Tokyo 2020 Torch

[WD96]

Sorry about the last topic I created. I meant to make the title "Tokyo 2020 Torch". 

Anyways, when will the torch relay start?

[Ikarus360]

A bit too early, don't you think?

Torch design will most likely be unveiled in 2019. As for the Torch relay, I suppose somewhere between April-May 2020. They haven't even announced the planned route yet. 

[Chrishigh765]

I saw this story that the Japanese was going to start the relay 30 days earlier than the IOC's plan and that made me wonder could the IOC bring back the global Olympic Torch Relay?

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1059525/olympic-torch-relay-to-last-30-days-longer-than-ioc-target-tokyo-2020-president-reveals

 

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/27/national/tokyo-2020-torch-relay-last-130-days-organizing-committee-chief-says/

[Ikarus360]

After what happened in Beijing, not a chance. I think they even explicity said once they don't intend to do the international torch relay thing anymore.

[baron-pierreIV]

On 3/24/2018 at 5:08 AM, Ikarus360 said:

After what happened in Beijing, not a chance. I think they even explicity said once they don't intend to do the international torch relay thing anymore.

Correct.  The last one they allowed was for the Singapore 2010 YOGs, and that only for 5 int'l stops for their so-called 5 continents.  But that was going to be the last truly international one.  It' really a big waste of resources for very little return.  

[gotosy]

114-day 2020 torch relay eyed, emphasis on 7 prefectures

 

The torch relay to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will take around 114 days to reach all of Japan's 47 prefectures, and will place special emphasis on areas affected by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster, sources told Kyodo News on Tuesday.

Three northeast Japan prefectures hard-hit by the disaster -- Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima -- will be allocated three days each, the sources said. Four prefectures outside of Tokyo hosting Olympic events -- Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka -- will also get three days each in the relay.

Tokyo will be given 15 days and the other 39 prefectures across Japan two days each, with the total number of days still open to adjustment, the sources said.

The final framework is expected to be approved at a meeting on April 10 between the 2020 organizing committee, the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments and the National Governors' Association.

On Tuesday, Yoshiro Mori, president of the organizing committee, called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his office to brief him on the torch relay plans.

Speaking to reporters later, Mori said only that draft plans have been created, without divulging any specifics on the total days required or how they will be allocated.

Organizers hope to announce the route of the torch relay in the summer of 2019. The lighting of the Olympic torch has been a feature of the modern Olympics since the 1928 Amsterdam Games, while the relay was created by Nazi Germany in 1936 for Berlin.

 

Kyodo

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/04/40c4f2dda40c-olympics-114-day-2020-torch-relay-eyed-emphasis-on-7-prefectures.html

[spiele]

To  be honest I actually think its a shame the IOC has shied away from the international torch relay - not all countries are China and they could have taken it on a case by case basis (if I recall correctly - the biggest trouble in the Canberra leg was actually nationalist Chinese students, not anti PRC protesters) .

Would have been nice to see Rio's relay visit other South American nations, or the 2024 relay travelling around the EU from Olympia to Paris (the thought of it doing the journey from Greece to France entirely by land is kind quite lovely).

[Rob2012]

Couldn't disagree more. The torch relay is one (maybe the only?) aspect of the Games that really doesn't need tinkering with. There's no need for bloated international relays and all the problems that come with them. IMO, Athens should've been a one-off. The torch relay warming up the host country for the Games is perfect, it doesn't need changing.

[Scotguy]

I don't see an issue with having the flame visit the previous host cities, its a way to keep that connection alive, a day in each city, then a really great domestic relay.

[olympiaki-agones]

I hope the Japanese don't get too much of the tsunami event thing suring the relay. It was enought with the Hiroshima last torch carrier in 1964.  I would be more interested on the relay across Olympic Japanese prefectures.

[TorchbearerSydney]

Prediction..the Tokyo 64 cauldron was lit by a 19 year old born on the day of the Hiroshima Bomb...the Tokyo 2020 cauldron  will be lit by a 19 year old born in Sendai on the day of the tsunami???

[olympiaki-agones]

Oh, it seems that fact heads to become a Japanese Olympic tradition. But I refuse the idea of non-athlete cauldron lighters with no actual sport achievements should never get the last relay. Calgary'88 and London 2012 pissed me off in that part.

[gotosy]

 

Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay to start in Fukushima

 

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Olympic organizers said Thursday the torch relay for the 2020 Games will start on March 26 that year in Fukushima Prefecture, which was heavily hit by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster.

The plan was approved in a meeting attended by top metropolitan government officials after a proposal to start the torch tour in the northeastern Japan prefecture.

