What happens if someone drops the olympic torch

Nomura picked up his first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta in , followed by his second in and a third four years later to become the first person to take three consecutive judo golds.

Kosuke Kitajima, The two-time breaststroke gold medalist and former world record holder retired in , but remains a popular figure in Japan, appearing on television as a commentator and celebrity. He is also the general manager of the Tokyo Frogs, a professional swim team that competes around the world and is active in promoting swimming lessons for children.

Saori Yoshida, Three-time Olympic wrestling gold medallist who also won 13 straight world championships, she is admired for her dedication to a sport she began aged three with a strict training schedule that was overseen by her father, a one-time national champion.

She is known for her lobbying to keep wrestling as an event in the Games after the International Olympic Committee said it was considering dropping the sport. Some commentators have called for a non-celebrity, who would represent the country's recovery from the earthquake and tsunami that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster, devastated Japan's northeast coastline and killed nearly 20, people.

Japan made a similar choice in - the last time Tokyo hosted the Games - when Yoshinori Sakai, a year-old college athlete born in Hiroshima on Aug. Whoever carries the torch on Friday, the new stadium, built on the same site as the one used for the Games, will be nearly empty, with only around people, mostly officials and journalists, watching in the stands. Yet the torchbearer's face will likely be seen by hundreds of millions of people watching around the world. Forget the cheering crowds.

The action would be streamed online," reported the Wall Street Journal. The passing of the Olympic flame from its birthplace in Greece to wherever the games are being held in a given year is obviously a big deal, and involves serious logistics.

The torches carried by the runners are specially made to burn with a large, visible yellow flame that's easily photographed, as well as a smaller, hotter white flame that's not as easily blown out. But sometimes life doesn't go the way we plan — what happens if the flame does accidentally go out? However, the International Olympic Committee IOC keeps backup lanterns on hand that were lit from the same flame as the Olympic torch at the original ceremony back in Olympia.

The IOC has a protocol in place for relighting an extinguished torch. It blew out the flame, so I had to stop to receive a replacement torch from the car behind me carrying the mother lamp.

The second time, I got the original torch back, lit again from the mother lamp in the car. According to Bijkerk, the mother lamp is kept in the car that trails the relay runners is much like a mining lamp used in the old coal mines. With its own security retinue, a message of peace and cooperation, and a mother lamp never far away, what could go wrong?

You may be wondering what happens if the flame goes out. But lanterns containing flames from the lighting ceremony are available during the relay if needed. A woman was the first torchbearer for the first time ever last year when Anna Korakaki, a Greek shooting gold medalist in the Rio Games, kicked off the Tokyo Olympic torch relay.

Korakaki passed off the flame to Mizuki Noguchi, a Japanese marathon runner who captured gold in the Olympics. The relay would normally then continue throughout Greece following the lighting ceremony, but on March 13 the country canceled the rest of its relay due to COVID concerns. On March 20, the flame arrived in Japan via airplane.

The Japan part of the relay was also suspended following the postponement of the Tokyo Games, and the flame was put on display at the Tokyo Olympic Museum in September. For instance, nearly the entire Tokyo portion of the relay was moved off of public streets.

The final torchbearer, who lights the Olympic cauldron during the Opening Ceremony, is typically a famous athlete, or athletes, from the host country.

At the London Games, seven teenage athletes were nominated by legendary British Olympians to light the cauldron. The identity of the cauldron lighter is kept under wraps until the Opening Ceremony, so we will have to wait until July 23 to find out who gets the honor at the Tokyo Olympics.

Noriaki Nagatsuka, a deputy police chief in Mito, told Vice News: "You can't shoot water at people for no good reason. She clearly wasn't playing around - this isn't child's play. According to Ms Takahashi's partner, who filmed the now viral video, he did not know that his girlfriend would bring a water gun with intentions to disrupt the torch relay, Reuters news agency said.

How has Covid hit the Tokyo Olympic Games? Japanese who support the Games fear speaking out. Why doesn't Japan cancel the Tokyo Olympic Games? Image source, Getty Images.