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First Lady Jill Biden will attend the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, which will be held on July 23, according to the first lady’s office.
The Summer Olympics were supposed to kick off in Japan’s capital last year on July 24 but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and are now scheduled to occur from July 23 to Aug. 8.
COVID-19 continues to rip through the country despite the year’s delay, mudding up the games with controversy and calls to cancel.
To address some of those concerns, organizers unveiled a series of “playbooks” with new rules and guidelines for how they plan to hold safe and successful Games in Tokyo this summer amid the pandemic. The rules include spectator gaps, a ban on cheering, mandatory COVID-19 testing and more.
Asked last month whether the first lady would attend, President Joe Biden said, “That’s the plan.”
“Well, we’re trying to work that out now,” he told White House reporters as he departed for a trip to Wisconsin. “That’s the plan.
President Biden will not be joining her at the Olympics
Previous first ladies also have represented the U.S. at the Olympic Games.
Hillary Clinton traveled to the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games and the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Laura Bush led the delegation to Turin Olympics in 2006. She also accompanied President George W. Bush to Beijing for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in China.
Michelle Obama led a delegation to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
