These videos do not show fireworks from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 28, 2021
A post accompanying a video of a fireworks display on a high-rise building is being shared with a claim that the video shows visuals of the Tokyo Olympics inaugural ceremony. Another video (here) of fireworks is also being shared attributing it to the Tokyo Olympics. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Videos showing visuals of fireworks at Tokyo Olympics inaugural ceremony.
Fact: These videos have nothing to do with the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. While the first video shows fireworks organised on New Year’s Eve on 31 December 2020 in Taiwan, the other video actually shows a simulated version of fireworks but not real fireworks. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Video 1:
The video actually shows fireworks organized in Taiwan on New Year’s Eve on 31 December 2020. A reverse image search of the screenshots of the video in the post yielded few news reports which reported similar visuals. As per one such news video, these visuals show display of fireworks organized on the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan.
Upon comparison of the screenshots of the news video of New year fireworks in Taiwan with those from the viral video, we can spot many similarities, which confirms that the viral video indeed shows new year celebrations on 31 December 2020 in Taiwan.
Another news video that reported the fireworks at Taipei 101 building on New Year’s Eve but from another angle can be seen here. Even this video shows visuals similar to the one in the post. Further, the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was held at ‘Tokyo’s new Olympic stadium’, whereas, in the viral video, we can see fireworks being organized on a skyscraper. Few visuals of the fireworks display during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics inaugural ceremony can be seen here. These visuals are completely different from those in the viral video. Hence, all these suggest that the viral video has nothing to do with Tokyo Olympics.
Video 2:
The video actually shows a simulated version of fireworks, not real fireworks. The video is available on the internet at least since 2015, which proves that the video has nothing to do with Tokyo Olympics. FACTLY has debunked the same video that went viral back in 2020 with a claim attributing it to Tokyo Olympics.
To sum it up, these videos do not show fireworks from the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony.