Photo: The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympics and Paralympics Games via Twitter
The atmosphere was a bit different at the Olympic stadium this year. With no fans in attendance and a reduced number of athletes joining the parade, the Tokyo Olympics' opening ceremony has officially kicked off. While there may not have been any spectators present, something else filled up the stadium, something that looked like a giant disco ball.
After a one-year hiatus due to the global health crisis, on Friday, July 23rd, the Tokyo Olympic Games have officially started – and oh boy, what a start! We know it's not the first time drones are used in the Olympics opening ceremonies. They're quite a regular sighting, but this year's show proved the unrivaled potential of advanced technology with an incredible demonstration of engineering and aesthetics.
The ceremony started at 8 p.m. JST and lasted around three hours. Athletes representing their countries from all over the world paraded on the Olympic stadium. Closer to the end of the opening ceremony, more than 1,800 drones (1,824 to be exact) took to the sky and started to morph into various shapes, illuminating everything around them.
Programmed by Intel, which brought drones to the Winter Olympics for the first time in 2018, the fleet began with taking the shape of the Tokyo Games logo.
Accompanied by an emotional performance of John Lennon's "Imagine," the drones then slowly rotated and moved, turning into an Earth-shaped orb, shining like a disco ball in different colors to represent each continent.
John Lennon's song was not randomly chosen for the display, as it holds significant importance for the Olympic Games.
"This song reflects the values the Olympic Games stand for. It is a call for peace and brotherhood, for unity and solidarity. We can only go faster, we can only aim higher, we can only become stronger if we stand together – in solidarity.", said IOC President Thomas Bach.
Despite the fact that it only lasted a few minutes, this drone display beat the Guinness World Record for the most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the sky at the same time, which was set by the 1,200 drones during the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games. A true engineering marvel!
Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature. Full profile
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