If you’re a Simone Biles fan (and, let’s be honest, who isn’t?), you’re probably just as excited as I am that the Tokyo Olympics are starting this week. With the opening ceremony already underway, the USA gymnastics team is getting ready to dominate—but when can you watch them on TV?
This year, there are plenty of ways to watch the Games, whether you’re ready to cheer along in real time or primetime. From TV channels to apps to streaming services, it’s easier than ever to customize your viewing schedule this summer, so you won’t miss a single flip.
Team US and Simone Biles’ Tokyo schedule:
25 July, women’s qualifying: Though no medals are at stake on the opening day of competition, a bad day here could prevent Biles from qualifying to the finals she’ll need to be in to set more records.
27 July, women’s team final: Biles and Team USA will be the heavy favourites for team gold in Tokyo. A win would give the Americans their third-straight gold medal at the Games, a feat not seen since the Soviet Union won eight straight from 1952-1980.
29 July, women’s all-around final: In the women’s all-around final, Biles will, again, be the heavy favourite to take the title. Her back-to-back win would only be the third in history, joining Caslavska (1964, 1968) and Larisa Latynina (1956, 1960).
How to watch women’s gymnastics at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
This year’s women’s gymnastics events will start off a little after the men’s events, opening on Saturday, July 24. Major events in this year’s schedule include the Team Final on Tuesday July 27, the All-Around Final on Thursday, July 29 and individual finals on Aug. 1-3.
The Olympics this year will run from Friday, July 23rd to Sunday, August 8th. If you’re looking to catch the Games live, you can find most of the gymnastics events on NBC or stream OLYMTV
You’ll also be able to stream all of Team USA gymnastics events through Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, NBCOlympics.com, and the NBC Sports app. Or, you can find recorded events online at NBCOlympics.com. or stream OLYMTV
When can I watch USA gymnastics?
All of the gymnastics events will air on NBC during primetime, so you shouldn’t have to move your summer schedule around too much. Here’s the full breakdown:
Saturday, July 24th
4:30 p.m. EST: Men’s gymnastics qualification
8:45 p.m. EST: Men’s qualification, featuring Team USA
Sunday, July 25th
7:30 p.m. EST: Women’s gymnastics qualification, featuring Team USA
Monday, July 26th
8:30 p.m. EST: Men’s gymnastics team final
Tuesday, July 27th
8:00 p.m. EST: Women’s gymnastics team final
Wednesday, July 28th
8:00 p.m. EST: Men’s gymnastics all-around final
Thursday, July 29th
U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team
The competition includes twelve women’s teams of four athletes each. This year, the women’s team is made up of six members, with a new structure of a four-member team and two specialists. The International Gymnastics Federation added the two individual spots to allow smaller countries that couldn’t field an entire team to still participate.
Simone Biles
If you are not aware of who Biles is by now, you’ve likely been living under a rock. Biles is considered the GOAT (greatest of all time) of women’s gymnastics, if not international gymnastics as a whole. While most will remember her amazing performance in the Rio Games, where she won four gold medals and a bronze.
Aside from being a threat to medal on any apparatus, Biles significantly levels up her degree of difficulty and does it with what looks like such ease. The Texas native will definitely be mist-see TV during the Tokyo Olympics. Stream the Simone Biles perform from Tokyo 2020
Jordan Chiles
For those unfamiliar with Chiles, she certainly made an impact at the trials in St. Louis. Chiles struggled with some inconsistency until Biles invited her to train with her down in Texas. Since then, the difference has been apparent. She’ll be a major player in the team competition and is expected to contend for a medal in a few apparatus events.
Sunisa Lee
The 18-year-old Lee has had quite a rough road to Tokyo is she dealt with several personal family illnesses. She had her parents in attendance in St. Louis and she performed brilliantly, scoring the second-best all-around scores. Her go-to event will be the uneven bars, where she could look to medal.
Grace McCallum
McCallum had some stiff competition for the final spot for team competition, and if that wasn’t enough, she was recovering from surgery on her hand. Look for her to help the team on the balance beam especially.
McKayla Skinner and Jade Carey are the two specialists for Team USA. Carey will look to medal on floor and vault, while Skinner will likely content on floor, vault and balance beam.
