It’s only two days away: the opening of the 2023 Olympic Summer Games! It’s going to be thrilling to watch the first Olympics to not be held in a stadium. For the Opening Ceremonies, an eye-popping spectacle that usually includes hundreds of performers, Paris will be hosting the show on the River Seine, providing an incredible experience of lights being reflected in the water. The athletes will travel in, too, on boats, each decorated for their nation. It’s going to be epic. If you’re lucky enough to be in Paris to watch, make sure you get your QR code to get into the various zoned areas of the city. But for the rest of us Americans, hungry for France but watching from the U.S., here’s the lowdown on how to do it.
What time does the Olympic Ceremony start?
The Olympic Ceremony begins at 7:30pm GMT+2, Paris time.
How to watch the Olympics Opening Ceremony in the U.S.
It’ll be early in the day for us, not nighttime as it will be in Paris. If you’re on PST, mark your calendar for 10:30am. If you’re on the East Coast, the opening ceremony will start at 1:30pm EST. Eat your Olympic lunch (we assume you'll carbo load the night before) and then tune in!
Which channel should we watch?
NBC will air at least nine hours of coverage a day, as well as a three-hour primetime show of all the day’s highlights. If you’re willing to pay to get more coverage, you can try Eurosport, TNT Sports, Peacock and Discovery+.
Super secret insider tip?
Some people recommend getting a VPN to stream CBC (Canada) or BBC (UK). It should all be free and their time zones might let you catch some more of the oddbeat games. Growing up in Vermont, I always loved watching the CBC coverage because they played everything, not just the most popular events.
U.S. timings, schedule and ceremony details
Whelp, there are a lot of events...and some even begin today, before the Opening Ceremonies (footballers, rugby folks, handballers, and archers, we’re looking at you jumping the gun!) Here’s our succinct rundown of the days and events:
July 24
- Football: July 24-August 10
- Rugby sevens: July 24-30
July 25
- Archery: July 25-August 4
- Handball: July 25-August 11
July 26
- Opening Ceremony
July 27
- Artistic gymnastics: July 27-August 5
- Badminton: July 27-August 5
- Basketball: July 27-August 11
- Beach volleyball: July 27-August 10
- Boxing: July 27-August 10
- Canoe slalom: July 27-August 5
- Diving: July 27-August 10
- Equestrian: July 27-August 6
- Fencing: July 27-August 10
- Hockey: July 27-August 9
- Judo: July 27-August 3
- Road cycling: July 27-August 4
- Rowing: July 27-August 3 (reserve day: August 4)
- Shooting: July 27-August 5
- Skateboard: July 27-August 7
- Surfing: July 27-July (reserve days: July 31-August 4)
- Swimming: July 27-August 9
- Table tennis: July 27-August 10
- Taekwondo: July 27-August 10
- Tennis: July 27-August 4
- Volleyball: July 27-August 11
- Water polo: July 27-August 11
July 28
- Mountain bike: July 28-29
- Sailing: July 28-August 8
July 30
- BMX freestyle: July 30-31
- Triathlon: July 30-August 5
August 1
- Golf: August 1-10
- Athletics (track and field): August 1-11
August 2
- Trampoline gymnastics: August 2
August 5
- Artistic swimming: August 5-10
- Sport climbing: August 5-10
- Track cycling: August 5-11
- Wrestling: August 5-11
August 6
- Canoe sprint: August 6-10
August 7
- Weightlifting: August 7-11
August 8
- Modern pentathlon: August 8-11
- Rhythmic gymnastics: August 8-10
August 9
- Breaking: August 9-10
August 11
- Closing ceremony: August 11
U.S. athletes to look out for during the Summer Games
They’re all amazing and we’re proud of all of them. But some people tend to capture more media attention, according to the New York Times. They include tennis champion Coco Gauff and basketball star LeBron James, who’ll serve as flag bearers for the U.S. Olympic team at Friday's opening ceremony. We’ll be avidly following gymnast Simone Biles, swimmers Katie Ledecky and Anita Alvarez, basketball player Jimmer Fredette, archer Casey Kaufhold, badminton player Beiwen Zhang, beach volleyball player Kelly Cheng, boxer Jahmal Harvey, breaking competitor Victor Montalvo (this is the first Olympics at which breaking will be an event), canoeist/kayaker Nevin Harrison, cyclist Jennifer Valente, diver Andrew Capobianco, equestrian McLain Ward, fencer Lee Kiefer, field hockey players Amanda Golini and Ashley Hoffman, judoka Maria Laborde, pentathlon Jess Davis, rower Meghan Musnicki, rugby player Kevon Williams, sailor Daniela Moroz, shooter Vincent Hancock, skateboarder Jagger Eaton, sport climber Sam Watson, surfer Carissa Moore, table tennis player Lily Zhang, taekwondo athlete CJ Nickolas, trampolinist Aliaksei Shostak, triathalonist Taylor Knibb, indoor volleyball player Jordan Larson, water polo player Maggie Steffens, weightlifter Olivia Reeves and wrestler Aaron Brooks.
Whew! It’s practically an Olympic sport just to follow them doing their thing. Armchair athletes, hydrate and roll your neck around in that circle: we got this!