Tokyo, 26 September, 2019 – The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
(Tokyo 2020) announced today that by the close of registrations, a total of 535,717 applications had been
received from members of the public hoping to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay as
torchbearers.
"We are extremely delighted by what this number indicates, the enthusiasm of those who applied," said Masa Takaya, Tokyo 2020 Spokesperson.
"Some prefectures received 200 times the number of applications as there were positions available. The population clearly wants to be involved and to play a role in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020."
From June this year, the four Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners—Coca-Cola Japan,
Toyota Motor Corporation, Nippon Life and NTT Communications—and individual Olympic Torch Relay
Taskforces set up by each of the 47 prefectures in Japan in collaboration with Tokyo 2020 started accepting
applications from those hoping to participate as Olympic torchbearers. Members of the public with the
inspiration and passion to be torchbearers were able to submit up to five applications via the Tokyo 2020
Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners and/or through any local prefecture where they had a personal
or family connection. Successful applicants will only be selected once.
Overall, the Olympic Torch Relay will feature around 10,000 torchbearers, including men, women and
children from a wide range of nationalities, ages and abilities. The Presenting Partners and Prefectural
Task Forces will select prospective Olympic torchbearers based on the information submitted by applicants,
and forward their recommendations to Tokyo 2020, who will select the torchbearers based on these
recommendations. Announcement of the successful applicants will be made starting in December 2019.
The Torch Relay will provide an unforgettable experience for the torchbearers, and for the members of the
public lining the streets to cheer them on, the Olympic flame will symbolise a new era embodying the Torch
Relay vision "Hope Lights Our Way".
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