This is a chronological summary of the major events of the2020 Summer Olympics inTokyo,Japan, which was postponed to 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The first matches in the group stages of thefootball andsoftball events was held on 21 July. The opening ceremony was scheduled two days later on 23 July. The last day of competition and the closing ceremony was on 8 August.[1] However, the Games was referred to by its original date in all scheduled events in order to avoid confusion in future years.[2][3] With the area under a state of emergency because of the pandemic, the Games were held largelybehind closed doors with no spectators permitted.[4]
The games featured 339 events in 33 different sports, encompassing a total of 50 disciplines. The 2020 Games saw the introduction of new competitions including3x3 basketball,freestyle BMX, andmadison cycling, in the latter case for women (the men's version was held between 2000 and 2008 before returning in these games), as well as further mixed events. These Games also sawkarate,sport climbing,surfing, andskateboarding make their Olympic debuts, as well as the return ofbaseball andsoftball for the first time since2008.[5]
About 206 teams were expected to participate. This was the first Olympics since the June 2018 signing of thePrespa agreement betweenGreece and the Republic of Macedonia over the"Macedonia" naming dispute, resulting in the latter officially being renamedNorth Macedonia.[6] This was also the second consecutive Summer Olympics that selected independent Olympic participants to compete under theOlympic Flag as part of the "Refugee Olympic Team".[7] As a result of the 2020 ruling by theCourt of Arbitration for Sport on theRussian doping scandal, Russian athletes competed under the acronym "ROC" after the name of theRussian Olympic Committee, and under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee.[8]
The 2020 schedule by session was approved by the IOC Executive Board on 18 July 2018, with the exception of swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. A more detailed schedule by event was released on 16 April 2019, still omitting a detailed schedule for the boxing events.[9][10] A detailed boxing schedule was released in late 2019.[11]
The original schedule was from 22 July to 9 August 2020. To postpone the Olympics until 2021, all events were delayed by 364 days (one day less than a full year to preserve the same days of the week), giving a new schedule of 21 July to 8 August 2021.[12]
| OC | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | 1 | Gold medal events | CC | Closing ceremony |
| July/August 2021 | July | August | Events | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21st Wed | 22nd Thu | 23rd Fri | 24th Sat | 25th Sun | 26th Mon | 27th Tue | 28th Wed | 29th Thu | 30th Fri | 31st Sat | 1st Sun | 2nd Mon | 3rd Tue | 4th Wed | 5th Thu | 6th Fri | 7th Sat | 8th Sun | |||
| OC | CC | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| Aquatics | ● | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | 49 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ● | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ● | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| ● | 1 | 1 | 1 | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 48 | |||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Baseball/Softball | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Basketball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 13 | ||||||
| Canoeing | ● | 1 | 1 | ● | 1 | 1 | 16 | ||||||||||||||
| ● | 4 | ● | 4 | ● | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cycling | 1 | 1 | 2 | 22 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| ● | 2 | ● | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | 6 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | ||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | 1 | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Gymnastics | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 18 | |||||||||||
| ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 | |||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | 1 | ● | ● | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | |||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ● | 2 | 1 | 2 | ● | 2 | 15 | |||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | 1 | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Volleyball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |||||||||||
| ● | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 18 | ||||||||||||||
| Daily medal events | 11 | 18 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 17 | 21 | 21 | 25 | 20 | 26 | 17 | 27 | 23 | 34 | 13 | 339 | ||||
| Cumulative total | 11 | 29 | 50 | 72 | 95 | 112 | 133 | 154 | 179 | 199 | 225 | 242 | 269 | 292 | 326 | 339 | |||||
| July/August 2021 | 21st Wed | 22nd Thu | 23rd Fri | 24th Sat | 25th Sun | 26th Mon | 27th Tue | 28th Wed | 29th Thu | 30th Fri | 31st Sat | 1st Sun | 2nd Mon | 3rd Tue | 4th Wed | 5th Thu | 6th Fri | 7th Sat | 8th Sun | Total events | |
| July | August | ||||||||||||||||||||
*Simone Biles withdrew from the finals.