A video showing Japanese synchronised precision walking (Shuudan Koudou) is viral on social media with claims that it shows the closing ceremony of Tokyo Olympics 2020.
The performance in the viral video features moments where the participants form five rings, symbolic to the Olympic, thus misleading netizens further.
The caption with the viral video reads, "Wonderful closing ceremony at the Olympics, like each person was digitally programmed.... Too good".
Click here to see the post.
The closing ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics was conducted on August 8, 2021 and saw a variety of performances. The flag bearer for India was Bajrang Punia, who won India a bronze in wrestling. Indian athletes brought home seven medals including a gold in javelin throwing.
The video was also sent to BOOM's WhatsApp tipline for verification with a similar claim.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on one of the keyframes from the viral video and found a similar image published on a Japanese article . The article includes a longer version of the same video, which was uploaded to Youtube by Japanese news outlet TV Asahi on January 20, 2014.
Below is a screen-to-screen comparison between the viral video and the TV Asahi footage.
According to Google Translate the video shows a performance of Nippon Sport Science University with the description stating , "The latest performance of Nippon Sport Science University's "Group Action" taken by TV Asahi using eight cameras. An 11-minute miracle march & moment of joy will be unveiled uncut! Also, at the end of the video, there will bea special video of the "National Elementary School Group Action Presentation" broadcast from 2:00 pm on Sunday, January 26, 2014! Do not miss it!"
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Taking cue, we did a keyword search and found videos with similar visuals from Nippon Sport Science University uploaded by other news outlets in 2013.
According to one such video uploaded by On Demand News' Youtube channel on November 15, 2013, a group of 77 students from Nippon Sport Science University in Japan, spent last five months practising to perfect their walk.
Channels including Diagonal View and Euronews also posted similar visuals from a Japanese precision walk.
A THV11 article published on November 15, 2013 reported that a group of Japanese students at Nippon Sport Science University performed synchronised precision walking drawing in 11,000 people at their university festivities on November 14. The university is famed for producing many Olympic gold medalists, sumo wrestlers and politicians, stated the report.
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Glimpses of Tokyo Olympics' closing ceremony can be watched here .