Olympic Flame Displayed at Japan Olympic Museum

The Olympic flame will be on public display at the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo, as of 1 September. The lantern was delivered during a special ceremony prepared by the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee. It will remain there until 1 November.

"There was a lot of drama surrounding the delivery of the Olympic flame, but we overcame various difficulties, just as track athletes must clear hurdles, and now it is on display here,” said Tokyo 2020 President Mori Yoshiro. “The flame will be carried in turn by about 10,000 torchbearers next year; we will use it to ignite the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony and ensure the Tokyo 2020 Games are a great success. We will continue to work closely with all parties concerned to prepare for safe and secure Games."

"I understand that the athletes aiming to participate in next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games are training amidst concern about the COVID-19 pandemic,” added Yamashita Yasuhiro, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee. “I am confident that the display of the Olympic flame in Japan will be a heartening symbol for them. I look forward to many people being able to see the Olympic flame when it opens to the public tomorrow."

Following the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games, the Olympic flame will be spending a record amount of time in the host country. The flame was lit in Ancient Olympia earlier this year and travelled from Greece to Japan; this display will be a valuable opportunity to further share the Olympic ideals while raising awareness about the Tokyo 2020 Games.

In addition, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay, rescheduled to take place next year, aims to showcase the recovery of the areas worst affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and enable the people from the disaster-affected areas, who have worked so hard in the reconstruction and recovery of their local communities, to view the Olympic flame, in line with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay concept “Hope Lights Our Way”.