Olympic fans in US can watch opening ceremony with breakfast

Updated: 3:21 AM EST Feb 4, 2022

Instead of waiting until prime time, Olympic fans in the United States will be able to watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games on Friday with their morning cup of coffee.The ceremony, which officially opens the Winter Games even though some events already have started, is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. in China. With the 13-hour time difference to the East Coast of the United States, that's 7 a.m. for some of the country.NBC, the network with the rights to broadcast the Olympics, will show the opening ceremony live, starting its show at 6:30 a.m. Friday.Overall, the network plans to show more than 2,800 hours of coverage across its channels and platforms.According to the network, this year's Olympics will be the first to include coverage of all events both live and on demand.Several sports, including hockey and figure skating, started before the opening ceremony began, but no medals will be awarded until Saturday, the first full day of competition.There will be six gold medals awarded on that first day, including in men's moguls and the mixed team relay in short track speedskating. The marquee men's downhill in skiing is set for Sunday, while Mikaela Shiffrin will go for her first gold on Monday in the women's giant slalom.Shiffrin won the giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.The first gold medal in figure skating, in the team event, will be awarded Monday. The women's competition won't finish until Feb. 17, while men's event will be decided on Thursday.The closing ceremony will be on Feb. 20.

Winter Olympics: Watch Nathan Chen in team figure skating before the Opening Ceremony

Updated: 1:18 PM EST Feb 3, 2022

The 2022 Winter Olympics officially kicks off with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, but ahead of that, there’s major action in Beijing happening today. Video above: Can you ace this Olympics quiz?Nathan Chen is one of the favorites at the Games for Team USA. The three-time world champion figure skater is set to hit the ice in the men’s team event in NBC Primetime. Others on his team include ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and the pair of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier. NBCOlympics.com has a round-up on everything you need to know about figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics here. Other events taking place in Beijing on Thursday include more mixed doubles curling, Alpine skiing training and women’s hockey. The Opening Ceremony will then take place early Friday morning.Freestyle Skiing: USA's Kauf, Giaccio, Soar advance straight to moguls finals We’ll share livestream info for today's events below. But first, here are some highlights from what happened on Wednesday and early Thursday morning on Day -1 at the Olympics.USA's Kauf, Giaccio, Soar advance straight to moguls finals: Americans Jaelin Kauf, Olivia Giaccio and Hannah Soar placed third, fourth and seventh in their qualifying round women's moguls, moving straight to the finals; Jakara Anthony and Perrine Laffont topped the round.Italy defeats Team USA in mixed doubles curling: Italy overcame mistakes to best the U.S. mixed doubles curling team in the second round of play at the 2022 Winter Olympics.U.S. women take down Finland in first game of 2022 Olympics: The U.S. women's hockey team took down Finland in their first game of the 2022 Winter Olympics by a score of 5-2 as both Kendall Coyne Schofield and Alex Carpenter finished the day with a pair of goals each. | RELATED | Daily Olympic Recap: USA tops Finland in women's hockey openerHere are livestreams for notable events happening on Thursday Network Olympic livestreamsWatch USA network coverage of hockey and curling starting at 2 p.m. PT hereWatch NBC primetime coverage of figure skating starting at 8 p.m. PT hereOlympic event livestreamsCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch Sweden vs. Australia at 7:35 p.m ET hereCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch Canada vs. Switzerland at 7:35 p.m ET hereCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch Italy vs. Norway at 7:35 p.m ET hereFigure skating team event Day 1: Watch Team USA take to the ice with coverage starting at 8:55 p.m ET hereAlpine skiing training: Watch men’s downhill at 10 p.m. ET hereHockey women’s prelim: Watch ROC vs. Switzerland at 11:10 p.m ET hereHockey women’s prelim: Watch Denmark vs. China at 11:10 p.m ET hereCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch China vs.Canada at 12:35 a.m ET hereCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch Great Britain vs. Australia at 12:35 a.m. ET hereCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch Sweden vs USA (Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys) at 12:35 a.m. ET hereCurling mixed doubles round robin: Watch the Czech Republic vs. Italy at 12:35 a.m ET hereHow to watch the Winter Olympics' Opening CeremonyThe Opening Ceremony will air live on WLWT and in NBC primetime and Peacock at 6:55 a.m. ET. You can also stream it via NBCOlympics.com and in the NBC Sports app after authentication.Daylong coverage of the Olympics will culminate with NBC's special primetime presentation of the Opening Ceremony from 7:30 p.m. ET on WLWT-TV and Peacock.The NBC broadcast will feature:Performances, pageantry and the Parade of AthletesExtensive coverage of Team USA, including athlete interviews with Johnson and TafoyaDwayne Johnson introducing Team USALeslie Odom Jr. telling the story of the hopes and dreams of Olympians in an opening vignetteUma Thurman narrating a special feature leading into the Parade of AthletesMore 2022 Winter Olympics headlinesMeet the Olympians with ties to Greater Cincinnati competing in BeijingHere's who is qualified for Team USA at the 2022 Winter OlympicsNew faces to watch at the 2022 Winter GamesInternational athletes to watch at the 2022 Winter OlympicsWhat are the new events for the 2022 Winter Olympics?Day-by-day guide to the 2022 Winter OlympicsWinter Olympics 101: Become an expert in every sportUSA women’s hockey takes down Finland in first game at 2022 Olympics, but at a potentially significant costBrianna Decker stretchered off ice during USA vs. Finland women’s hockey gameShiffrin's late father was fixture on hill behind camera --This story also contains information from NBCOlympics.

