The Tokyo Olympics are getting close! How close? Tickets go on sale in Japan in a few weeks. And today, they released the full schedule. We already knew the preliminary schedule, but that only told us what sports were on what days. Now we know the whole thing. And now it's time to start planning. Because those 15 months will go by quick.
With the time difference between Japan and the U.S., there were going to be morning finals. They announced that a few months ago when they released the preliminary schedule. That's what they did for swimming in 2008, and, despite much protest by the hosts, that's what they'll do for swimming again in 2020. Same thing with beach volleyball, which gets a 10 a.m. local time start for the two gold medal matches.
And, by special request of the IOC, there will be morning session finals in track & field, too. They had morning finals in Rio for European TV, and this time they'll be for U.S. TV. So, don't think it's a coincidence that the events they chose for morning finals (100/110 hurdles, 400 hurdles, long jump, triple jump, shot put) are events that the U.S. is good at.
I actually really like what they did with the track & field schedule. Unlike recent Olympics, they actually set it up so that athletes can attempt to double. I'm not just talking about the 100 and 200, either. I'm talking 200/400 or 800/1500 or 1500/5000 or 5000/10,000. Athletes won't have to pick one because of the schedule. (Why they don't do this at every major championship is beyond me!) Likewise, 400 runners can do all three events (400, 4x400 relay, mixed 4x400 relay) if they want.
All long distance event finals, meanwhile, will be held in the evening so as to avoid the worst of Tokyo's searing summer heat. That's the same reason the marathons and race walks will all start at the crack of dawn (which is before NBC's prime time coverage even starts).
In fact, those of us in the U.S. actually really lucked out with this schedule. Because of the heat in Tokyo at that time of year, they tried to avoid outdoor events in the middle of the day. Which, for us, means overnight. All of the outdoor stuff will either be in prime time or the morning. (There will still be indoor events overnight.)
Gymnastics is an indoor sport. Gymnastics finals were held in the morning in Beijing so that they could be live in the U.S. In Tokyo, that won't be the case. Finals will start at 7:30 p.m. local time, which is 6:30 a.m. on the East Coast. (My guess is it's because Japan is good at gymnastics and NBC was willing to give it up as a trade-off for swimming. Or they might just show it live instead of Today.)
We also found out that some sports will have completely different schedules than past Olympics in Tokyo. Specifically basketball, which is going from two groups of six to three groups of four. I kinda suspected that when I saw the initial schedule and it wasn't long enough to have five group games for everyone. Now that's been confirmed. The debut of 3 x 3 basketball, meanwhile, will be a little like curling in that all eight teams will play each of the other seven in the preliminary round. I thought they'd have two pools, but I guess not.
Surfing's debut is still TBA. All we know is the general time frame, which will be part of the "Surfing Festival" from July 26-August 2. The exact day and time of the two finals is subject to wave conditions, though. So, we really have no idea when the first-ever Olympic surfing medals will be awarded.
Softball isn't just making its Olympic return after 12 years away. Softball will actually be the sport that gets the Olympics underway with three games on Wednesday, two days before the Opening Ceremony. With the time difference, that first game will actually start at 8:00 on Tuesday night here. There's also competition on the morning of the Opening Ceremony (in archery and rowing) for some reason, while the soccer tournaments will begin on Wednesday and Thursday as usual.
Baseball will be a week-long tournament that starts the day after softball ends, with the gold medal game on Saturday of the final weekend. Karate's and sport climbing's debuts won't be until the end of the Games, while two skateboarding events will be held early with the other two late.
Those five new sports pushed the total number to a record 33. The 339 medal events will also set a record. (By comparison, there were 306 events in 28 sports at the Rio Games.)
Since the men's marathon is at 6:00 in the morning, it won't be the last event of the Games. That honor instead goes to the men's water polo final, which starts at 4:30 p.m. on the final day. All of the other final day sports (boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, volleyball, basketball) will keep their traditional spots, but it'll be the women's final in the team sports (the women's basketball final starts at 11:30 a.m., so it'll presumably be live on NBC at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night).
Tokyo 2020, the middle Games in that Asian Olympic trio, will be here before we know it. And now that we know the full schedule, they really feel that much closer. It's time to start getting excited! Because July 24, 2020 will be here soon enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment