Tokyo opens new Olympic arena amid coronavirus fears

Families of refugee athletes who come from Kenya's Kakuma settlement have been sending them prayers and messages of hope, before they compete at the Olympic Games. They are among 29 athletes and refugees scheduled to compete in Tokyo in 12 sports, under the banner of the Olympic flag, according to the UNHCR. This is only the second appearance of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. The first was in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Hundreds of people wait to have their picture taken with the famous Olympic rings outside the Olympic stadium as Japan extends a state of emergency, a week after the start of the Games.

A Belarusian athlete who refused to board a flight after she said she was taken to the airport by her team against her wishes was "safe and secure" in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.

Middle-distance runner Abraham Guem was stranded in Japan for 21 months with four compatriots. Though his chances at the Tokyo Olympics look slim, he has more at stake than medals.

Baseball fan Masamitsu Takahashi opened his "izakaya" bar-restaurant in 2013, when Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020 Olympics. Never had he imagined that, eight years later, he would be watching Japan beating the USA in the quarter-final there all alone. Other bars have decided to stay open despite the state of emergency, but Takahashi says he prefers "to avoid the situation deteriorating to the point where there isn't even baseball".

Japan's Hiromu Inada is watching the Tokyo Olympics hoping to pick up some tips from the athletes before he competes in next year's Ironman world championship, at the age of 90. Inada, who turns 89 in November, already holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to complete an Ironman competition -- a gruelling format involving swimming 3.86 kilometres, biking 180.25 kilometres and running a 42.19 kilometre marathon. A three-time winner of the competition in his age group, his commitment to sport is so deep that he records footage of athletes at the Games and watches it to analyse leg movements and posture.

Tokyo 2020 mascot's Miraitowa tours the main press centre, greeting and posing for photos with media from around the world.

Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango, a bronze medallist in the triple jump at the Tokyo Games, comes home to cheering fans and celebratory dances after winning the first Olympic medal for the country.

As the Tokyo Olympics draws to a close, a flypast above the French capital and a party in front of the landmark Trocadero building marks the handover of the Games to Paris.

Residents in Shanghai react as China takes home 38 gold medals, the second-highest number at the Tokyo Olympics and one less than the United States. Morning commuters say they are proud of Chinese athletes' "historic" achievements, and look forward to Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which they hope will be "better" than Tokyo's Games.

The star of Italy's Olympic team, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, returned home as a national hero on Monday after the country's best performance in the Games' history capped an unforgettable summer of sport for the Mediterranean nation. Jacobs produced arguably the shock result of the Olympics -– and one of the biggest shocks in Olympic history -- when he claimed victory in the 100m, storming out of athletics obscurity to take gold in a time of 9.80sec.

The Japanese authorities install a giant symbol of the Paralympic Games off the coast of Tokyo, just days before the competition begins.