TOKYO: Japan’s prime minister thanked people for helping the country safely hold the Olympics despite the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic.

He noted the Games were delayed by a year and held under tight restrictions, but “I believe we were able to fulfill our responsibility as the host nation,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, thanking the people for their understanding and cooperation.

The 17-day Summer Olympics were played mostly without spectators. Athletes stayed in an isolation bubble, quickly donned masks off their field of play and had to leave Japan soon after their competitions ended.

But the Games were a testament to perseverance, and as Suga noted in praising Japanese athletes for the nation’s record 58 medals, “Some won medals and others didn’t, but all their performances were moving.”

Suga spoke about the Olympics at a ceremony in Nagasaki on Monday that marked the 76th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the Japanese city.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2021