It’s been one of the most highly anticipated Games in history, and with half of Australia in lockdown, all eyes were glued to TV screens as Australia’s Flag Bearers rewrote the history books in Tokyo.
Four-time Olympians, Cate Campbell (Swimming) and Patty Mills (Basketball) emerged guiding the spirit of the Australian Team, adorned in their Sportscraft uniforms, showcasing Australia’s iconic green and gold colours.
Walking seamlessly and waving the flag high, Mills became the first Indigenous Australian to carry the flag at an Opening Ceremony and Campbell the first female swimmer to do so.
Campbell and Mills led the Australian charge as the 38th country to enter, followed by 63 athletes, in order of number of most Olympic appearances, through to the debutants.
The 409 athletes not making the march into the stadium marked the occasion in their own way. Back at the Olympic Village, the Aussie Team marched along the Boulevard, gathering to watch the ceremony and recite the Olympians’ Oath, led by two-time Indigenous Olympian Kyle Vander Kuyp (athletics).
Closer to home, the athletics athletes who haven’t yet made the journey to Tokyo, enjoyed similar celebrations in Cairns.
Over the next 16 nights the nation will come together to cheer on our Aussie Team as they compete across 33 sports. With athletes ranging in age from 66 years old with Equestrian’s Mary Hanna to Swimming’s Mollie O’Callaghan at just 17, the most Indigenous athletes (16) in an Australian Team and the most female athletes in an overseas Team (261 / 53.6%), this Tokyo 2020 Team is one for the history books.
The Opening Ceremony began with 649 fireworks, strategically timed with symbolic light displays, the performances seen around the globe pushed a message of unity, connection and hope.
The host nation’s performances paid tribute to traditional Japanese culture, but more significantly highlighted the athlete's journey to these unique Games.
As the lights rose in Tokyo Olympic Stadium, we see a lone athlete, running silently on a treadmill. The journey is one that these athletes know all too well, training in solitude, a global community challenged by the events of 2020.
However, as the stadium continues to be illuminated, we see others, a cyclist, a rower, all training in insolation. They are all individual, but they are connected by an invisible bond. United.
