Tokyo Olympics schedule unveiled

NHK -- Apr 17

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee has announced a detailed schedule for the 17-day event.

The committee on Tuesday released the schedules for 32 sports.

The opening ceremony will take place at the new national stadium on July 24, and the closing ceremony at the same venue on August 9, both from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

The first sporting event will be a women's softball game in Fukushima Prefecture starting at 9 a.m. on July 22, two days before the opening ceremony. Japan is expected to take part.

Many events, including men's and women's judo, will start on July 25.

The finals in 26 events will be held on Sunday, August 2. In track and field, the men's 100-meter final will be held at the national stadium in the evening.

On August 8, the day before the closing ceremony, finals will be held for 30 events, including baseball, men's soccer and men's basketball. That is the largest number of finals on any day of the Olympic period.

To avoid the expected severe summer heat in Tokyo, the organizing committee moved up the original starting time for the women's marathon on August 2 and the men's marathon on August 9. Both will start at 6 a.m. The men's 50-kilometer walk will start at 5:30 a.m. on August 8.

No decision has yet been made on the schedule for boxing, since the function of the international body governing boxing has been suspended.