It was a historic night for 21-year-old Team Fiji swimmer Taichi Vakasama and 33-year-old Fijiana 7s team captain Rusila Nagasau who were Team Fiji’s flagbearers in the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
Vakasama replaced two time Olympian Jerry Tuwai who was initially announced as one of the flag bearers.
Vakasama and Nagasau are both Pacific Games gold medalists.
The two were dressed in a traditional iTaukei attire made from “Kuta” as they led out a small Team Fiji contingent that all wore a bright Fiji blue march out attire.
It included Chef De Mission Patrick Bower, Fiji Men's 7s coach Gareth Baber, another one of our swimmers Cheyenne Rova, Sophia Morgan from sailing and other officials.
Members of the 7s teams did not take part in the opening ceremony but they still got into the spirit of things and changed into their march out attire and interacted with other athletes.
This was the moment #Olympics2020 pic.twitter.com/SWhQ25FVH6
— Ches (@jesang_) July 23, 2021
The ceremony itself was modest, a reminder of all the world has gone through yet offered hope for what is to come.
But the lack of a crowd was stark as socially distanced and masked athletes waved to empty stands and there was no roar accompanying their march into the stadium.
Some 900 dignitaries watched on in the 68,000-seater venue, including US First Lady Dr Jill Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron.
The ceremony also paid tribute to the universality of sport, its power to unite those of different cultures and backgrounds and provide a sense of hope, even in the most troubling of times.
The honour to light the Olympic flame fell to Japanese professional tennis player Naomi Osaka signifying the beacon of hope the Olympics attempts to be.
Sally Yee will kick off Team Fiji's campaign at the Tokyo Olympics Table Tennis competition at 12pm today.
The men’s Olympic 7s competition runs from next Monday until Wednesday.
The Fiji men’s 7s team will begin their defence of the Olympic gold medal against Japan at 12pm Monday and then play Canada at 8pm Monday.
Fiji will play Great Britain at 12.30pm next Tuesday.
The quarterfinals will start at 8.30pm next Tuesday, the semifinals will be played from 2pm next Wednesday while the final will be played at 9pm next Wednesday.
