LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) late on Wednesday endorsed the schedule of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo it was announced by the organisers with 33 sports, 339 events and running from July 24 until Aug 9.

Preliminary matches will kick off in football and softball on July 22, two days before the opening ceremony with rowing and archery events on the day of the ceremony itself.

Day one of the Olympics will feature events in 21 different sports, including shooting, table tennis, judo, badminton, gymnastics, tennis and cycling.

“This will be a symbolic and scenic first day of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, featuring the men’s cycling road race winding its way from Tokyo to the foothills of the world-famous Mount Fuji,” said a statement.

Five sports have been added to programme with skateboarding and surfing making their debut on the first weekend.

“I believe the Tokyo 2020 Games will generate more enthusiasm than ever.

Starting with a softball match in Fukushima two days before the opening of the Games, until the men’s marathon on the final day, a record 33 sports and 339 events will be packed into the two weeks of the Games,” said Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori.

Aug 1 will be a ‘Super Saturday’, with a number of medal events scheduled to be held on that day, including events featuring for the first time in the Olympic Games, such as the judo mixed team event, triathlon mixed team relay, and shooting trap mixed team event.

The 2020 Games will use a total of 42 venues, including 24 existing, 10 temporary and eight new permanent venues.

These will include three venues in Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Miyagi prefectures, which were among those most affected by the 2011 tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster.

The competition schedule by session for swimming, synchronised swimming, and diving will be finalised shortly, said organisers.

Meanwhile, the Beijing 2022 Winter Games will feature seven new events as the IOC pushes for a more gender-balanced and youth-focussed format, say organisers.

Mixed gender teams play their role as they are seen as less stressful and more fun by the athletes, and 2022 will have mixed events in short-track skating, aerials, snowboard cross and ski-jumping.

“The addition of these new events for Beijing 2022 reflects our continued commitment to make the Olympic Games more youthful and gender balanced,” IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell said.

“I am very pleased to see the increase of female athletes, especially in such exciting, ground-breaking events,” he said.

Another novelty will be the introduction of Big Air skiing, an extreme version of slope-style where tricks are performed in the air after a jump and a mono-bobsleigh event is also due to make a bow.

The plan is to have 1,314 women involved in the Games, which is just over 45 per cent of the total.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018