On September 5, the world's largest parasports competition will come to a close. This year the world's largest sports and parasports competition has shown us the great performances of many athletes for about a month and a bit in total for both competitions.

This year's competition was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19, and was also held on a smaller scale. Therefore, some of you may feel like you didn't get to experience the excitement up close. In today's post, I'd like to share with you what's going on in Taito City during the competition.

First of all, the Taito Riverside Sports Center, a general sports facility that is familiar to many Taito City residents, was the official training ground for the triathlon in both events. I was deeply moved to think that the facility we usually use was also used by the athletes.
Furthermore, the torch kissing by the torch bearers from Taito City was held at a flame lighting ceremony venue. They were originally scheduled to run the torch relay, but due to the lack of improvement in the COVID-19 infection situation, the relay on public roads was canceled for both events, and this ceremony was held in its place. Despite not being able to run as originally planned, it was very impressive to see the torch bearers smiling as they performed the torch kiss. Azumabashi Bridge, Komagatabashi Bridge, Umayabashi Bridge, Kuramaebashi Bridge, and Shirahigebashi Bridge in Taito City were all lit up in their respective symbol colors during both events. It was really beautiful to see the brightly colored lights reflecting on the surface of the river under the dark night sky.
The parasports marathon on the last day includes Kaminarimon Gate in Asakusa in its course. Don't miss the live broadcast!

Although it has been impossible for us to watch the games directly due to the COVID-19 this year, these various aspects of the city gave me a sense that the tournament is actually being held in Tokyo.