| 23 July 2021

Eddie Alvarez, Mireia Belmonte, Jill Biden

People all over the world spent the past year living under the threat of COVID-19, and the Tokyo 2020 Games will be held in the midst of this unprecedented pandemic. We are all different ages and nationalities and come from all walks of life, and now on top of that we are physically separated. ... Sport is universal. It is an invaluable treasure that we believe has the power to unite the world through emotion—even if we are apart, speak different languages, or come from different cultures. In the Opening Ceremony, we will aspire to reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games, to express our gratitude and admiration for the efforts we all made together over the past year, and also to bring a sense of hope for the future. We hope it will be an experience that conveys how we all have the ability to celebrate differences, to empathise, and to live side by side with compassion for one another.