Much of the attention surrounding Tokyo has been focused on athletes set to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, but Illinois will also be well represented in the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games, which follows the Olympic Games later in August.

This year’s Paralympic Games will be held from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, hosting athletes from around the world – over 35 of whom come from right here in Illinois. The athletes will compete in 22 events, with Badminton and Taekwondo making their debut this year.

After a lengthy delay due to COVID-19, the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo begin on Friday. Illinois athletes will be well represented this year.

This summer’s Olympic Games will be held from July 23 to Aug. 8. The Tokyo Games will host athletes from around the world to compete in 339 events in 50 different sports, six of which are completely new this year.

Alex Diab, a Glen Ellyn native and gymnast who formerly attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named an alternate for the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He will be ready to step in for any Team USA member who is injured and will now train and travel with the team.

As The Architect in “Matrix Reloaded” once said, “The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect. It was a work of art. Flawless. Sublime.” But did you know the real architects of the Matrix were born in Chicago?

The popularity of folk music in Illinois can be traced back to the folk and gospel musician that Carl Sandburg described as “America’s mightiest ballad singer.” Illinois’ own Burl Ives was born this day in 1909.

Burl Ives was born in Hunt City, a small town in Jasper County, as one of seven siblings in a farming family. Ives took to singing early and would perform in public, either alone or with his siblings. As a teen, he learned to play guitar and banjo, and learned scores of English, Irish, and Scottish folk ballads passed down through his family over their years in the United States.