At long last the time has come. Tokyo 2020 is here with Friday’s opening ceremony officially opening the Games of the XXXII Olympiad a year later than was initially planned.
In this Covid-19 world, the Games will have a very different feel to what we might have envisioned when the Japanese capital was selected to host back in 2013.
From a Team GB perspective, the challenge of matching the heights of London and Rio is immense, but it will be the largest-ever delegation for an overseas Games, while for the very first time there will be more women than men on the team.
So what can we expect from these Games?
New sports
With every Games, there is a slight tweak to the programme, and this year there are four new sports, with another making its comeback.
It might surprise many that karate has not previously featured at the Olympics, but it is fitting that the sport makes its debut in Japan, the country in which it originated.
The introduction of skateboarding has the potential to capture the imagination, not least because 13-year-old Sky Brown is not only going to be Britain’s youngest-ever summer Olympian, but she is also a genuine medal prospect in the women’s park, one of the two disciplines along with street.
Sport climbing is another new sport that features a strong British medal chance in World Championship bronze medallist Shauna Coxsey. Split into three disciplines, speed, bouldering and lead, it certainly fulfils the ‘higher’ part of the recently updated Olympic motto ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together’.
The last of the new sports is surfing, which will take place at Tsurigasaki Beach, while baseball and softball return to the Olympic programme and should be immensely popular in Japan.
There are also a host of new events being added to existing sports, notably a number of mixed gender relays as well as the addition of BMX freestyle to the cycling programme.
Returning Olympic champions
With a total of 56 gold medals across the past two Olympic Games, there are inevitably a host of competitors in the British delegation returning to defend their Olympic crowns.
Among those are taekwondo superstar Jade Jones, seeking an unprecedented third Olympic title, which would be a first for a British woman, while cycling couple Jason and Laura Kenny could become the most successful male and female British Olympians of all time.
There are so many Olympic champions that there is not space to name them all, but we cannot forget Sir Andy Murray going for a third straight men’s singles tennis gold or mum of three Helen Glover back out of retirement as she tries to make it a hat-trick of rowing titles.
Add in Max Whitlock, Giles Scott, Charlotte Dujardin, Adam Peaty. The list goes on. Not to mention Hannah Mills and Moe Sbihi, a pair of Rio champions who will be flagbearers at the opening ceremony.
Cycling has provided so many gold medals in recent times, but it’s worth mentioning Ed Clancy, a three-time Olympic champion in the team pursuit, and Geraint Thomas who will compete in the road race, both returning for their fourth Games, having won their first golds back in 2008 in Beijing.
Ones to Watch
Chef de Mission Mark England said in the build-up to the Games that he expects GB to be ‘medal competitive in a significant number of sports’ so there are plenty of athletes to look out for.
Our Ones to Watch series has already detailed a host of them, and in the second week, most eyes will be on Dina Asher-Smith and her bid to be crowned the greatest female sprinter on the planet.
The world champion over 200m from Doha in 2019 will be a strong contender in both that event and the 100m.
Britain’s taekwondo contingent are not relying solely on Jade Jones for success, and in three-time world champion and Rio bronze medallist, Bianca Walkden is another strong contender for gold.
In the pool, Adam Peaty may take most of the headlines, but Duncan Scott is a world-class swimmer in his own right, and will be a key man both in the relays and his two individual events.
And what of Jonny Brownlee? He already has Olympic silver and bronze medals to his name. Can he complete the set in Tokyo now and keep the triathlon gold in the Brownlee family after older brother Alistair’s successive titles?
Major rivalries
The Olympics is the best of the best going up against one another, and there is nothing better than a great rivalry. Think Seb Coe against Steve Ovett, Zola Budd and Mary Decker or more recently, Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares.
There will be plenty of rivalries on show in Tokyo, some featuring Brits, others international, and Dina Asher-Smith will be at the heart of two of them.
In the 100m, she will try to best double Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who recently ran the second fastest time in history and is the defending world champion.
That could be the race of the Games, but in the 200m, where Asher-Smith is the reigning world champion, her battle with Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who famously took 400m gold in Rio with a dramatic dive to beat Allyson Felix, could also be thrilling.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson emulated Asher-Smith in becoming world champion in Doha two years ago. An injury at the start of the year means her form is a bit of a mystery, but if she is fully fit, her competition with defending champion Nafi Thiam from Belgium could be a belter.
Moving away from the athletics, Britain have dominated the team pursuit in the velodrome in recent times, winning the last three men’s golds, and both golds since it entered the women’s programme in London.
This year, however, both Denmark and Australia will fancy their chances on the men’s side, while the Australian women will also look to put an end to Britain’s dominance. It will be worth a watch.
Let’s finish in the pool. The 50m freestyle is the shortest race in the swimming programme, the fastest men on the planet. Ben Proud is a European and Commonwealth champion in the event, and a strong contender to add an Olympic title to that collection.
In his way stands Caeleb Dressel, arguably the most versatile swimmer since Michael Phelps with 13 world titles to his name already. He is the man to beat in Tokyo, but Proud is the third fastest man in the world this year and will certainly push Dressel all the way.
First medal opportunities
Shooter Seonaid McIntosh goes in the women’s 10m air rifle, the first gold medal awarded on the opening Saturday. While she is probably more of a gold medal contender in the 50m rifle 3 positions, she has won a World Cup silver medal in the 10m.
Elsewhere on the opening Saturday, Geraint Thomas joins the Yates brothers and 2020 Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart in the men’s road race, in which the Brits will certainly hope to challenge for a podium spot.
In terms of gold-medal prospects, Jade Jones goes on Sunday, as does taekwondo teammate Bradley Sinden, while former world champion Lizzie Deignan will look to add to the silver medal she won at London 2012 in the women’s road race.
If somehow the opening weekend has not got you hooked, then the first Monday is packed with British medal chances. It all starts with Adam Peaty, the overwhelming favourite in the 100m breaststroke, with the final set for 3am UK time, so set your alarms.
The excitement is not limited to Peaty though. Jonny Brownlee goes in the triathlon, alongside rising star Alex Yee, while Tom Daley kicks off his fourth Games and don’t sleep on Tom Pidcock in the mountain bike, potentially one of the standout events of the entire competition.