Japanese Prime Minister Enters Olympic Stadium as Mario
Tokyo 2020 organizers said in a statement that the Super Mario idea came up during a brainstorming session
By Elaine Kurtenbach ••
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's brief but showstopping gig at the Olympics closing ceremony as the Nintendo game character Super Mario offered a tantalizing glimpse at Tokyo's plans for the 2020 games.
The organizers for the Tokyo games crammed the works into a brief two-minute film montage before Abe's appearance: athletes participating in more than a dozen sports, as iconic Japanese images like Tokyo Tower, cherry blossoms, a bullet train, Tokyo Bay Bridge and the famous "scramble" intersection in Shibuya whiz by.
Anime and video game characters including Pac Man and Hello Kitty are featured, along with the beloved blue Doraemon cat, who pulls from his pocket of magic gadgets a green warp pipe to whisk Abe, transformed briefly into Super Mario, from his limousine in Tokyo straight to Rio.
Shortly after the IOC flag was handed off from Rio to Tokyo, the video boards inside Maracana Stadium showed Mario from the popular video game running through the streets of Tokyo.
Abe arrived at a tube there and pulled out a map that showed Rio de Janeiro at the other end. With a red ball in his hand, Mario jumped into the tube and arrived in Rio with the familiar sound from the video game.
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Neymar, Brazil's star forward, scored on a penalty kick that won the gold medal soccer match 5-4 for Brazil against Germany. It was Brazil’s first Olympic soccer gold and a rematch for the two countries, which faced each other in the 2014 World Cup. Two years ago, Germany won 7-1.
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Top American boxer Claressa Shields became a two-time boxing gold medalist when she won the women’s middleweight championship. She is the first U.S. boxer to successfully defend an Olympic title.
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The most decorated swimmer, Michael Phelps, won his 23rd gold medal with a victory in the 4X100 meter medley relay. Phelps swam his best stroke, the butterfly, in what he said would be the final race of his career. Phelps, who carried the U.S. flag in the opening ceremony, has 28 Olympic medals in all.
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Four-time gold medalist Simone Biles, who carried the U.S. flag in the closing ceremony, dominated gymnastics in her Olympic debut at the Rio Games. She led the U.S. to the team gold, and won individual titles in the women’s all-around competition, vault and floor exercise. She also earned a bronze medal on the balance beam. Her floor routine featured her signature move — the Biles — a double layout with a half twist and a blind landing.
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U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky opened up an enormous lead in the 800 meter freestyle to make history as the second woman to win three individual freestyle events at one Olympic Games. She finished in 8 minus, 4.79 seconds, lowering the world record for the fifth time. The silver medalist, Great Britain’s Jazz Carlin, was 11.38 seconds behind her.
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Ibtihaj Muhammad of the United States became the first U.S. athlete to compete in hijab. Muhammad won her first-round match then lost in the second round. She earned a bronze medal in the team event.
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Allyson Felix and other members of the U.S. 4x100 relay team won the the country’s sixth consecutive Olympic gold in the event, and her sixth gold medal. Felix has nine Olympic medals in all. The Americans appeared to be eliminated after a botched hand-off in the qualifying race, but they were given a second chance when it was ruled that a Brazilian runner bumped Felix. The Americans qualified in a do-over, running in a special heat against the clock on an otherwise empty track.
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Monica Puig, the tennis player from Puerto Rico, pulled off an upset against Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who had not lost a set throughout the tournament, to win the gold medal. This was Puerto Rico’s Puerto Rico's first-ever gold medal in the Olympics.
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The American trio of Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin pulled off the first-ever sweep of a track and field event, taking all three medals in the 100 meter hurdles. Rollins crossed the finish line in 12.48 seconds to win the gold, followed by Ali, who won silver, and Castlin, bronze.
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Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won his final gold in the 4x100 meter relay, what he says will be the last Olympic race of his career. It was nine for nine in the Olympic finals for Bolt — three consecutive medals in the 100 meter and 200 meter dash, and 4x100 meter relay. He joins USA sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis, who won nine golds over four Games, and Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi.
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The United States won the first gold medal of the Rio Games when Virginia Thrasher took the top spot in the women’s 10 meterair rifle. A figure skater growing up, she switched sports five years ago after a hunting trip with her family when she killed a deer with her first shot.
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Ashton Eaton once again earned the title of the "Greatest Athlete in the World" by defending his championship in the decathlon. Eaton says he will not compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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Runners Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand and Abbey D’Agostino of the United States showed what might have been the most extraordinary sportsmanship of the Rio Games. After the women collided in their qualifying heat of the 5,000 meter race, they both paused to help each other. They both were awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal, or the Fair Play awards, given to those best demonstrating the Olympic spirit.
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U.S. swimmer Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win a swimming gold medal when she tied with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak for first place in the 100 meter freestyle. Their time of 52.70 seconds was an Olympic record. Manuel also became the first African-American woman to medal in an individual swimming event in the Olympics.
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Mohamed Farah of Great Britain, the greatest distance runner of his generation, won gold in both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters for the second consecutive Olympics.
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Yusra Mardini, the Syrian swimmer who competed with the refugee team, her first heat at the Rio Games. Mardini’s time was not enough to advance to the finals, but story was an inspiration to many. On a grueling escape to Berlin last year, she had to push a disabled dinghy overloaded with other refugees for hours through waters off the Turkish coast. She was one of 10 athletes with the refugee olympic team.
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South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk beats Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record in the 400 meter race. He set a new world record of 43.03 seconds.
Instead of Mario appearing, Abe rose up from the tube, holding a red ball and a red hat as the crowd roared its approval.
Tokyo 2020 organizers said in a statement that the Super Mario idea came up during a brainstorming session. Staff at Nintendo would say only that the government asked to borrow the character for the show.
The only glitch? After the presentation was over and Abe was gone, workers had a hard time removing the tube from the stadium floor. They were still trying to move it well into a speech by Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee.
While president of #Rio2016 organizing committee talks, fans laugh that they're having trouble removing Mario pipe. pic.twitter.com/czcP83hg40
