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Kellie Harrington and Brendan Irvine carry the flag for Team Ireland. James Crombie/INPHO

Harrington and Irvine lead out Team Ireland for opening ceremony at near-empty Olympic Stadium

Just a few hundred officials and dignitaries were allowed into the 68,000-capacity venue.

THE OPENING CEREMONY of the Tokyo Olympics began today in a nearly empty stadium after a year-long pandemic postponement and a build-up marred by scandal and controversy.

A video showing athletes training at home during the coronavirus pandemic started the show, with pink fireworks bursting into the air after a countdown.

Boxers Kellie Harrington and Brendan Irvine were tasked with carrying the tricolour for Team Ireland, while all nations were represented at the ceremony by smaller groups of athletes than usual.

It took place before just a few hundred officials and dignitaries, including Japanโ€™s Emperor Naruhito, French President Emmanuel Macron and US First Lady Jill Biden in the 68,000-capacity stadium.

The emperor will officially declare the Games open.

The Olympics have faced opposition in Japan over fears the global gathering of 11,000 athletes could trigger a super-spreader event.

Organisers have put strict virus measures in place, banning overseas fans for the first time ever, and keeping domestic spectators out of all but a handful of venues.

Athletes, support staff and media are subject to strict Covid-19 protocols, including regular testing and daily health checks.

Polls have consistently found a majority of Japanese are against the Games, with opinion ranging from weary indifference to outright hostility.

But there was plenty of enthusiasm outside the Olympic Stadium in the hours before the ceremony, as hundreds of people gathered hoping to soak up the atmosphere and watch the fireworks expected during the extravaganza.

Mako Fukuhara arrived six hours before the ceremony to grab a spot.

โ€œUntil now it didnโ€™t feel like the Olympics, but now we are by the stadium, it feels like the Olympics,โ€ she told AFP as people snapped selfies nearby.

tokyo2020xhtp-japan-tokyo-oly-opening-ceremony A fireworks display over the Olympic Stadium. Xinhua News Agency / PA Images Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images

Traditionally a highlight of any Summer Games, featuring the parade of nations and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, Tokyoโ€™s opening ceremony has been drastically pared back.

Fewer than 1,000 dignitaries and officials are present at the stadium, and in a sign of how divisive the Games remain, several top sponsors including Toyota and Panasonic are not attending.

kellie-harrington-and-brendan-irvine-lead-team-ireland-while-holding-the-tricolour Members of Team Ireland. Photosport / John Cowpland/INPHO Photosport / John Cowpland/INPHO / John Cowpland/INPHO

A few hundred protestors demonstrated against the Games outside the stadium as the ceremony began.

Tokyo is battling a surge in virus cases, and is under emergency measures that means bars and restaurants must shut by 8:00 pm and cannot sell alcohol.

But Olympic officials have put a brave face on the unusual circumstances, with IOC chief Thomas Bach insisting cancellation was never on the table.

โ€œOver the past 15 months we had to take many decisions on very uncertain grounds,โ€ he said this week. โ€œWe had doubts every day. There were sleepless nights.

โ€œWe can finally see at the end of the dark tunnel. Cancellation was never an option for us. The IOC never abandons the athletesโ€ฆ we did it for the athletes.โ€

tokyo-olympics-protest Anti-Olympics protestors holding a rally in Tokyo today. Kantaro Komiya Kantaro Komiya

There are also hefty financial incentives in play. Insiders estimate the IOC would have been on the hook for around $1.5 billion (โ‚ฌ1.27bn) in lost broadcasting revenues if the Games had been cancelled.

The pandemic has not been the only hiccup in preparations though, with scandals ranging from corruption during the bidding process to plagiarism allegations over the design of the Tokyo 2020 logo.

The controversies kept coming right up to the eve of the Games, with the opening ceremonyโ€™s director sacked on Thursday for making a joke referencing the Holocaust in a video from 1998.

ยฉ โ€“ AFP, 2021, with additional reporting from Ben Blake 

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    Mute Keelan O'neill
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:23 AM

    Not deliberate. So the money was just resting in the playerโ€™s accounts before being moved on.

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    Mute Hirrison Mirk
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:19 AM

    @Keelan Oโ€™neill: right there Ted. Down with this sort of thing!

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    Mute SPQH
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 9:48 PM

    @Hirrison Mirk: even a Dyson isnโ€™t going to vacuum up all the dirt on this oneโ€ฆ

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    Mute Ave it
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:47 AM

    Nobody who wears tinted glasses is trustworthy

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    Mute Hirrison Mirk
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:20 AM

    @Ave it: What about Ray Charles?

