Same schedule to be used for 2021. The Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020 confirmed that the programme will be kept the same, despite being postponed until next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Organising Committee, the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee agreed in April that, given the critical impact of the programme on all aspects of preparation, each session of the 2021 competition would, in principle, be scheduled as originally planned for 2020. This had an impact on the programme which, apart from some adjustments for certain events mainly due to operational reasons, was collectively confirmed. While preparations for the Games continue, Tokyo 2020 is working to resolve any remaining issues, including those related to the period of use of the competition venues.

The competitions will start at Fukushima Baseball Stadium with softball at 9am local time on 21st July 2021, two days before the Opening Ceremony.
The preliminary football matches will begin on the same day, with the preliminary rowing stages and the archery ranking rounds to be held on 23rd July, the official start day of the Olympic event.

The first medal will be awarded in the 10-metre female air rifle the following day (with the final starting at 8:30 local time).
Six other sports will also be awarded on 24th July: archery, cycling, fencing, judo, taekwondo and weightlifting, for a total of 11 medal events.
The same day will also see the start of urban sports, an exciting new feature of Tokyo 2020, with men's and women's 3x3 basketball. Street skateboarding will make its debut on the 25th and 26th July. Following these are the BMX Freestyle (park) (31st July and 1st August), skateboarding (park) (4th and 5th August) and sport climbing events (3rd to 6th August).

Fans around the world will then focus on “Super Saturday” and “Golden Sunday” on 31st July and 1st August, days when an exciting series of medal events will take place. 21 medals will be awarded during Super Saturday, including events debuting at the Games such as the mixed judo team, the mixed triathlon relay and the mixed trap team, which will help make Tokyo 2020 the first Olympics in history where gender equality in the total number of athletes will be respected. On the same day, the men's football quarter-finals will be held in four different venues in Japan. Golden Sunday, on the other hand, will award 25 gold medals, including the men's 100-metre athletics, the men's and women's gymnastics finals, and the men's single tennis final. Golden Sunday will also be the final day of fencing and swimming, with five finals planned.
The second part of the Games, which will start on 30th July, will see the semi-finals and finals of wrestling, karate and other team events, as well as the athletics events that will be held at the Olympic Stadium, the main venue of the Japanese Games.

The athletics finals will be held in all sessions, with the exception of the 30th and 31st July, during which they will only take place in the morning. The 4x100 men's and women's relay race will take place on the evening of 6th August.

The second “Super Saturday” is scheduled for Saturday 7th August, on the eve of the Closing Ceremony, and will ensure no fewer than 34 medal events, the highest number awarded on a day in Tokyo 2020. These include the men's basketball, football and volleyball finals, the women's marathon, the baseball final, the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics and the synchronised swimming team free routine. The closing day, however, will begin with the men's marathon scheduled in Sapporo and will end with the men's water polo final which will start at 4:30pm.

The prize-giving ceremony for the women's marathon will be held, for the first time in Olympic history, during the Closing Ceremony, together with the men's one, reiterating gender equality among athletes and making this edition of the Games truly memorable.