After a 12-month delay, the sporting action finally gets underway at the 32nd Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, live across the BBC and Eurosport.
SOTB’s Olympics TV guides will take you through all the key action and list the must-see moments every day throughout the Games.
After a low-key but poignant Opening Ceremony at the National Stadium, the sporting action gets underway from midnight on Saturday, 24 July, and the very first gold medal of Tokyo 2020 will likely come in shooting, with the women’s 10m air rifle final from around 12.30am, which features Britain’s Seonaid McIntosh.
More than 20 Olympic sports roll into action on the opening day with 11 gold medals set to be won. Here is a summary of the best action:
ROAD CYCLING: Starting at 3am and running throughout the morning, the men’s road race is perhaps the biggest draw from a British perspective on day one and contains a wide-open field. Britain’s team features Grand Tour winners Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas, as well as Adam and Simon Yates.
ROWING: Plenty of British medal prospects are in action, including Helen Glover and Polly Swann, who compete in the heats of the women’s pair. Glover, who won gold in 2012 and 2016, spent four years away from elite rowing before making an unlikely comeback as a result of the pandemic.
ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS: Qualification for the men’s gymnastics events gets underway from 2am, with the British team led by double Rio 2016 gold medallist Max Whitlock.
SWIMMING: The opening day of the swimming competition sees no finals scheduled, but Britain’s Olympic and world champion Adam Peaty will be in action in the heats of the men’s 100m breaststroke at about approximately 1pm.
HOCKEY: Team GB’s men get their Olympic campaign underway against South Africa at 10.30am.
FOOTBALL: Great Britain’s women beat Chile 2-0 in their opening match and in their second group match they face the host nation Japan, kicking off at 11.30am.
3×3 BASKETBALL: The three-a-side variant of the sport, played on a court with only one hoop, is one of five new sporting disciplines at these Games and makes its Olympic debut on the opening day.
Scroll down for a further overview of BBC Sport and Eurosport’s TV coverage on day one of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
For further details about UK TV coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics, visit SOTB’s dedicated Tokyo 2020 page.
BBC Sport is the home of live free-to-air coverage of all the key medal moments at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
More than 350 hours of coverage will be broadcast across network TV – BBC One and BBC Two – and via one extra live stream available on the Red Button and online via BBC iPlayer.
Eurosport is the only place to watch live coverage of every single televised Olympic event at the Tokyo Games.
The pan-European broadcaster will be running 9 dedicated Olympics TV channels, available on Sky, Virgin and BT TV, while full streaming coverage of every sport, totalling more than 3,000 hours of live action, can be found on Eurosport Player and Discovery+.
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All BBC and Eurosport timings/channels listed in below are all subject to change.
Tokyo is eight hours ahead of the UK when lining up your viewing plans, so the early action on each day’s timetable will be happen overnight and the live sporting schedule is set to run through until around 3pm UK time each day.
With focus on UK medal interest and the potential for disruption due to Covid, there may be late changes to the main BBC network TV schedule and Eurosport 1/2 coverage throughout the Games.
Please check your electronic programme guide on the day for up-to-date listings.
WATCH LIVE OR CATCH-UP via BBC iPLAYER
00:10-04:00 |
LIVE ROWING, SHOOTING, ROAD CYCLING Presenter: JJ Chalmers |
BBC Sport’s coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games starts on BBC One shortly after midnight on Saturday, 24 July.
JJ Chalmers presents all the action as the 2020 Olympics finally get under way, with the first medals presented, and early British interest in a multitude of events.
We’ll see the beginning of the men’s cycling road race, while in rowing, it’s the heats of the men’s coxless four, with Britain hoping for a sixth consecutive gold in the event.
And the first gold medal of the games will go to the winner of the women’s 10m air rifle.
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04:00-09:00 |
LIVE ROAD CYCLING, GYMNASTICS, ARCHERY Presenters: Dan Walker & Sam Quek |
Team GB’s men’s road cyclists go for gold, while Max Whitlock is among the British gymnasts competing for places in both team and individual finals in Tokyo.
Britain’s four-man road race team in Tokyo includes three Grand Tour champions, including Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, Vuelta winner Simon Yates and Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Whitlock famously won double Olympic gold in Rio and will be aiming for more medals in Tokyo, with teammate Joe Fraser, the reigning world champion in parallel bars, also bidding for success.
There will be some Olympic history made as the first-ever mixed team archery event is held.
NOTE: Between 6am and 9am during Olympic Breakfast, there will be regular BBC national and regional news updates.