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    Mute Graham Ross
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 12:05 PM

    @Hirrison Mirk: Stevie Wonder maybe but Ray Charles?! Have you not seen the movie???

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    Mute Hirrison Mirk
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 2:07 PM

    @Graham Ross: good point well made, at least his motivation was always obvious.

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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:25 AM

    The way people are going on about it youโ€™d swear they were systematic drug cheats like the Russians, all they did was under handed pay their players off the official books which is against the rules of the league, every club in Ireland pays a few players under handed against the rules of the All Ireland League, should they all be kicked out vilified?

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    Mute s mc
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:36 AM

    @Wheresmyjumper: ballina got deducted points because they got caught

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    Mute Pat Ryan
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:36 AM

    @Wheresmyjumper: Donโ€™t be bringing the GAA into this

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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:44 AM

    @s mc: Shannon were fined as well, my point is that people who just donโ€™t like Saracens and are using this as stick to beat them with. At least it was excellent players who have a short career getting paid and thatโ€™s not a bad thing. It was rules not laws that were broken

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    Mute David Egan
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:48 AM

    @Wheresmyjumper: Her Majestyโ€™s Revenue & Customs might have a different view as to whether laws were broken. The Glasgow Rangers case springs to mind.

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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 10:51 AM

    @David Egan: iโ€™m sure theyโ€™ll claim back the money so, as far as i know the HMRC are not involved

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    Mute Cormac ร“ Braonรกin
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:00 AM

    @Wheresmyjumper: if what you say is true, why would Sarries choose relegation over handing over their books!?

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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:06 AM

    @Cormac ร“ Braonรกin: no business in the world wants a revenue audit, they did their sums ans found this way was cheaper, other staff paid under the counter might also have got in trouble, I just donโ€™t see this as much of a big deal

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    Mute Darren World
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:23 AM

    @Wheresmyjumper: what about the excellent players at other clubs being run correctly that have had medals taken off them and defining moments that they worked all their life for? Or the fans who spend thousands to follow them over the country being cheated? The correct action was taken to relegate them, and now further action should be taken by stripping them of their titles that they won through cheating. Its a disgrace if they dont check the accounts from every year and how that was an option for Saracens is baffling.

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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:27 AM

    @Darren World: i just think anyone involved with any club in Ireland knows this is going on so we canโ€™t afford to pontificate from our ivory towers

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    Mute Darren World
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 3:30 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper: you are compairing it with an amateur league, completley different.

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    Mute tim dawson
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 3:36 PM

    @Darren World: how so? Isnโ€™t cheating the same regardless? Arenโ€™t excellent amateur players being denied trophies and medals and dozens, potentially hundreds of club members and fans being denied seeing their club win a trophy? Or do they not count because they are not Saracens? Remember professional rugby came about because the cheating became unhideable.

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    Mute Norris Kevin
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 5:09 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper: I dunno, let me see, knocked Munster out of two champions cup semi finals in 4 years. A competition where their seeding is based on cheating. Have a stronger playing panel also because of it. Before it was the champions cup it was know as the Heineken cup and Wray was at the forefront of having that changed to favour the english teams. Systematic financial dopingโ€ฆ..nothing less

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    Mute Norris Kevin
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 5:14 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper: that maybe so โ€“ in doing so, you run the risks (when sport is a business, they are business risks). They got caught and the agreed and defined punishment was applied.

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    Mute Darren World
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 6:33 PM

    @Darren World: because you are in a league where it is not a level playing field. The AIL allow universities to offer players scholarships and can pay their college feeโ€™s. Thats why its not strictly policed in the league. How can ya pull up a club for paying match feeโ€™s in a system where players in that league are allowed get 3k college fees covered?

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    Mute Paul
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:41 AM

    We did not deliberately draw up all those non standard contracts like buying a % of a players image rights for an elevated non arms length valuationโ€ฆ.sure it was all an accident really

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    Mute Glenbower
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 12:16 PM

    It would have got interesting if there was also a salary cap in the Championship (which there probably ought to be actually).

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    Mute Joe Conway
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 4:03 PM

    In being relegated to the Championship, where there is no salary cap, Saracens can keep all of their players! Now if you were to be cynical โ€ฆ.. Suppose they all stay and were to get say a 50% advance on their salary for 2021/2022 paid as a โ€˜bonusโ€™ for winning promotion to the premiership in the 2020/2021 season!!!!!

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    Mute blindside
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 5:47 PM

    He looks a bit like father Romeo Sensini in that picture !

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    Mute Annaa69xx
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    Jan 23rd 2020, 11:51 PM

    my hot photos are hereโ€ฆ

    http://69-chat.club

    only 18+

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