Curler John Shuster and speed skater Brittany Bowe will be flagbearers for the U.S. Olympic team during the opening ceremony at this year's Beijing Games.

Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor was initially chosen to carry the American flag. But, according to the Associated Press, since she's currently in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, three-time Olympian Bowe will walk in her place.

The news outlet reported that the defending gold medalist and five-time Olympian would be the first curler to carry the American flag during the Winter Games opening ceremony.

Shuster and Bowe will lead the American athletes into the Bird’s Nest on Friday when the Olympics kick-off.

The opening ceremony is slated to begin in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. ET.

Primetime coverage will be aired on NBC beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics is just around the corner.

The world's greatest athletes are ready to capture gold as the Winter Games kick off Friday in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. ET.

NBC plans to present 16 days of Olympic coverage across all its networks. Live streaming of all events will be made available on Peacock.

NBC said primetime coverage would air during the week at 8 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET on Sunday.

The Closing Ceremony will take place on Feb. 20.

Below you'll find more information about the Opening Ceremony.

When is the Opening Ceremony?

The Opening Ceremony will begin Friday at 6:30 a.m. ET and will last until 9 a.m. ET.

An evening broadcast will be shown Friday beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

How to watch the Opening Ceremony?

NBC will broadcast the event and NBCOlympics.com, and live streaming of all events will be made available on Peacock.

What to expect?

According to NBC Sports, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou will direct the Opening Ceremony.

He was also the Opening Ceremony director at the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008.

But this time the number of performers will be drastically different - with only 3,000 performers, down from 15,000 in 2008.

The spectacular event will be held at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, also used for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The stadium might look empty because officials announced last month that zero fans from outside the country would be permitted at the events and tickets were not offered to the general public.

Also, the Biden administration announced in December that they would not send any diplomatic or official representation to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights.

Related above video: Jill Biden arrives in Tokyo for Olympics

Disputed, locked down and running a year late, the Tokyo Games begin at last on Friday night, a multinational showcase of the finest athletes of a world fragmented by disease — and an event steeped in the political and medical baggage of a relentless pandemic whose presence haunts every Olympic corner.

As the first pandemic Games in a century convene largely without spectators and opposed by much of the host nation, the disbelief and anger of those kept outside the near-deserted national stadium threaten to drown out the usual carefully packaged glitz and soaring rhetoric about sports and peace that are the hallmarks of the opening ceremony.

"'The festival of peace' is now starting in an unimaginably disastrous state," the Asahi newspaper said in an editorial, citing "confusion, distrust and unease."

Hand in hand with this feeling of calamity is a fundamental question about these Games as Japan, and large parts of the world, reel from the continuing gut punch of a pandemic that is stretching well into its second year, with cases in Tokyo approaching record highs this week: Will it be enough?

"It," in this case, is the product that’s being packaged and sold, the commodity that has saved past Olympics when they’ve become mired in problems: the deep, intrinsic human attachment to the spectacle of sporting competition at the highest possible level.

Time and again, previous opening ceremonies have pulled off something that approaches magic. Scandals — bribery in Salt Lake City, censorship and pollution in Beijing, doping in Sochi — fade into the background when the sports begin.

But with people still falling ill and dying each day from the coronavirus, there’s a particular urgency to the questions about whether the Olympic flame can burn away the fear or provide a measure of catharsis — and even awe — after a year of suffering and uncertainty in Japan and around the world.

The sports have already begun — softball and soccer, for example — and some of the focus is turning toward the competition to come.

Can the U.S. women’s soccer team, for instance, even after an early, shocking loss to Sweden, become the first to win an Olympics following a World Cup victory? Can Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama win gold in golf after becoming the first Japanese player to win the Masters? Will Italy’s Simona Quadarella challenge American standout Katie Ledecky in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle swimming races?

For now, however, it’s hard to miss how unusual these Games promise to be. The lovely national stadium is an isolated militarized zone, surrounded by huge barricades. Roads around it are sealed and businesses closed.

AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File

Inside, the feeling of sanitized, locked-down quarantine carries over. Fans, who would normally be screaming for their countries and mixing with people from around the world, have been banned, leaving only a carefully screened contingent of journalists, officials, athletes and participants.

Olympics often face opposition, but there’s also usually a pervasive feeling of national pride. Japan's resentment centers on the belief that it was strong-armed into hosting — forced to pay billions and risk the health of a largely unvaccinated, deeply weary public — so the IOC can collect its billions in media revenue.

