Tokyo Olympics 2020: Opening/Closing Ceremony, Schedule, Results & Medal Tally

Tokyo Olympics Update: The World’s largest sports event was postponed in 2020 due to the widespread Covid-19 pandemic. After a year’s delay, Tokyo Olympics 2020 is going to commence on the 23rd of July, 2021.

Hence, it rules out the confusion that these Olympic games are actually Olympics 2020 that people are referring to as Olympics 2021, it got delayed by almost a year.

There is no precedence of Olympics resumed after it was being postponed, instead of cancellation. 

Olympics Venue

These games will be held at the newly constructed National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan behind closed doors under Covid Emergency in Tokyo. Whereas, the closing ceremony shall take place on the 8th of August, 2021 at the concurrent venue.

Opening Ceremony and Kick-off Events

The opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics 2020 will begin on 23rd July at 08 pm according to the local time while, 4:30 pm according to the Indian Standard Time.

The sports events in Tokyo Olympics shall start at 09 am in Japan which will be 5:30 am IST. In Tokyo Olympics, it is expected that around 11,000 athletes from 206 countries will participate in 33 sports.

Olympics Broadcasting and Streaming Rights

Olympics on TV will be made available by Sony Pictures who holds the exclusive Broadcasting Rights of Tokyo Olympics 2020 in India and its subcontinent. Whereas, SonyLiv will provide the online live streaming of Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Olympics on TV

Sony Sports Network’s Sony TEN 1 HD/SD & Sony TEN 2 HD/SD shall broadcast live Tokyo Olympics with English commentary whereas, Sony TEN 3 HD/SD shall broadcast the games with Hindi commentary.

The Olympic events will be telecasted live by DD Sports in English and Hindi. DD sports will be available on the following channels with Airtel Digital TV (298,224), Tata Sky (453), Dish TV(435), Sun Direct(510), Big TV (512), and DD Free Dish (77).

With the help of these broadcasting corporations, the people of Indian will be able to watch and enjoy Tokyo Olympics at ease.

India and Olympics

India Olympic medals count is 28 (commutative total), with 9 Gold medals, 7 Silver medals, and 12 Bronze medals. However, Olympics most medals winner individual is Michael Phelps, he has won 28 gold in Olympics, whereas, highest Olympic medal winner country is the United States with total medals as 2827 and 1127 gold medals.

As a growing and country of youth, India is hoping to prove its metal and augment the medal tally this Olympics.

According to the reports, “India will be sending a large contingent for Olympics 2020 but with a reduced number of officials to be in line with the Covid-19 protocols.” Indian contingent would consist of 127 members competing in 18 sports.

The state-wise breakup of the participants reveals that out of a total of 127 Olympic 2020 participants, 31 are from Haryana i.e. around 24%, Punjab has 19 members i.e.15% participation.

Whereas, Haryana and Punjab together constitute 39%. Moreover, Haryana, Punjab, Tamilnadu, and Kerala together account for around 54% participation.

Closing Ceremony and India’s Flag Bearer

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 was postponed last year due to covid-19, it began this year with looming concerns of the pandemic. Yet the mega sporting event organized successfully, humanity and willpower have once again been demonstrated at Tokyo Olympics 2020. 

Managing such huge participation under the continuous threat of covid-19 is indeed commendable, Japan’s efforts have been appreciated by participating nations and Athletes. 

The Olympics started on 23rd July and after 16 days of unprecedented performances by athletes, the caravan is at the final step. The closing ceremony shall take place on the 8th of August at 4:30 pm according to the Indian Standard Time.

Unlike the opening ceremony, where athletes parade in respective country groups, at the closing ceremony the group of athletes en-masse under one roof carrying their country’s flag, symbolizing the most important mantra and the moral value in humanity ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam‘, which means “the world is one family.”

Bajrang Punia will be the Indian flagbearer at the ceremony, and the ceremony will be telecasted on TV live. 

Recent News

The spirit of Tokyo Olympics 2020 is Sustainability at its core, keeping up with the spirit Tokyo Olympics has also been termed as “Hydrogen Olympics”, Tokyo 2020 is a showcase for the fuel of the future.

The organizers are setting in another example by powering the Olympics Flame Torches with Hydrogen Fuel. In days to come, a lot more exciting innovations will be seen and adapted from Tokyo, Japan – I believe.

India’s Neeraj Chopra won Olympic 2020 GOLD in Men’s Javelin Throw

India’s Men’s Javelin Thrower won GOLD in Olympics 2020. Neeraj threw 87.58m, the best in his all 6 attempts. J Vadlejch of Czech Republic threw 86.76 and bagged Silver. Whereas V. Vesley of Czech Republic settled third with 85.44m. 

