Tokyo opens 15,000-seat Olympic aquatics centre

TOKYO: Tokyo opened a 15,000-seat swimming venue for the Olympic Games next year on Saturday, with a swimming star diagnosed with leukaemia last year demonstrating freestyle at the ceremony.

The $542 million Aquatics Centre for swimming, diving and artistic swimming was completed in February, but its grand opening ceremony scheduled for March was postponed due to the coronavirus.

“I hope top athletes in the world will compete at this venue... I’m already excited,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters.

Koike said the city hopes to welcome more athletes, promising to host a “successful” Olympics through implementing anti-virus safety measures.

At the ceremony, Japanese swimming star Rikako Ikee joined three other athletes in a relay.

The 20-year-old had been a strong favourite for the 100-metre butterfly gold at the now-postponed Olympic Games before revealing she had leukaemia last year.