Tokyo, Japan, December 18, 2019: Japan’s FIFA World Cup-winning women’s football team from 2011 will be the torchbearers at the grand start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay at the J-Village National Training Centre in Fukushima on March 26, 2020. The fighting spirit the World Cup-winning team displayed during the tournament in Germany inspired many of the people struggling in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which had struck the country earlier that year in March 2011. Their achievement was recognised by the conferring of a National Honour Award on the whole team in August 2011. Only 30 years after the formation of the first Japanese women’s football team in 1981, the national team had become world champions. Tokyo 2020 will select the torchbearers for the main section of the Olympic Torch Relay from a shortlist of applicants which will be submitted by four Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners and a single Prefectural Task Force. The Olympic flame will traverse all of Japan’s 47 prefectures, passing by many of the nation’s most famous and cherished sights for a period of 121 days, serving as a symbol of the Olympic Games and visiting 858 local municipalities along the way. The torch will be carried by torchbearers on most days – where necessary it will be transported by boat, train or cable car between segments. Source:www.olympic.org
Japan’s women’s world cup champions to kick off Tokyo 2020 torch relay
