Amputee fashion show features Paralympic athletes

Описание: (25 Aug 2020) LEAD IN:
Amputees have hit the runway at a fashion show in central Tokyo Tuesday (August 25).
The event was staged on the original opening day of the city's 2020 Summer Paralympics, before the games were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

STORY-LINE:
From a prosthetic leg with LED lights, to another shaped like a machine gun.
Twelve female models hit the runway Tuesday (August 25), showing a wide variety of eye-catching prosthetics.
Among them is Japanese Paralympic athlete Kaede Maegawa, who finished fourth in the women's long jump at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
"Thanks to the show, it sank in that there is only one year left until the Paralympics games," she says.
"When I was rehearsing, I felt like I was attending the opening ceremony and almost cried. The show was such a great opportunity for me."
With the Olympics and Paralympics both postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fashion show went ahead anyway.
Organizer Takao Ochi says COVID-19 inspired him to stage the fashion show.
"In next year's Paralympics, safety and security are important. One of the purposes of holding the fashion show was to overcome the coronavirus," he says.
"The virus has been spreading and expanding and I really wish the pandemic will be ended soon. I want Paralympians to perform their best here, that's what I wish for."
The Paralympics are now scheduled to open on August 24, 2021 and will feature about 4,400 athletes.
The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23, 2021, with 11,000 athletes.
Tokyo organizers have said both events will happen, but they have yet to provide details on how athletes will be kept safe, if fans will be allowed, and who will pick up the bill for the delay.
Estimates suggest the cost of delay will be $2 billion to $6 billion with Japanese taxpayers picking up most of the bill.

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