WASHINGTON — The Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony will kick off the international sporting competition on Friday, July 23.
This year's Olympic Summer Games, already postponed a year because of the pandemic, will be held without fans cheering from the stands after a state of emergency was declared in Tokyo in an effort to fight a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Here is everything you need to know about the opening ceremony and how you can watch it live, on TV and online:
When is the Olympic Opening Ceremony?
The Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony will take place on Friday, July 23. It will begin at 8 p.m. local time in Japan, which is 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT.
Time difference between US and Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan, is 13 hours ahead of the east coast of the United States.
Where to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony?
NBC Olympics will be providing exclusive coverage of the games from start to finish. NBC said the event can be live-streamed from the NBC Sports app and on NBCOlympics.com.
Click here for a live stream of the event.
When is the Olympic Opening Ceremony on TV?
The Tokyo Opening Ceremony will also be broadcast live on NBC across all time zones, with coverage starting at 6:55 a.m. ET/3:55 a.m. PT.
It's the first time ever that NBC has aired a live morning broadcast of an Opening Ceremony.
Meanwhile, NBC's primetime broadcast of the Opening Ceremony will kick off Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on TV, as well as on the NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com.
NBC's primetime broadcast will then be replayed overnight.
Opening Ceremony theme
The Toyko Olympics said the theme for the Opening Ceremony is "United by Emotion." Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the goal of the event is to bring everyone together, despite physically being apart.
"In the Opening Ceremony, we will aspire to reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games, to express our gratitude and admiration for the efforts we all made together over the past year, and also to bring a sense of hope for the future," the Toyko Olympics said in a statement.
The Closing Ceremony theme is "Worlds we Share."
Where is the Opening Ceremony?
The ceremony will take place at Japan's National Stadium in Tokyo.