Naohisa Takato among the Japanese flagbearers at closing ceremony

Judoka Naohisa Takato carried the Japanese national flag at the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on Sunday. Takato has medalled at two consecutive Olympic Games. He won bronze at the Rio 2016 Games and was the first Japanese athlete to win a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The closing ceremony was the podium for the French of the organisers of the Paris 2024 to inviting the world, after the French capital took the baton from Tokyo at Sunday's Closing Ceremony.

With a unique Olympics having drawn to a close, it is now up to Paris to continue the legacy left by the athletes and organisers who made Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 a success in spite of its challenges.

President of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 organising committee Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in canoe slalom, says his team will "contribute to the evolution" of the Games.

"We waited an extra year for this moment, but we are already waiting 100 years to bring the Olympic flag back to Paris, so the excitement is very strong in our team and back home in France,” he said.

"With Paris 2024, our ambition is to offer a new model to open the Games to more people. This starts with offering the Games to the city.

Judokas Abe Hifumi (JPN) and Abe Uta (JPN) became the first brother and sister to win gold medals at the same Olympic Games when they won the men -66kg and women -52kg event respectively on Sunday 25 July.

There was a shock defeat for the judokas of Japan at the spiritual home of the sport they introduced to the world as France snaffled Olympic gold in the inaugural mixed team event with a lopsided score of 4-1.

In the brief history of the event, Japan is the only nation to have won gold at four consecutive world championships. France took silver on three of those occasions.

At Tokyo 2020, France went some way to avenging those losses as they secured the Olympic title.

“It is amazing for the team of France to win, win, win - here at the Budokan," said Teddy Riner (FRA), who became the first person to win five Olympic medals in judo.