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09:00-13:40
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LIVE ROAD CYCLING, SWIMMING, HOCKEY, FOOTBALL Presenters: Hazel Irvine |
Adam Peaty begins his campaign to become the first Briton to retain an Olympic swimming title, while the men’s road race champion will be crowned in the shadow of Mount Fuji.
Peaty has dominated the men’s 100m breaststroke since winning the Olympic title in Rio, and became the first man to break the 57-second barrier at the 2019 World Championships. Earlier this year, he retained his European title, and he will be looking to lay down another marker in today’s heats.
Elsewhere, Team GB’s men’s hockey team begin their Olympic campaign against South Africa, while Team GB’s women’s footballers take on hosts Japan at 11.30am.
NOTE: Coverage switches to BBC Two at 1.40pm for 15 minutes.
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13:55-15:00 |
LIVE GYMNASTICS, JUDO, TAEKWONDO, FENCING Presenters: Hazel Irvine |
Further action from the opening day of the Olympics, with medals decided in fencing, judo and taekwondo.
Britain’s Ashley McKenzie is looking for a medal in the men’s -60kg judo, while the men’s gymnastics qualifying continues, with Max Whitlock and his GB teammates looking to book places in the team final and in the individual apparatus finals.
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15:00-17:40 |
OLYMPICS 2020: RECAP Presenter: Jason Mohammad |
A recap of the best of the action from the opening day of the Olympics, including a round-up of the hockey and football.
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19:00-20:30 |
TODAY AT THE GAMES Presenters: Clare Balding & Alex Scott |
Clare Balding, Alex Scott and guests look back over the opening day of the Olympics, including the men’s cycling road race, gymnastics, fencing, shooting and taekwondo.
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20:30-21:30 |
OLYMPICS EXTRA Presenter: Jeanette Kwakye |
Jeanette Kwakye introduces coverage of the men’s road race and looks back at what happened in the women’s football.
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00:25-15:00 |
LIVE ADDITIONAL COVERAGE |
An extra stream featuring uninterrupted coverage of a selected sport will be available to watch via the Red Button or iPlayer, starting from midnight and running through until at least 3pm.
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Eurosport and discovery+ is the ‘Streaming Home of the Olympics’ for Tokyo 2020.
The platform will include more than 50 live event feeds, including the main Eurosport 1 and 2 channels. Discovery+ will also stream Eurosport pop-up channels 3 to 9, as well as providing access to all the action on-demand.
If you are looking for the place to find each and every sport live and on-demand for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Eurosport and discovery+ are the only places to find this level of coverage.
Eurosport 1 will focus on more traditional Olympic sports and prospective Team GB medal events and host a daily highlights programme – Tokyo Today – at 4pm and 9pm. Eurosport 2 coverage will include new Olympic sports including skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing.
Eurosport 3 to 9 will host seven pop-up channels categorized by sport genre in HD on Sky, BT, Virgin Media and Amazon alongside a UHD/HDR channel on Virgin Media and Sky, while Sky Q customers can also access 50+ live event feeds via discovery+ subscription.
TV schedules for Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 can be found below, while the full Eurosport streaming schedule can be found via the Eurosport Player website.
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23:50 |
LIVE ROWING |
02:45 |
LIVE ROAD CYCLING – Men’s Road Race |
10:30 |
LIVE BOXING |
10:50 |
LIVE SWIMMING |
12:55 |
LIVE FENCING |
13:40 |
LIVE VOLLEYBALL |
16:00 |
TOKYO TODAY |
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00:55 |
LIVE BEACH VOLLEYBALL |
02:00 |
LIVE ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS |
02:35 |
LIVE SHOOTING |
03:50 |
LIVE ARTISIC GYMNASTICS |
04:30 |
LIVE BEACH VOLLEYBALL |
06:00 |
LIVE 3v3 BASKETBALL |
07:50 |
LIVE BEACH VOLLEYBALL |
09:50 |
LIVE 3v3 BASKETBALL |
11:50 |
LIVE BEACH VOLLEYBALL |
12:50 |
LIVE 3v3 BASKETBALL |
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Click on the links below to view the daily event schedule for each sport
External links courtesy of olympics.com
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3×3 BASKETBALL |
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ARCHERY |
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ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS |
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BADMINTON |
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BASEBALL / SOFTBALL |
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BEACH VOLLEYBALL |
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BOXING |
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CYCLING ROAD |
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EQUESTRIAN |
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FENCING |
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FOOTBALL |
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HANDBALL |
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HOCKEY |
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JUDO |
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ROWING |
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SHOOTING |
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SWIMMING |
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TABLE TENNIS |
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TAEKWONDO |
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TENNIS |
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VOLLEYBALL |
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WATER POLO |
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WEIGHTLIFTING |
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