Over 500,000 Torchbearer Applications Received for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay

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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