The new National Stadium in Tokyo, the main venue for next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games, was officially unveiled to the general public in a star-studded ceremony on Saturday.
The public event celebrating the stadium's grand opening included sporting, musical and cultural acts, the highlight of the morning session being a relay featuring 2,020 people selected in a general-entry drawing running a lap around the stadium.
(Japanese sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu, 6th from left, and Kengo Kuma, 7th from left, who designed Tokyo's new National Stadium, are among those who posed for a photo on Dec. 21, 2019 at the main venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics.)
Japanese sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu, Athens Olympic women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi and two-time Olympic marathon medalist Yuko Arimori were among the guest runners, and the stadium's architect, Kengo Kuma, served as the race starter.
"I stood (on the track) thinking 'this is where the Olympians are going to run.' I had fun jogging with everyone," Kiryu said.
In the evening during the official ceremony, Jamaican sprinter and eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt took to the track to celebrate Japan's new sports mecca before a packed house.
Bolt took part in a relay race with Kiryu, who said the sprint provided him with some good image training.
"I'm happy to have been included," Kiryu said. "I want to give my all so that I can make it to the final and win a medal (next year)."
(People take part in the first run on the athletics track at Tokyo's new National Stadium on Dec. 21, 2019.)
Fifty-two-year-old pro soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura, a former Japan international, became the first active player to step onto the stadium's natural grass playing surface, where he dribbled a ball.
Michael Leitch, who skippered Japan to their first Rugby World Cup quarterfinals this year, also made an appearance.
"I want to play on this pitch as soon as I can," said the Brave Blossoms' captain.
The event also featured performances by popular male vocal group Arashi and pop band Dreams Come True.
The first sporting event to be staged at the 60,000 capacity stadium with a final cost of 156.9 billion yen (about $1.43 billion) will be the final of the Emperor's Cup soccer tournament on New Year's Day.
(Michael Leitch, left, and Kazuyoshi Miura)
The centerpiece of the games, Kuma's creation was the second to be approved, after initial plans by Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid were scrapped due to controversy over its cost and scale.
Construction began about 14 months later than planned, after Kuma's nature-inspired design was selected to replace Hadid's in December 2015. It took three years to build the new stadium.
Shortly before its completion, it was revealed that skeletal remains of at least 187 people were retrieved from the site of the stadium before construction work began.
The stadium was built on the site of that used for the 1964 Olympic Summer Games, the last time Tokyo hosted the event. Wood collected from all of Japan's 47 prefectures has been used to build its distinctive roof.
The new stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as athletics events and soccer matches.
