The members of the Nadeshiko Japan soccer team that won the Women's World Cup in 2011 will open the domestic leg of the Olympic torch relay, the 2020 Tokyo Games organizing committee announced Tuesday.
Organizers unveiled a detailed route for the relay covering all 47 Japanese prefectures, with the Olympic flame being carried by runners, cyclists, swimmers and skiers, as well as on horseback, water vessels and trains.
The members of the 2011 women's national soccer team, captained by Homare Sawa, were favored to kick off the relay for having lifted the country's spirits by prevailing at that year's World Cup in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan.