Tokyo Olympics LIVE: Latest news as the opening ceremony takes place TODAY

Throughout the tournament, the team will be wearing full-length unitards that cover their legs and most of their body, instead of the sport’s customary leotards (pictured right). By doing so, the team are not in defiance of any rules, which allow for a ‘one-piece leotard with full-length legs – hip to ankle’. Elisabeth Seitz, Kim Bui, Pauline Schaefer and Sarah Voss gave a preview of their outfits which they wore in practice on Thursday, in a picture shared to Instagram (left). The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) confirmed in April that it’s athletes were taking a stand against ‘sexualisation in gymnastics’, adding that the issue was important in efforts to prevent sexual abuse.

Tonga may have just the six athletes competing at the Olympics in Tokyo but that didn’t stop them stealing the show in the Opening Ceremony. Pita Taufatofua – shirtless, ripped and apparently saturated in baby oil – set social media ablaze as he waved his country’s flag and led the team out into the Japan National Stadium. The 37-year-old, who will be competing in the taekwondo in Tokyo, is taking part in his third Olympics.

This year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games sees two futuristic fox-like creatures as its mascots after Japanese schoolchildren voted for them as their favourite. The chosen designs, dubbed Miraitowa and Someity, look relatively friendly – something that can’t often be said for previous mascots. Mascots open to ridicule have been a tradition of the Olympics since 1968, when the world was introduced to Schuss in Grenoble, France. Sold as a memento at the Games, the toy – an unofficial mascot – proved popular despite being likened to a ‘sperm on skis’. After the success of Schuss, the Olympic organisers agreed that future Games could also have mascots – leading to a long line of odd designs to grace the sporting event. Out of 51 Olympic games, there have been 26 to feature a mascot of some type. From London 2012’s bizarre Wenlock and Mandeville, which looked like random shapes of steel, to the oddly shaped dolls Phevos and Athena which appeared at Athens in 2004, FEMAIL recalls the most ridiculous Olympic mascots…

From testing out the ‘sturdy’ cardboard beds to locking eyes ‘hot athletes’ across the dining hall and playing video games between training in world class venues, athletes in Tokyo have been sharing what life in the Olympic Village is like. The delayed 2020 games, which officially kicks off today, will see more than 15,000 competitors from 206 countries play for medals in their fields. And with a new generation of younger millennial and Gen Z athletes at this year’s games, many have taken to TikTok to show reveals Among them is Team GB star Tom Daley, 27, who is now at his fourth games having headed to Beijing in 2008 aged just 14.what life is really like in the Olympic Village. Pictured, from left: Team GB’s balcony’s, Team Australia’s bedroom, British long jumper Jazmin Sawywers temperature check, Team Belgium in training

Hundreds of sports fans have gathered in Tokyo as Japan is poised to kick off the 2020 Olympics after a year of delay due to Covid, with the opening ceremony due to begin at 8pm local time (12pm GMT). Fans took pictures in front of the famous rings (left), watched an aerial display by the Blue Impulse military stunt team (right) and soaked up the atmosphere while elsewhere the final stage of a slimmed-down torch relay was completed (inset) bringing the flame to the main stadium where it will be used to light a cauldron, declaring the Games officially open. Plagued by delays, a pandemic, scandals among organisers, and having strongly divided public opinion in Japan itself, officials are nevertheless hoping the sporting showcase will prove a rare unifying event in otherwise difficult and divided times.

Users of Alexa-enabled devices can ask the smart assistant a range of questions, including ‘Alexa, which country has the most gold medals?’, and receive answers almost immediately. Throughout the games, fans will be able to follow along with the successes of the teams, by asking ‘Alexa, what’s [insert team name] Olympics/Paralympics update?’ The smart assistant will then provide you witha daily summary of the team’s progress.

The 24-year-old four-time Olympic gold medalist nails the Yurchenko double pike vault, one of the sport’s most difficult moves. The move carries so much momentum that when she then lands on the mat, she takes just the tiniest of steps backwards to maintain her balance. If Biles performs this move at they Olympic Games, it will be named after her, making it the fifth technique associated with her.

