Tokyo Olympics | No avoiding pandemic reminders at Games

Like any other Olympics, the Tokyo Games created its share of indelible moments — runners lunging across the finish line, swimmers reaching for the wall, athletes standing on podiums with medals around their necks. (Image: AP)

The most lasting images from the 2020 Games — held in 2021, of course — will be those that underline the once unimaginable circumstances surrounding them. (Image: AP)

Reminders are everywhere that these will forever be remembered as the Pandemic Olympics. (Image: AP)

A last-minute rule change allowed athletes to remove their masks for a podium photo-op with their medals, but the face coverings had to be quickly restored. Thus the awkwardness as American dressage riders Adrienne Lyle, Steffen Peters and Sabine Schut-Kery fiddled to get their masks back in place. (Image: AP)

Masks, of course, are everywhere. Gymnastics judges eyed competitors carefully over top of them. (Image: AP)

British archer Bryony Pitman attached one to the arrows in her quiver. (Image: AP)

Volunteers at every Olympic venue have offered friendly assistance without being able to show guests their smile. (Image: AP)

Disinfection has become an around-the-clock effort. Officials in gloves sanitize the volleyballs, wipe down the table tennis surface and spray down the corners of the boxing rings. (Image: AP)

Signs of the strangeness remain even after the action stops in the form of discarded masks left on walkways and streets. (Image: AP)