"With Fukushima named the starting point of the torch relay, (the relay) will be a symbol of the Olympics of recovery," said reconstruction minister Masayoshi Yoshino.

"We want to use this as a global showcase for Japan's recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. In order to restore livelihoods in the disaster-struck areas, we hope that victims take part (in the relay) as torch runners," he said.

Tokyo Olympic organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori stressed that the committee had tried to formulate the torch relay plan by listening to various ideas.

"It's not possible to figure out the plan which would absolutely be the best. We agreed to do it with the disaster-hit areas and their recovery in mind," he said.

Organizers were considering starting torch relay, which is expected to run for 121 days, in either the disaster-affected areas or in Okinawa Prefecture, the starting point of the torch relay for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

People in Fukushima Prefecture welcomed the torch relay plan, which the prefecture sees as a good chance to raise the profile of its recovery all over the world.

"We are grateful that they have considered the feelings of the disaster victims," said Jun Suzuki, an official of the prefecture's Olympic and Paralympic Games promotion office, adding, "I believe it will be an opportunity to encourage Fukushima people."

Masamichi Matsumoto, a storekeeper who was evacuated from the town of Futaba, near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, to Iwaki city in the prefecture, rejoiced at the announcement, saying, "Memories of the disaster are wearing thin as more than seven years have passed, but it is the utmost delight for us to have an occasion to attract (worldwide) attention."

"We expect the (torch) relay will bring about great excitement in the devastated areas," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.

The torch relay will visit all of Japan's 47 prefectures and end on July 24, 2020, with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the Games' opening ceremony at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

"For me it is very pleasing that the torch relay will be going to all of Japan's prefectures, because we know the importance of taking the games to all of Japan," said Australian John Coates, the chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for Tokyo 2020.

Mori thanked the IOC for allowing the relay to go on for 121 days despite asking it be completed in 100.

"I am so grateful to the flexibility showed," Mori said.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180712/p2g/00m/0sp/064000c

Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay to start in Fukushima

 

[Hightowerio86]

So... we have the official start date for the relay

https://tokyo2020.org/en/news/notice/20180912-02.html

[baron-pierreIV]

On 4/17/2018 at 3:58 PM, TorchbearerSydney said:

Prediction..the Tokyo 64 cauldron was lit by a 19 year old born on the day of the Hiroshima Bomb...the Tokyo 2020 cauldron  will be lit by a 19 year old born in Sendai on the day of the tsunami???

But Midori Ito lit the last Japanese Olympic cauldron at Nagano 1998 (and Yuna Kim for PyeongChang 2018); so I don't think they're going to continue with a "link to the past."   I think Naomi Osaka (who beat Serena W. @ the US Open) is a VERY STRONG candidate right now.  PLus, team her up with one or 2 other significant persons. 

[WD96]

https://www.paralympic.org/news/tokyo-2020-torch-relay-concept-revealed

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181218/p2a/00m/0na/026000c

http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/tokyo-2020-games-hydrogen-fuel-use-to-extend-to-torch-relay/8536634/

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181229_05/

https://japantoday.com/category/sports/olympics-2020-torches-to-be-made-of-recycled-aluminum-from-fukushima

[Sir Rols]

2 hours ago, WD96 said:

https://japantoday.com/category/sports/olympics-2020-torches-to-be-made-of-recycled-aluminum-from-fukushima

Oh, so they’re gonna glow then!

[Lord David]

Maybe it won't be lit by any famous Japanese athlete or someone for "symbolic" reasons. Perhaps a robot will light the cauldron up.

[Hightowerio86]

Finally here is the design of the torch

https://tokyo2020.org/en/special/torch/olympic/design/

[paul]

.....oh no....this is not elegant or powerful. The last cool torch was London.

[zigzag]

The idea of 5 separate flames sounds interesting but the torch itself looks weird and kinda forced.. 

[Ikarus360]

Video of the unveiling

Logo of the Torch Relay

It looks pretty industrial to be honest and as if the grip won't be that comfortable for torchbearers. I do like the Sakura/mon symbol detail at the top as well for the idea of five separated flames, though.

[Ikarus360]

[adrianme17]

i really like it - stunning in fact! not keen on the rose gold as i think this makes it look a wee bit cheap!

[phandrosis]

I like it, especially the return to metal since the past two torches have been dominated by sterile white plastic. It does look a bit difficult to hold but its not clear in many photos yet how rounded off the area it will be held is.

The relay logo initially reminded me of the original games logo, which was interesting.