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| Topic | Olympic Boss wanted flame lit by someone 'Pure Japanese' not Naomi Osaka |
| Lebronwon 08/04/21 12:05:25 PM #1: | https://www.thedailybeast.com/olympic-boss-yoshiro-mori-wanted-flame-lit-by-pure-ex-yankee-hideki-matsui-not-naomi-osaka The 2020 Olympics delighted the world when, at the opening ceremony on July 23, biracial tennis superstar Naomi Osakawith a rose-gold torch in her handlit the Olympic cauldron. But that wasnt the original plan. According to Olympic insiders who spoke to The Daily Beast, disgraced former Tokyo Organizing Committee chair Yoshiro Mori was pushing to have someone else do the honors. Mori wanted Godzilla to light the Olympic flame at the end, not Naomi Osaka, an employee for the committee, who spoke on conditions of anonymity due to a punitive non-disclosure agreement, told The Daily Beast. Godzilla is the nickname for Hideki Matsui, a legendary Japanese baseball outfielder who played for the Yomiuri Giants and the New York Yankees, with a total of 507 home runs in his two-decade career. Many of the top dogs involved in the Tokyo Olympics, including Governor Yuriko Koike, had special requests for the event, and Mori was among them. The Olympics employee said that Mori was insistent on Matsui lighting the sacred fire. Worth noting, too, is that Mori has served as the honorary chairman of Matsuis fan club in Ishikawa Prefecture, where the baseball player was born. According to the employee, Mori had told the staff: [Matsui] is a pure Japanese man and a baseball champion in the U.S. and Japanthe embodiment of fighting spirit. Mori allegedly also just thought Matsuis nickname was funny, given the occasion. Funny in the sense that Godzilla breathes flames, and Matsui would be lighting the cauldron, the staffer said. There were other suggestions for the final person in the torch relay, but Mori was allegedly not open to any of them. An employee with Dentsu, a PR firm exclusively partnered with the Games, who worked on the opening ceremony told The Daily Beast that Mori wanted Matsui. If he wanted something changed or something done, then it was done. Mori was practically the voice of God. Speaking of gods, even after Matsui was decided upon, there was grave concern that the chair would make an inappropriate remark about it. When Mori was Japans prime minister in 2000, he had said in a speech, Japan is a nation of the gods, with the emperor in the center, a controversial statement that echoed militarist sentiments of imperial Japan. The actual emperor of Japan, despite his concerns that the games would directly or indirectly spread the coronavirus, was also at the opening. He gave an unenthusiastic 14-second speech, in which he changed the word celebrate to commemorate. Mori, too, was there for the opening, but not as chairman. He had been forced to resign on Feb. 12, after making sexist remarks. With him gone, the committee decided that Osaka was perfect. Osaka wasnt formally approached until March, but thankfully she took the job. She was a spark of light in an opening ceremony that was depressing as hell. Naomi Osaka is not only a celebrated biracial athlete in an all too often xenophobic and sexist society but also an outspoken advocate of Black Lives Matter and a champion of mental health awareness. No matter how it happened, the choice to have her wield the rose-gold torch was laudable. In the end, Matsui also took part in the opening ceremonies as a torchbearer. --- Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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