Closing Ceremony (© Getty Images)
On the evening of 27 Aug, the evening session was held at the National Athletics Centre in Hungary on the final day of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. Rising afternoon temperature meant it remained hot and humid even after sunset, reaching 31 degrees after 20:00(local time). The final heated battle took place under the waxing moon over Danube River which flows near the stadium.
This day's session schedule was a spectacular one, with all the events on the schedule being final. Although the Japanese team could not enter the finals, the women’s high jump and men’s javelin throw were held on the field, and the men’s 5000m, women’s 800m, women’s 3000m steeplechase were held on the track, followed by the finals of men’s and women’s 4x400m relays.
The closing ceremony of the World Athletics Championships was held after the last final was over, and a flag handover ceremony to Tokyo was held at the end with all the representatives from each country and a lot of volunteers watching over. President Mitsugi Ogata and four other athletes’ representatives took part in the flag handover ceremony, including Kentaro Sato and Haruka Kitaguti who were the men’s and women’s captains of the Japanese team, as well as Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, Nozomi Tanaka. After the official World Athletics flag was returned to World Athletics President Sebastian Coe from Hungarian Athletics Association President, the flag was handed over to President of the Local Organising Committee of World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 and the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Mitsugi Ogata by World Athletics President Coe. After President Mitsugi Ogata had waved the official flag a couple of times, he handed it over to the four athletes, Sato, Kitaguti, Sani Brown, and Tanaka. The four athletes waved the official flag together with smiles on their faces, and the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 came to an end, surrounded by a cheering crowd.
The World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 will be held over 9 days from 13 to 21 Sept. in Tokyo at the Japan National Stadium, which will be the main venue.
Kodama Ikumi (JAAF Media Team)