She’s heading to Tokyo 2020 for her third Olympics as part of Team GB.  And Helen Glover revealed on Friday that she trained for the Games while her three-year-old son Logan and one-year-old twins Bo and Kit were napping.  The athlete, 35, told The Olympic Mile podcast that welcoming her children with her television presenter husband Steve Backshall has given her ‘Mum strength’ and that she’s able to train on just one or two hours sleep per night. 

With all eyes on Tokyo as the Olympics gets underway, there’s been a surge in popularity of Japanese-inspired cuisine from UK shoppers, with Waitrose seeing sales of their Tuna Tataki Salad increase on 91 per cent on while their Roku gin sales are up 1,180 per cent.  But Japanese cuisine is hugely misrepresented in the UK, according to British-Japanese 2012 MasterChef finalist Andrew Kojima. Andrew – who goes by Chef Koj – has his own Japanese restaurant Koj Cheltenham, which has no sushi on the menu, like 90 per cent of the restaurants in Japan.     Speaking exclusively to FEMAIL. Koj, who is teaching a Japanese cooking course on Learning With Experts,  the only online course to offer one-to-one feedback directly from the experts in their field, revealed the most common misconceptions Brits think about Japanese cooking.

MIKE KEEGAN IN TOKYO: Boris Johnson held a rousing video call with four of Team GB’s athletes ahead of the start of the Olympics.The Prime Minister spoke with gymnasts Max Whitlock and Joe Fraser, boxer Lauren Price and rower Karen Bennett from his Chequers residence. Sources say the conversation was based around each athlete’s event and there was also talk of the success of the vaccination programme, and the assistance it has provided to Team GB’s travelling party. Chef de Mission Mark England introduced the Thursday call, with the quartet talking to the Prime Minister from their 12-storey accommodation by the side of Tokyo Bay.

When Alex Rose (centre) was approached by his Chemistry teacher (and then-track and field coach) at the age of 15 with a view to joining the athletics team, neither of them could have imagined where that schoolboy would be now. Ranked seventh in the world in the discus, competing in the Olympic Games, the pinnacle of his sport, and chosen as the flag-bearer for his country. A country, give or take, 6,700 miles away from his birthplace in West Branch, Michigan. But the tiny island of Samoa is close to his heart, and his pride at the chance to represent them is as vivid and evocative as the traditional, symbolic Polynesian tattoo inked across his left side which tells his life story. Also flying their nation’s flag at the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony will be Australian Patty Mills (top right), record-breaking Indian boxer Mary Kom (bottom right) and Pita Taufatofua (left).

Japan has finally kicked off the Covid-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a symbolic show of hope in the face of adversity at the Opening Ceremony. There were just 950 VIPs and world leaders inside the 68,000-seat main arena in Tokyo to watch the display of light and colour on Friday night amid rising case totals which have forced organisers to keep crowds away. Plagued by the pandemic, scandals among officials, and strongly divided opinions among locals, Japan will hope the touching spectacle will help coalesce positive feeling around the £13billion sporting extravaganza.

This year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games sees two futuristic fox-like creatures as its mascots after Japanese schoolchildren voted for them as their favourite. The chosen designs, dubbed Miraitowa and Someity, look relatively friendly – something that can’t often be said for previous mascots. Mascots open to ridicule have been a tradition of the Olympics since 1968, when the world was introduced to Schuss in Grenoble, France. Sold as a memento at the Games, the toy – an unofficial mascot – proved popular despite being likened to a ‘sperm on skis’. After the success of Schuss, the Olympic organisers agreed that future Games could also have mascots – leading to a long line of odd designs to grace the sporting event. Out of 51 Olympic games, there have been 26 to feature a mascot of some type. From London 2012’s bizarre Wenlock and Mandeville, which looked like random shapes of steel, to the oddly shaped dolls Phevos and Athena which appeared at Athens in 2004, FEMAIL recalls the most ridiculous Olympic mascots…