• Background to the Games
• The build-up to the Games
• The opening ceremony
• During the Games
• Media coverage at the event
• The closing ceremony

Background to the Games

On 7 September 2013, Tokyo was elected as the host city of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the 125th Session of the International Olympic Committee held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Originally scheduled to take place from 25th August to the 6th September 2020, the Tokyo Paralympics was postponed by a year in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the rescheduled Games still referred to as Tokyo 2020 for marketing and branding purposes.

The rescheduled Paralympics took place from 24th August to the 5th September 2021 and were largely held behind closed doors with no outside spectators. 

At least five countries withdrew from the Games due to Covid-19 related concerns, including North Korea (which declined to participate in either Paralympics or the Olympics), as well as Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu due to budgetary concerns as a result of Covid travel restrictions.

The Tokyo Paralympic Games comprised 22 sports with badminton and taekwondo making their Paralympic debut.  4,393 athletes (2,547 men and 1846 women) from 162 countries competed in the Games, in 539 medal events (22 sports)

Japan had focused on creating a ‘barrier-free’ country for disabled people since it was awarded the Games in 2013 with quotas introduced for disability employment and the transformation of transport hubs to make them accessible. 

The build-up to the Games

Logo

Image © IPC

The logo was designed by Asao Tokolo, a graduate of Tokyo Zokei University.  The Games organisers felt that the harmonised chequered logos, composed of three varieties of rectangular shapes, represented different countries, cultures and ways of thinking. They reflected the spirit of the games and incorporated the message of unity in diversity.

Slogan

The slogan for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games was ‘United by Emotion’. The theme reflected the unifying power of sports and its ability to bring people together from diverse backgrounds allowing them to connect and celebrate despite their differences.

Poster

Image © IPC

‘Paralympian’ - the poster for the 2020 Paralympics was the work of Goo Choki Par – a design group based in Tokyo formed by three graphic designers - Q Asaba, Kent Iitaka and Rei Ishii. This was the first time the International Paralympic Committee selected an official poster for the Paralympic Games.

Changes to Events

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics saw a number of changes to sports and events:

• New sports: Badminton and taekwondo made their Paralympic debut, replacing 7-a-side football and sailing which were dropped due to insufficient international reach.
• Medal event increases: The number of medal events increased in canoe, shooting, table tennis, track cycling, and wheelchair fencing as different classifications were added or realigned.
• Medal event reductions: The number of medal events decreased in athletics and swimming.
• Classification realignment in some sports. 

Venues

The venues for the Paralympics in Tokyo were split into two zones – the Heritage Zone and the Tokyo Bay Zone – with the Paralympic Village sitting where the two zones intersected.

The Heritage Zone comprised the following venues:

• Olympic Stadium 
  The National Stadium was used as the main stadium for the Tokyo 1964 Paralympic Games, and was rebuilt as a brand new stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
  Spectator capacity – 68,000.
  Used for the opening and closing ceremonies, and athletics.
• Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
  A legacy venue of the 1964 Games and was still being used for major competitions and international events.
  Spectator capacity –7,000.
  Used for table tennis.
• Yoyogi National Stadium
  This venue was constructed for the 1964 Games and was famous for its suspension roof design.
  Spectator capacity – 10,200.
  Used for badminton and wheelchair rugby.
• Nippon Budokan
  This legacy venue of the 1964 Games was known as the spirtual home of Japanese martial arts – especially judo – but was also used for national, educational, and large-scale commercial events such as concerts.
  Spectator capacity – 11,000.
  Used for judo.
• Tokyo International Forum
  Opened in 1997 as a centre for the promotion and communication of comprehensive culture and information, and the promotion of international exchanges.
  Spectator capacity – 5,000.
  Used for para powerlifting.
• Equestrian Park
  This venue hosted the equestrian competitions at the Tokyo 1964 Games. Established in 1940, the park held horse riding and equestrian competitions.
  Spectator capacity – 9,300.
  Used for equestrian.
• Musashino Forest Sport Plaza
  Completed in 2017, this was a multi-purpose sports venue hosting major sporting competitions and entertainment events.
  Spectator capacity – 7,200.
  Used for wheelchair basketball.

