Any space-related phenomenon itself becomes a subject of interest. Therefore, adding a mega sporting event’s thrill to space has caught the attention of everyone. On the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, the Olympic flag was passed to the next host city Paris. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, was present in the closing ceremony to receive it. Hence, the Olympic baton was passed to Paris.
Tokyo Olympics got delayed because of the pandemic by one year. In addition to the delay, this year spectators were not allowed. Irrespective of that, the Japanese Olympic Committee left no stones unturned to make the Olympic games elegant in every way. They ensured the athletes’ safety while maintaining the magnificence of the Olympics.
The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, says, “In these difficult times, you gave to the world the most precious of gifts: hope. For the first time since the pandemic began, the entire world came together. Now I have to mark the end of this most challenging Olympic journey to Tokyo: I declare the Games of the 32nd Olympiad closed.”
Olympic Baton Passing Ceremony In Space
On the day of the closing ceremony, the celebration was indeed ‘otherworldly’. Two astronauts, one from the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) and one from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), were aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Akihiko Hoshide (Japanese astronaut) handed over the baton to Thomas Pesquet (French astronaut) for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The video posted by Pesquet is going viral on Twitter.
Thomas Pesquet tweeted, “With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ending today and the next Olympics to be Paris 2024 Hoshide and I held a ceremony. With Aki, we got a little ahead of the closing ceremony while waiting for the real handover at Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024 in few hours.”
The official Twitter account of the Olympics tweeted the video. The tweet reads, ‘An Olympic handover… in space #ClosingCeremony ‘ The next summer Olympic Games will be held in Paris 2024.