in what form.

The barge was taken from its mooring area by small tugboats on a warm, sunny morning in the Japanese capital, a symbolic moment at a time when the city would otherwise have been full of the chaos, history and emotion of the Games. Its absence a reminder of what hasn’t been.

Atsushi Yanashimizu, Planning Director at Tokyo Metropolitan Government, told Reuters on Thursday:

“Since it will be not on display for four months, it is kind of sad.

“I consider in a positive way that we will make sure it will be clean and securely maintained when it comes back in four months.”

 


Advertising: Shop At Swim360


 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x