BBC One and Eurosport 1 will broadcast live coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games from Tokyo’s National Stadium on Friday, 23 July.
After a delay of a year, the Games of the 32nd Olympiad will finally be declared open and the Olympic flame will be lit, albeit they will look and feel very different to any other Games of modern times.
The global pandemic and the suffering it has caused means that the ceremony will be simpler than had been originally envisaged and there will no crowd in attendance, but it is sure to still be a spectacular and moving showpiece as Japan welcomes the athletes of the world.
Starting at 12pm UK time – Tokyo is eight hours ahead of British Summer Time – the Opening Ceremony is set to draw on the three core concepts of the Games Vision, set out by the organising committee of the Olympics and Paralympics. These are – “striving for your personal best”, “accepting one another” and “passing on a legacy for the future”.
The Olympics were last held in the city in 1964, and there is sure to be a reflection on the economic and technological impact of those Games on Tokyo and post-war Japan as a whole.
The delayed 2020 Games will begin under a cloud with Tokyo in a state of emergency throughout the Olympics, after a significant spike in Covid-19 infections, not to mention the huge criticism from the Japanese public, the majority of whom want the Games postponed again or cancelled altogether.
In light of the rising infections and public backlash, organisers are taking huge precautions with all 33 sports at the Games being staged behind closed doors, with no fans in attendance at any events, while more than 11,300 athletes from 207 countries, along with delegates and members of the media, are all under tight restrictions on the ground.
Despite that, the head of Tokyo’s organising committee has not ruled out a last-minute cancellation of the Games, producing more uncertainty for everyone involved, but as things stand the Tokyo Games go ahead and the race for Gold across 339 different sporting disciplines begins.
The flag bearers for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team will be Olympic champions Hannah Mills (sailing) and Mohamed Sbihi (rowing), both becoming Team GB’s first joint flag bearers at an Olympic Games.
They are part of a 376-strong British contingent, which is their largest ever for an overseas Games and features more women than men for the first time at a summer Games.
Follow the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on the BBC and Eurosport. Details of both broadcaster’s coverage can be found below.
Live free-to-air coverage on BBC One will start at 11.20am on Friday, 23 July, ahead of the ceremony itself which is due to get underway from 12pm.
Clare Balding and Alex Scott will present the BBC’s coverage and they will be joined by a number of special guests from the BBC’s star-studded punditry team in their special virtual reality studio based in Salford, including Chris Hoy and Katherine Grainger.
Commentary on all the proceedings inside the National Stadium in Tokyo will come from Hazel Irvine and Andrew Cotter, while reports from the stadium will come from Jeanette Kwakye.
Later in the evening, Clare Balding and Alex Scott return at 7.30pm on BBC One to present highlights of the ceremony, including all the key moments and the lighting of the Olympic flame. The show will also be repeated on the Red Button at 9.15pm.
All of the BBC’s coverage will be available to watch live or via catch-up on BBC iPlayer.
The ceremony kick starts more than 350 hours of live coverage across the Games on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Red Button.
Eurosport’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony will start at 11.30am, presented by Orla Chennaoui live from the National Stadium in Tokyo.
All of Eurosport UK’s main presenters, including Reshmin Chowdhury, Radzi Chinyanganya, Bradley Wiggins and Greg Rutherford, will be involved in the channel’s build-up, while commentary on the ceremony itself will be led by Simon Reed and Catherine Whitaker.
As well as live TV coverage on Eurosport 1, the broadcaster’s coverage will also be available to watch online via Eurosport Player and Discovery+.
There will be extended highlights of ceremony at 5.30pm on Eurosport 1, while before that at 4pm, Tokyo Today will have the key moments from the ceremony, plus a round-up of the sporting action that took place on Friday, including Rowing, Archery, Equestrian, Shooting.
Eurosport and Discovery+ will be the only place to watch live coverage of every single televised Olympic event throughout the Tokyo 2020 Games, with 9 dedicated Eurosport TV channels available on Sky, Virgin and BT TV, while full streaming coverage can be found on Eurosport Player and Discovery+.
Scroll down for the exact broadcast timings for BBC Sport and Eurosport’s Opening Ceremony coverage below.
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FRIDAY 23rd JULY
OLYMPICS 2020: OPENING CEREMONY
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FRIDAY 23rd JULY
TOKYO TODAY
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TOKYO 2020: OPENING CEREMONY
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OLYMPICS 2020: OPENING CEREMONY HIGHLIGHTS
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