"Sometimes people ask why the Olympics exist, and there are at least two answers. One is they are a peerless global showcase of the human spirit as it pertains to sport, and the other is they are a peerless global showcase of the human spirit as it pertains to aristocrats getting luxurious hotel rooms and generous per diems," Bruce Arthur, a sports columnist for the Toronto Star, wrote recently.

How did we get here? A quick review of the past year and a half seems operatic in its twists and turns.

A once-in-a-century pandemic forces the postponement of the 2020 version of the Games. A fusillade of scandals (sexism and other discrimination and bribery claims, overspending, ineptitude, bullying) unfolds. People in Japan, meanwhile, watch bewildered as an Olympics considered a bad idea by many scientists actually takes shape.

"We will continue to try to have this dialogue with the Japanese people knowing we will not succeed 100%. That would be putting the bar too high," said IOC President Thomas Bach. "But we’re also confident that once the Japanese people see the Japanese athletes performing in these Olympic Games — hopefully successfully — that then the attitude will become less emotional."

Japanese athletes, freed from onerous travel rules and able to train more normally, may indeed enjoy a nice boost over their rivals in some cases, even without fans. Judo, a sport that Japan is traditionally a powerhouse in, will begin Saturday, giving the host nation a chance for early gold.

Still, while it’s possible that "people may come out of the Olympics feeling good about themselves and about Japan having hosted the Games against all odds," Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, believes that such a scenario "is way too optimistic."

The reality, for now, is that the delta variant of the virus is still rising, straining the Japanese medical system in places, and raising fears of an avalanche of cases. Only a little over 20% of the population is fully vaccinated. And there have been near daily reports of positive virus cases within the so-called Olympic bubble that’s meant to separate the Olympic participants from the worried, skeptical Japanese population.

For a night, at least, the glamor and message of hope of the opening ceremonies may distract many global viewers from the surrounding anguish and anger.

"But for the Japanese people, who will have a much more direct experience and feel more viscerally the empty stadiums and the strange contrast between this spectacle and their own continued struggles with controlling the pandemic, it may not have the same impact," said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in East Asian Studies at Stanford University.

After a yearlong delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Olympics in Tokyo are officially open.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito declared the games open during the Opening Ceremony Friday at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

"I greet you all from the bottom of my heart,” Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee, told athletes at the official opening of the games.

“Today is a moment of hope. Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined. But let us cherish this moment. Finally, we are all here together," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka later lit the Olympic torch, the symbolic opening of the 2021 games.

The Opening Ceremony took place in a mostly empty Olympic Stadium mostly devoid of spectators. Japan is in a state of emergency in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

First Lady Jill Biden and other world leaders are among the handful of spectators in attendance.

As per tradition, athletes from all participating filed into the stadium. The United States delegation arrived just after 9:30 a.m. ET, led by flag-bearers Eddy Alvarez, a baseball player, and Sue Bird, a basketball player.

Despite the lack of spectators, the program moved forward with typical theatrics, including a large-scale fireworks show.

The opening portion of the program focused on the themes of "apart but not alone," as a choreographed dance represented what it was like for athletes to come together after months of training solo.

The program also featured a moment of silence to honor those killed by COVID-19.

The performance is taking place just hours after the program's director, Kentaro Kobayashi, was fired after anti-Semitic jokes he made during a comedy set in the 1990s resurfaced.

The program's composer, Keigo Oyamada, also resigned in recent days after an interview he conducted in the 1990s resurfaced in which he boasted about bullying people with disabilities.

The Opening Ceremony is airing live right now on NBC. The network will re-air the performance tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET in an edited and "enhanced" primetime broadcast that features additional commentary.

TOKYO — Team USA has announced the athletes who serve as flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday: basketball player Sue Bird and baseball player Eddy Alvarez.

Bird and Alvarez are the first duo to share the honor of leading the U.S. delegation into the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics. They were chosen by a vote of fellow Team USA athletes.

Last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) amended its policy to allow national teams to appoint two flag bearers, one female and one male, in promotion of gender equality. The IOC also required that at least one male and one female athlete be included in each of the 206 national delegations that will compete in Tokyo.

Of the 613 athletes who were named to the U.S. Olympic Team, more than 230 are set to walk in Friday’s Opening Ceremony.

Bird is a four-time Olympic champion and she’ll be in pursuit of her fifth straight gold in Tokyo. The 40-year-old made her debut in Athens in 2004. She holds a combined nine Olympic and FIBA World Cup medals, which is the most of any basketball athlete, male or female, across the globe. She is also a four-time WNBA champion and is currently the defending league champion with the Seattle Storm.

As for Alvarez, the 31-year-old is competing on the U.S. Olympic baseball team, but he actually earned a silver medal in speedskating in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. He currently plays in the Miami Marlins Minor League system. He’ll be the first athlete from the sport of baseball to carry the U.S. flag in the Opening Ceremony.

As upcoming host countries, the U.S. and France will be two of the final three countries to walk in the Opening Ceremony, with host country Japan closing out the event.