TOKYO, Aug. 12 ― Athletes who finished in the top three received Japanese flower bouquets at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships held in Tokyo on Aug. 9-14.
This is a part of efforts that the Japan Flower Growers Association (JFGA) has been pushing. The organization aims to bring the floral tradition back at the world’s biggest sport event: the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.
Such tradition, however, could be controversial because some consider it unsustainable for the environment.
At the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, medalists were given a doll of the games mascot wearing a gold, silver or bronze hat, instead of flowers and medals.
It started from the 2016 Rio Olympics, which stopped giving flower bouquets for athletes due to Brazil’s eco-friendly Olympics pledge.
As Japan gears up to welcome the world to the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, however, Japanese flower growers want to offer medal winners bouquets of flowers native to Japan.