The Tokyo Bay zone held the following venues:

• Ariake Gymnastic Centre
  A temporary sports venue opened in 2019 constructed for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and Olympics. It has been developed into an Exhibition Hall following the Games.
  Spectator capacity – 12,000.
  Used for boccia.
• Ariake Tennis Park
  Japan’s main tennis facilty opened in 1983.
  Capacity – 19,400.
  Used for wheelchair tennis.
• Odaiba Marine Park
  This is a public park which stretches around the Tokyo Bay.   A temporary venue was set up in the park during the Games.
  Spectator capacity – 5,500.
  Used for triathlon.
• Aomi Urban Sports Venue
  A temporary venue in the waterfront Aomi district.
  Spectator capacity – 4,300.
  Used for 5-a-side football.
• Sea Forest Waterway
  The Sea Forest Waterway’s rowing and canoe course was newly constructed in the canals between the Inner and Outer Central Breakwater Reclamation Areas of the Port of Tokyo as a new permanent facility and opened in June 2019.  Since the Games it has continued to be used as international watersports competition venue.
  Spectator capacity – 12,800.
  Used for canoe and rowing.
• Yumenoshima Park Archery Field
  Yumenoshima Park Archery Field was constructed in the park area of the Dream Island site and completed in February 2019. It was built on a former landfill site which was in use from 1957 to 1967.
  Spectator capacity – 5,600.
  Used for archery
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
  Newly constructed for the 2020 Games, the centre first opened its doors in October 2020. Following the Games the capacity was reduced from 15,000 to 5,000 and it has been used for swimming competitions and is open to the public. 
  Spectator capacity – 15,000.
  Used for swimming.

The following venues were outside the centre of the city of Tokyo:

• Fuji International Speedway
  A motor racing circuit not far from the Tokyo metropolitan area was used as the starting and finishing point for the Paralympic Road cycling.
  Spectator capacity – 22,000.
  Used for road cycling.
• Asaka Shooting Range
  Held on the same site as the Games in 1964, a temporary facility was constructed for the 2020 games.
  Spectator capacity – 3,200.
  Used for shooting.
• Makuhari Messe
  This venue was a large scale convention centre located in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture and was built in 1989.
  It was divided into three separate Halls for the 2020 Games:
  Hall A
  Spectator capacity – 10,000.
  Used for sitting volleyball.
  Hall B
  Spectator capacity – 7,000.
  Used for taekwondo and wheelchair fencing
  Hall C
  Spectator capacity – 5,500.
  Used for goalball
• Izu Velodrome
  This indoor velodrome located in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture was opened in 2011 and is the only 250m wooden surface velodrome in Japan.
  Spectator capacity – 3,600.
  Used for track cycling.

Mascot

Image © IPC

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic mascot's name was Someity, (pronounced soh-may-tee) which comes from the word someiyoshino, a popular cherry blossom tree, and echoes the English phrase ‘so mighty’.

Someity had superpowers and could send and receive messages telepathically through its cherry blossom antennaes. Someity represented Paralympic athletes who overcome obstacles and redefine what is possible.

The Japanese Paralympic Committee received 2,042 submissions for mascots for Tokyo 2020, and shortlisted three mascot pairs for a public vote by Japanese elementary school pupils. Designed by character designer and illustrator Ryo Taniguchi, Someity was announced as the winner in July 2018. 

The Paralympic Flame

 

Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Torch

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Torch Relay was held between the 12th and 24th August 2021. The relay started with flame festivals in 43 prefectures of Japan. After touring through these 43 locations, the Paralympic relay begun its final journey to Tokyo on the 20th August, arriving after gathering the flames from 3 more of Japan’s prefectures. On the 20th August, the torch was brought together in Tokyo with the Heritage flame, which had been lit in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain on the 19th August 2021.
The torch then toured around Tokyo for 4 days before the Opening Ceremony on the 24th August 2021.

The torch is designed to depict the shape of a flame. The five flames generated from the petal unite at the centre of the torch, generating even greater brilliance. The shape of the torch also resembles the Japanese traditional “Sakura” cherry blossom emblem – which was also the inspiration for the mascot Someity.

The opening ceremony

Paralympic flame lighting at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Tokyo, Japan, 25th August 2021. Image © Shutterstock

Many doubted this day would happen. Many thought it impossible. But thanks to the efforts of many, the most transformative sport event on earth is about to begin.

These were the words of Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee, in his speech at the 2020 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony.

The ceremony took place on the 24th August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo and the overall theme was ‘Moving Forward: We Have Wings’.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no audience in the stadium but the following host country dignatories were in attendance:

• Emperor Naruhito
• Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
• Tokyo Governor Yoriko Koike, Minister of State for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Tamayo Marukawa 
• Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan Katsunobu Katō

The opening ceremony celebrated togetherness and bringing out the best in one another and was a fabulous spectacle of colour and celebration. Of the 714 cast members who performed, 166 were disabled.

There were also more sombre moments reflecting the global events of the 18 months preceding the Games.  A rescue worker was one of those carrying the Japanese flag in the stadium and the Paralympic flag by eight key workers.

Swimmer Ellie Simmonds and archer John Stubbs were the flag bearers for Great Britain and led a 17-strong ParalympicsGB delegation into the stadium.

The Games were declared officially open by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.

During the Games

The 2020 Paralympic Athletes' Village was located in the Harumi waterfront district of Tokyo. As the Games took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, all those staying in the village had to undergo daily testing, social distancing and wear face masks.

The accommodation buildings in the village comprised 21 grey blocks between 14 and 18 stories high which housed 8,000 athletes and staff for the Paralympics.

Guests in the Olympic Village stayed in rooms with one or two beds, in apartments that could house up to eight people each.
The Village Plaza housed a cafe, a bank, a photo studio, a post office, a dry cleaner, a florist, a fitness centre, a clinic, and the 24-hour main dining hall.

Self-drive electric vehicles were used to transport athletes around the main buildings in the village. The buses stopped being used on the 21st August after one injured visually-impaired Japanese athlete Aramitsu Kitazono. They resumed near the end of the Paralympics when more safety features were implemented including additional staff on duty, louder warning sounds and more pedestrian guides.

The Medals

Image © IPC

Designed by Sakiko Matsumoto, the Paralympic medals were inspired by traditional Japanese fans.  The leaves of the fan showcased the beauty of nature in Japan – with engraved shapes of rocks, flowers, trees, leaves and water.

The medals were made from recycled metal extracted from small electronic devices donated by the public.

Braille letters spelling out Tokyo 2020 were found on the medal face and a series of circular indentations on the side of the medals – one for gold, two for silver and three for bronze – had been included for athletes with a visual impairment. Additionally, the ribbons also featured silicon convex dots to help individuals identify their medals, and used the same system; one for gold, two for silver and three for bronze.

Medal statistics

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics saw 539 medal events in 22 sports. 86 countries claimed at least one medal – more than ever before – topping the 83 countries in Rio 2016. First Paralympic golds were won by Ethiopia, Pakistan, Ecuador, Sri Lanka and Costa Rica.
ParalympicsGB sent 227 athletes who competed in 19 sports and finished second for the ninth time with 124 medals in total, of which 41 were gold, 38 silver and 45 bronze. China topped the medal table for the fifth consecutive time.

Prominent British Paralympic athletes

• Dame Sarah Storey 
  Sarah became Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian of all time at the Tokyo Games – winning three gold medals in cycling and taking her career tally of gold medals to 17 – one more than swimmer Mike Kenny who won 16.
• Reece Dunn
  Reece won three gold medals, a silver, and a bronze in swimming at Tokyo 2020 making him the most decorated athlete in the ParalympicsGB squad.
• Lee Pearson
  Lee won three gold medals in para dressage at the Tokyo Games. He now has 14 gold medals to his name and has been competing at the Paralympics since the Sydney 2000 Games.
• Bethany Firth
  Bethany added to her collection of medals at this Games with another 2 gold and 2 silver in para swimming.
• GB men’s wheelchair rugby team
  Great Britain won their first Paralympic medal in wheelchair rugby after the men’s team defeated Team USA in the final.  They also became the first European gold medallists in the sport.
• Neil and Lora Fachie
  Husband and wife para cyclists both won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Image ©SWPix

Media coverage at the event

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games were the most successful to date in terms of number of global viewers and digital accessibility – all despite taking place during a global pandemic.

The Japanese Paralympic Broadcaster, NHK, showed the most coverage of Paralympic Games footage by a host broadcaster in history, approximately 700 hours, and it was the first Paralympics to be broadcast to many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America.

It was also the most digitally diverse including live streaming on platforms like YouTube and Facebook and viewer engagement through social media apps such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.  The athletes use of social media to shape the narrative around their own stories  and media representation had also greatly increased.

In the UK, Channel 4 aired over 300 hours of Paralympic coverage on Channel 4 and More 4 as well as over 1,000 hours via 16 live streams on All 4 - capturing every event that was covered live.  The coverage was viewed by over 20 million viewers – a third of the UK population.

The closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was held on 5th September 2021 in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium with a theme of ‘Moving Forward: Harmonious Cacophony’.

Governor of Tokyo Yoriko Koike participated in the ceremony along with the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, as Paris would be the host city of the 2024 Paralympic Games, and Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee who said:

These Games helped fulfil the dreams of many here in Tokyo and fuelled the ambitions of many more watching at home.

Boccia gold medallist David Smith was the ParalympicsGB flag bearer.

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