Softball and football will be the opening games of the 2020 Olympics. They will start on July 21, which is two days before the opening ceremony. Qualifying for archery and rowing events will happen on July 23, the first day of the Olympics.
The Opening Ceremony will happen when the Olympics start. Then, eleven medals are given out by July 24. People who do cycling, judo, shooting, archery and taekwondo will get their medals on that day.
Opening and closing ceremonies at the 2020 Olympics
There will be an opening ceremony for the Games on July 23 at 2 p.m. in the Olympic Stadium but it will not have any audience. There is a closing ceremony scheduled for August 8 at 2 p.m., also in the Olympic Stadium and there will be no audience there either.
What sports are in the programme of the Tokyo Olympics
In the Olympics in Tokyo, there will be lots of events. There will be 36 more medals than in the Olympics before this one in Rio, and many more than there are for the Olympics coming up next time in Paris.
The Tokyo Games have five new sports. These are 3×3 basketball, karate, surfing, rock climbing and skateboarding. Plus baseball and softball will be back for the first time since Beijing in 2008.
All sports at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics:
Rowing, badminton, basketball, basketball 3×3, baseball/softball, boxing, wrestling, cycling, water polo, volleyball, handball, golf, canoeing, rowing slalom, judo, karate, equestrian sports, athletics, table tennis, sailing, swimming, diving, trampoline, rugby sevens, surfing, modern pentathlon, synchronised swimming, rock climbing, skateboarding, artistic gymnastics, shooting, archery, tennis, triathlon, taekwondo, weightlifting, fencing, football, field hockey, rhythmic gymnastics.
In track and field, there are the most medals. In swimming, there are 37 gold medals.
Opening ceremony show
Opening ceremonies are usually colorful. The coronavirus might mean that people will be scared. But the Olympics have not canceled it because they want to have a show for people to enjoy.
It is unlikely that there will be anything too exciting at the Opening Ceremony. The Japanese decided not to spend lots of money on it and they are trying to save money for the Olympics in general.
And it is already clear that the preparations for the ceremony are not without a serious scandal. The fact is that Keigo Oyamada, the 52-year-old composer of the Olympic show, in the 1990s described how he brutally abused people with disabilities. In 2021 those tapes surfaced again. Oyamada apologised belatedly but had to stop work on the ceremony anyway.
Coronavirus at the 2020 Olympics: an emergency situation
The Tokyo Olympics were supposed to happen in the summer of 2020, but they had to be postponed by one year because of COVID-19. But it will not be able to have foreign spectators at it. The opening and closing ceremonies are likely to take place without regular people there. We are still waiting for an answer about whether or not fans will be allowed at the competitions themselves.
A list of special rules for athletes and coaches has been made. It will last from July 12th to August 23rd.
