The Stadium That Held Every Flag

On July 23, 2021, athletes from 206 nations marched into Tokyo's Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony. Cameras captured a Somali sprinter walking beside a Swiss rower. A refugee team — stateless men and women with no country to claim — carried the Olympic flag itself. The parade lasted nearly four hours, and by the end, the field was a sea of color: hijabs and cowboy hats, saris and tracksuits, faces of every shade the human family produces.…