Olympic Games

While fans watching the Games were going gaga over Tonga’s Pita Taufatofua, Rii carried the flag shirtless in Tokyo and appeared to be just as buff and chiseled as the Tongan taekwondo star.

"Indeed, in view of his sporting performances, Rio was chosen to carry the colors of Vanuatu during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. He will be the first rower to do this," the Vanuatu Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee said in a press release.

Social media users tried to warn Taufatofua that Rii was coming for everything.

Organisers also paid tribute to medical workers as athletes from across the world paraded into an almost empty stadium, their smiles hidden behind masks for the first time.

Normally a star-studded display teeming with celebrities, the ceremony was low-key, with fewer than 1000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules and signs calling on spectators to "be quiet around the venue".

A set of criteria have been established in conjunction with coach Gareth Baber to try and sidestep the kind of pandemic problems that restricted the Fijian 15s team to just one game during the recent Autumn Nations Cup in Europe which saw numerous players and staff return positive tests. Bristol’s Semi Radradra has made it clear he wants to be part of the gold medal defence and Baber would like to include other European based players if they can be released for pre-Games camps and matches.

"We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo," Bach said in an interview with Japan's Kyodo News.

"This is why there is no plan B and this is why we are fully committed to make these Games safe and successful," he said.

His comment comes amid growing doubts over the holding of the Games in Tokyo.

The Japanese capital and 10 other prefectures have been under a state of emergency as Japan has failed to rein in a third wave of the coronavirus.