Kosei Inoue, head coach of Japan's national judo team, Reika Utsugi, head coach of Japan women's national softball team, and Koji Murofushi, Tokyo 2020 Sports Director, (from L to R) pose for photos during a press conference announcing the detailed Tokyo 2020 Olympic competition schedule in Tokyo, Japan on April 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Honghui)
TOKYO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee on Tuesday unveiled a detailed schedule of Olympic competitions, including setting the start times of some finals in the morning.
The action-packed program will feature a record 33 sports and 339 events from July 24 to August 9, 2020, organizers said at a press conference in Tokyo.
The itinerary for the Games reveals that preliminary events for softball and women's football will be held on 22 July 2020, two days before the opening ceremony. Rowing and archery events will be held on the day of the opening ceremony.
The first medal event is the women's 10m air rifle, which will be held at 8:30am local time on July 25, the day after the opening ceremony.
Medal events in archery, cycling, fencing, judo, taekwondo and weightlifting will also be held, with medals being awarded in a total of 11 events on the same day.
The finals of nine athletics events will also be held in the morning, along with medal rounds in basketball, beach volleyball and swimming.
The start times of both men's and women's marathons are scheduled one hour earlier than usual, at 6am local time, in order to reduce the possible influence of summer heatwaves.
"Super Saturday" and "Golden Sunday", August 1 and 2 respectively, are expected to attract huge stadium audiences and TV viewers around the world, with a large number of medal events scheduled to be held, organizers said.
A total of 21 medal events, including the judo mixed team event and the triathlon mixed team relay, will be held on "Super Saturday", and the sporting extravaganza will be followed by 26 medal events on "Golden Sunday," including the women's marathon, the men's athletics 100m final, and men's and women's gymnastics events.
From August 2, the second half of the Games will see 171 medal events being held, including the newly-added karate and sport climbing, along with wrestling and other team events' semifinals and finals, including team table tennis.
Organizers said they took a holistic approach when compiling the schedule, taking into account the technical rules and regulations of the various international federations, gender balance, athletes' experience and well-being, the popularity of individual sports in Japan, global TV audiences and operational considerations.
