![\"Olympic](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/390F\/production\/_119670641_ef3d3384-4f60-401e-8f92-0bec9c1aae2c.jpg\")
<\/span><\/span>Winning an Olympic medal is a huge moment for any athlete, but there is special significance to the bouquet of flowers they are being handed at Tokyo 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n More than 5,000 bouquets are being handed to athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The ceremonial blooms were mainly grown in three districts of north-east Japan that were devastated by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the <\/span>subsequent meltdown of three reactors<\/span><\/a> at the Fukushima nuclear plant.<\/span><\/p>\n Almost 20,000 people died in the catastrophe that hit the prefectures of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi.<\/span><\/p>\n And the bouquets of yellow, green and blue flowers being presented to medallists at both the Olympics and Paralympics were grown almost entirely in those three districts.<\/span><\/p>\n Bright yellow sunflowers, which dominate the bouquets, were grown in Miyagi, having been planted by parents whose children died in the disaster. The parents chose a hillside where their children had sought refuge from the effects of the tsunami.<\/span><\/p>\n Delicate white and purple eustomas and Solomon’s seals were grown in Fukushima – under a non-profit initiative set up to try to revive the local economy in the wake of the disaster, which had severely damaged agriculture production. <\/span><\/p>\n The gentians, a small bright blue flower, are grown in Iwate, a coastal area that was devastated by giant waves in the 2011 disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n