Tokyo Olympics: watch online, live, free
After the postponement of many major sporting events in 2020, the summer of 2021 was full of sport! Beginning with the 2020 European Football Championships, Wimbledon and the 2021 Tour de France, three events that finished before the 2020 Olympics started in July, and finished with the Tokyo Paralympics which ran from August into September. This article will show you the Olympics start date, how to watch the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for free and the rough outline of the Olympic schedule.
Was the Tokyo Olympics cancelled?
There was a great deal of debate around the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and whether or not, after being postponed in 2020, they should be cancelled altogether. The Tokyo Olympics were fortunately not cancelled, and were only just postponed from 2020 to 2021.
When were the Tokyo Olympics?
The Tokyo Summer Olympic Games were held between July 23rd and August 8th 2021, with the Paralympics taking place a month later between the 24th August and the 5th September 2021. The games were initially scheduled for July 24 - August 9, 2020 before they were postponed.
Is it Tokyo 2020 or Tokyo 2021?
Similar questions were raised around the nomenclature of this year’s Euros, was it Euro 2020 or Euro 2021? Ultimately, the official name stayed “Euro 2020”. As for the Tokyo Olympics, the IOC stated in 2020 that despite being delayed until 2021, the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 will be referred to as Tokyo 2020
Where to watch Tokyo Olympics 2021?
The Tokyo Olympics was, unfortunately, held with no public spectators due to rising Covid cases in Tokyo. Fortunately, the Summer Olympics 2020 was probably the most broadcast live sporting event in the world, and there were plenty of free broadcasts available in many countries. If you were currently outside of your country but want to watch your country’s Olympic stream, then you could install a VPN and change your IP address.
How to watch the Olympics in the US
In the US NBC is the official broadcaster for the Olympic games. You were able to watch events on the NBC channel, and also on the Peacock TV app. There was a 7 day free trial for Peacock TV, and then it costs $4.99 per month, or $49.99 for a year.
How to watch the Olympics in the UK
In the UK, BBC iPlayer was the best way to watch the Tokyo 2020 Olympics live, and for free. There was also Eurosport Player however this is a paid service, and subscriptions cost £6.99 per month or £39.99 for a year.
Canada
In Canada coverage was shared between a number of broadcasters, such as CBC, TSN, TLN and Sportsnet.
Australia
In Australia, you could watch the Olympics on Channel 7 for free, or on 7Plus.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, you could watch the Olympics for free on TVNZ, where there was also an on-demand streaming service.
What was the 2020 Olympics schedule?
There was 33 competitions and 339 events being held across 42 venues. There are too many to list in full detail here, we will give the schedule outline, and pinpoint some high profile events, such as the 100m final, and the Skateboarding Olympic debut. If you want to access the full interactive Tokyo Olympics 2021 dates you can do so on the Tokyo 2020 website.
- For the UK, Japan is 8 hours ahead.
- For the US, Japan is 13 hours ahead of EST and 16 hours ahead of PDT.
- Australia (ACT) is 1 hour ahead of Japan
- New Zealand (NZDT) is 3 hours ahead of Japan
Highlights
- The Olympics opening ceremony 2021: Friday 23rd July
- Cycling Road Race: Saturday 24th July
- Men’s Street Skateboarding: Sunday 25th July
- Women’s Street Skateboarding: Monday 26th July
- Women’s 100m final: Saturday 31st July
- Men’s 100m final: Sunday 1st August
- Women’s Football Final: Friday 6th August
- Men’s Football Final: Saturday 7th August
- Cycling Track Medal Finals: 8th August
- Olympics closing ceremony 2021:Sunday 8th August
What was the 2020 Paralympics schedule?
As mentioned above, the 2020 Paralympics started several weeks after the Olympics finishes on the 24th August, and finished on the 5th of September 2020. Again, here is the outline of the Paralympic schedule, for the interactive version you can go to the Paralympics website.
