2020 Tokyo Olympics – General Information

The 2020 Summer Olympics are taking place in Tokyo this year from Friday, July 24^th to Sunday, August 9^th. Following a few weeks later, the Paralympics will take place from August 25^th to September 6^th. Before the events begin, however, the Olympic Torch Relay with make its way through all 47 Japanese prefectures over the course of 121 days. Starting on March 12^th, the flame will make it’s way from Greece to Japan. The torch will begin its relay journey across Japan starting in Fukushima prefecture on the 26^th and will arrive in Shinjuku City, Tokyo in time for the Opening Ceremony on July 24^th.

Buying Tickets

If you are a resident of Japan and looking to purchase tickets, make sure to check out the Tokyo 2020 Official Ticket Website. If you aren’t a resident of Japan you’ll have to buy tickets through your countries designated Authorized Ticket Reseller, you can find more information here.

Events

There are 33 sports scheduled this year for the Olympics and 22 more to take place during the Paralympics. Each sport has multiple events that athletes will compete in for a chance to earn an Olympic medal. For example, the sport of “Athletics” includes Track, Field, Road, Decathlon and Heptathlon type events. Examples of the these type of events include: 100m (Men/Women) Dash, High Jump (Men/Women), 20km Race Walk (Men/Women) and dozens more just in the “Athletics” sport.

Sports List

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) allowed the Olympic Games Organizing Committee to propose more events to be included this year. The committee came up with 18 different events for 5 new Sports: Baseball/Softball, Karate, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing—all of which have been approved and are included in the 33 sport total.

There are also test events used as rehearsals to make sure everything will run smoothly before the real thing. The tests will help identify any potential improvements. The test events have been going on since September 9^th 2018, starting at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour for Sailing’s World Cup Series. The test events will continue up until May 6^th 2020. If you’re interested in the schedule or locations check out the website here.

Venues

According to the Official Tokyo 2020 website the Venue will be made of two “thematic and operational zones” called the “Heritage Zone” and the “Tokyo Bay Zone”. The “Heritage Zone” contains several venues previously used at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. “Tokyo Bay Zone” is meant to show off urban development and the future of the city. The Athletes’ Village is located where the two zones meet in the Harumi Waterfront district of Tokyo.

There will be over 42 venues used for the games. The Olympic Stadium is being rebuilt as the “New National Stadium”. The Olympic Stadium is the same one used in the Olympic games of 1964 and is located at 10-2 Kasumigaokamachi, Shinjuku City, Tokyo 160-0013, Japan

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Venue List