Paralympic Games
24 August - 5 September 2021

Public events held to mark four years until Tokyo 2020

Public events were held in the Japanese capital city to mark four years until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and to raise awareness of Para sports. 25 Aug 2016
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A Tokyo 2020 emblem can be seen from up.

Public events were held to mark four years until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

ⒸTokyo 2020
By Tokyo 2020

Public events were held at the Keyaki No Mori School, located in the west of Tokyo, and at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Plaza to mark one year until the beginning of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

These events showcased Tokyo 2020’s pledge to celebrate “Unity in Diversity”, one of the three core concepts underpinning preparations for the 2020 Paralympics, by bringing children together and helping them understand the many ways people with impairment overcome their challenges. They also helped raise awareness of Para sports as a high-performance activity.

A total of 94 children participated in a sitting volleyball demonstration with the Japanese national sitting volleyball team at the Keyaki No Mori School. They also learned about the Paralympic values and wrote messages of support to Japan’s Paralympic team, who is set to compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Tokyo 2020 aims to set new benchmarks of support for the Paralympic Games, with athletes benefitting from top-class infrastructure and facilities, many of which are already in place.

“It is a pleasure and an honour to be a part of this celebration today, helping to show today’s children that Paralympic sport is a competitive high-performance activity,” said Michiyo Nishiie, captain of Japan national women’s sitting volleyball team.

“I am convinced that the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will create a new generation of sporting heroes from Japan and all over the world, and will make a significant contribution to international Paralympic awareness.”

At the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Plaza, around 150 people, including children, rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games giant emblems to turn them into Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games emblems.

Both emblems have been purposely designed with the same number of rectangular shapes, showing that Tokyo 2020 considers the two Games to be of equal importance.

Japan’s Olympic swimmer Kyoko Iwasaki, and Paralympic track and field athlete Mami Tani and canoeist Monika Seryu participated in the event, together with Asao Tokolo, designer of the Tokyo 2020 emblems.

“Diversity and inclusion are at the very heart of our vision for Tokyo 2020 and are one of the major legacies we are aiming for,” said Tokyo 2020 General Vice Director Hiroshi Sato.

“I am really excited to have joined today’s event, and we look forward to regularly staging similar awareness-raising activities in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Games.”

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Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs)

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.

Visa International is the exclusive payment card and the official payment system for the Paralympic Games.