Athletes from Carlow and Kilkenny gear up for opening of Tokyo Olympics
The opening ceremony for the big event is today

The Tokyo Olympics will be officially opened later today.
It may be a global affair, but all eyes will be on our three local athletes over the next few weeks.
It will be another week before the action starts for them.
Kilkenny’s Cliodhna Manning is slated for a July 30th appearance if she is selected for the mixed 4 x 400m relay team.
Carlow eventer Sam Watson is out the same day with the Dressage team and in the individual event.
His fellow Carlovian Marcus Lawler is not due out until 3rd August when he’ll take part in round 1 of the Men’s 200metres at 3.05am Irish time
But today it’s all about the opening ceremony which gets underway at 12 noon Irish time.
Organisers have promised it will be a ‘solemn’ event in the stadium with no supporters present.