Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay route, recalculating

The big-city-life of Osaka, Japan, set to receive the Olympic flame this week but not if the mayor has a say in it. Photo: Courtesy of Alexander Smagin

OSAKA, Japan. — The mayor of the Osaka, Japan prefecture, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID, doesn’t want the planned route of the Olympic Torch Relay to continue through his city. With a population approaching 20 million, Osaka is the third-largest city in Japan with Tokyo topping that list.

“When I watch the torch relay elsewhere in Japan, people tend to gather and those places get crowded,” Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said “When I watch the torch relay elsewhere in Japan, people tend to gather and those places get crowded,” Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said Thursday. “It’s very unfortunate but I think we should call it off,” wrote the Associated Press (AP). Matsui cited a recent area uptick in cases.

As it gingerly restarts plans for the postponed 2020 Summer Games, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee is keeping close watch on every step of the relay as a dry run for the main event.

The Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay began weeks ago and April 13th and 14th mark the scheduled arrival and run-through of the torch in Osaka. The entire country has been invited to see it pass through residents’ regions but with self-imposed social distancing, mask-wearing, and waving instead of verbal cheering.

In May, Olympic Movement leaders plan to meet in Park City for ongoing talks regarding the status of Salt Lake City bidding for a future Winter Olympic Games, Olympic family sources told Townlift.com.

The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic/Paralympic Torch Relay transversed the United States touching the ground on all but four states; North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Hawaii. Salt Lake’s motto for the Games was sparked literally and figuratively by the Torch Relay as ‘Light The Fire Within.’ Tokyo’s Olympic motto is ‘United By Emotion.’

Chris Waddell and Muffy Davis jointly lit the 2002 Paralympic cauldron and the 2002 Olympic cauldron was lit by members of the 1980 ‘Miracle On Ice’ USA Olympic men’s hockey team and their captain Mike Eruzione. The secret of which famous athlete will light the cauldron in Tokyo remains to be revealed on July 23rd.