'Once in a lifetime': Torch bearers look forward to relay start
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[March 24, 2021]
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Chris Gallagher
IWAKI, Japan (Reuters) - Masao
Hashimoto has dreamed of holding an Olympic torch since 1964, the
first time Tokyo hosted the Olympics, when he ran behind the torch
bearers. Rena Arakawa wants to say thanks for help after the 2011
nuclear disaster forced her from her home.
On Thursday, their dreams will come true.
They will be runners on the first day of the Olympic Torch relay,
postponed for a year along with the Summer Games - a delay
unprecedented in Olympic history forced on organisers by the global
pandemic.
The four-month relay involves 10,000 runners and takes the torch
across Japan's 47 prefectures. It kicks off from Fukushima
prefecture, where the tsunami 10 years ago crippled a nuclear plant
and forced thousands to flee, including both Hashimoto, 71, and
Arakawa, 17. Many have yet to return.
"'I did it!' That's what I felt," Hashimoto told Reuters, describing his
feelings when chosen more than a year ago to bear the torch in the city
of Iwaki.
"'Am I really worthy of doing it?' That's what I felt as well."
In 1964, when Japan became the first Asian nation to host the Olympics,
Hashimoto was a baseball playing junior high school student and one of a
select few chosen to run with the torch bearers, holding the Olympic
flag.
"Truth be told, I wanted to hold that torch. But only six people from
our school were even chosen to run, so I was delighted and it gave me a
good memory to cherish," he said.
A marathon runner who began at 61, Hashimoto looks younger than his age.
He has run about 200 km a month in preparation for the relay, even
though - like other runners - his stint is only 200 metres long.
Arakawa is also a runner, competing in the 3,000-metre race for her high
school in Hirono, one of the towns worst affected by the nuclear
accident.
[to top of second column] |
Masao Hashimoto who is
going to run as a torch bearer on the first day of the torch relay
at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games shows a towel promoting the torch
relay during an interview with Reuters in Iwaki, Fukushima
prefecture, Japan, March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
It forced Arakawa, who was 7 when the disaster struck, to evacuate
with her family for five years to the distant islands of Okinawa and
the capital, Tokyo.
"I have been hoping to do this as it's a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity," Arakawa told Reuters at her high school.
"Also, I want to convey my appreciation to people who supported me
in Okinawa and Tokyo when I was evacuating and moving around after
the earthquake."
As with many in Fukushima, the nuclear accident remains on her mind.
She hopes to become a teacher outside of the prefecture, so she can
convey to children what happened after the disaster. But ultimately,
she will come home.
A recent survey by the Asahi Shimbun daily showed that one third of
those polled believed the Olympics should be cancelled, and Arakawa
said she had worried about the torch relay - particularly in
December, when COVID-19 cases in Japan surged.
"But still, I wanted to do this," she added, admitting that she was
tense on the eve of the big day.
Hashimoto said he would take special care.
"I'll go easy on my drinking tonight," he said, with a broad grin.
(Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
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