Confident level ? #NeerajChopra pic.twitter.com/1RceLi5jmQ

— Shahcastic - Mota bhai ? (@shahcastic) August 7, 2021

What a day for Indians, 7 medals, A historic and highest count ever for India in Olympics. 

Tokyo Olympics Medal Tally

Refer to the Olympics 2021 Medals Table at LeisureTym

Tokyo Olympics organizing committee has demonstrated Sustainability as its core value, yet again. To produce the Olympic medals, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) conducted the “Tokyo 2020 Medal Project” so as to collect the small electronic items.

These items were recycled to make medals for the Olympics. Really commendable Job!!

India Winning First Gold in Olympics

Fake news trended on Twitter captioned ‘congratulations for winning gold in wrestling #olympics #cheer4india #Tokyo2020.’ After doing fact analysis, it was found that Priya Malik won gold at the world cadet wrestling championship in the 73kg category in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday. She defeated Belarus’ Kseniya Patapovich by 5-0.

This indeed is hearting news for Indians. However, the news of winning gold at the Olympics was fake. Indian sports fans may have to wait longer to get the first gold.

Gender Equity at Tokyo Olympics 2021

On International Women’s Day this year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Tokyo Olympics would be the first ‘gender balanced’ Games, with a ratio of 49% women:51% men.

Following the directions, six of the participant states, namely the United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Canada, China, and ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) have evolved as trendsetters for other states.

It is noteworthy that out of these six nations, 5 are among the top 11 medal winners except Australia.

According to statistics, 329 female athletes from the US, 298 female athletes from China, 252 female athletes from Australia, 225 female athletes from Canada, 201 female athletes from the UK, and183 female athletes from Russia are participating in these Olympics.

Condoms and Anti-Sex/Cardboard Olympics Beds Controversies  

As an initiative and to promote the social distancing protocol of Covid-19, the organizers handed over 150,000 condoms to athletes which they believe to be considered as a parting gift and not to be used in the Olympic village.

This would symbolize social distancing in the semi-bubble of the Olympic village.

Another controversy broke when Paul Chelimo tweeted a picture of Olympic Cardboard beds and quoted saying “this is aimed at avoiding intimacy among athletes” which the newspapers referred to as  ‘anti-sex bed’. The organizers later clarified that the cardboard beds are in line with the spirit of sustainability at the Olympics.

A follow-up video posted by Rhys McClenaghan, who jumped repeatedly on an Olympics cardboard bed, demonstrating its durability, trended on Twitter. Hence, dumping the claims that cardboard beds at Tokyo Olympics are fragile or anti-sex in any sense.

Special Indian Cuisine for Indian Athletes

Over a couple of instances during the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Beijing, London, and Rio Olympics in 2008, 2012, and 2016 respectively. Indian athletes have complained regarding the food menu being served is not as per Indian food habits.

However, to everybody delight delicacies like chole bhature, butter and plain naan (stuffed loaves of bread), paratha, butter chicken, tofu (soy paneer), tomato and shahi paneer (cottage cheese), bhindi, lentil curry, basmati, and jasmine rice, biryani, steamed spinach, and steamed sweet potatoes have made a way into Tokyo Olympics 2020 menu.

Dr. Prem Verma, India’s deputy chef-de-mission said: “that the food quality of these dishes is been excellent and the organizers of the Games are indeed making a wonderful arrangement for the Indian athletes.”

Archers of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board

Two Indian archers namely, Rakesh Kumar and Jyoti Baliyan from Shrine Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) Sports Complex, Katra have qualified & thus are eligible for Tokyo Paralympic Games 2021.

Both the archers have been being trained under the experienced & strict supervision of Kuldeep Vedwan, the coach at the sports complex, Katra, for an extensive period of four years.

Rakesh Kumar is a local from Katra & Jyoti Baliyan is a native of Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Ashok Bhan, Chairman, Governing Council of Shrine Board’s Sports Complex, & CEO SMVDSB, congratulated both the athletes on the achievement.

Detailed Olympics Schedule and Results Live

Tokyo Olympics Date and Time (IST) of important events/sports, and respective participants (Indian athletes) can be seen on the schedule page.

For Olympics Results Live and more detailed coverage, refer to the Tokyo Olympics official website

India at Tokyo Olympics 2020, Performance Snapshot: Day 1 – Day 15

Olympics is the world’s mega sports event comprising 205 (+ EOR team) participant nations, 11,326 athletes, and 339 events in 33 sports. India’s hope lies in 127 athletes that are competing in 18 sports.

Select the date from the dropdown to go to the performance snapshot page.