WORLD’S STAGE
Ultimate guide to Team USA athletes with Connecticut ties
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for last summer, were postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The games are set to take place from July 23 to Aug. 8 in Tokyo, Japan.
In all, there are 16 athletes competing for Team USA with ties to Connecticut. They either were born in the state or attended high school or college in-state. That number includes six former Uconn women’s basketball players who will be competing for Team USA at this year’s Games.
“It fills me with enormous pride that we have a group of athletes from Connecticut who have advanced so far in their sports that they have qualified to represent Team USA on a worldwide stage in the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement Tuesday.
This year, the Olympics will once again be broadcasted by Nbcuniversal and will be televised on its networks including NBC, USA Network, NBCSN, CNBC, the Olympic Channel, the Golf Channel, Telemundo and NBC Universo. It will also be streamed on Peacock, the NBC Sports App, Nbcolympics.com and fubotv.
Fans will not be allowed to attend the Summer Games due to a declaration of a state of emergency in Japan over the rising COVID case numbers.
Including the re-addition of baseball and softball at this year’s Olympics, five other new events were added this year: 3x3 basketball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. Events in archery, cycling, judo, swimming, track and field and triathlon were added as well. Additional programming notes:
The Opening Ceremony will be live on NBC Friday morning on July 23 and re-aired that night. The Games will conclude with the Closing
Ceremony on Aug. 8. NBC programming will be highlighted by the nightly primetime show, featuring gymnastics, swimming, track & field and more, as well as daytime programming.
Since the Olympics are in Tokyo, all events will be 13 hours ahead of local time in the Eastern time zone and 16 hours ahead in the Pacific time zone. For instance, an event held at noon local time on Tuesday would be at 11 p.m. ET on Monday.
A show highlighting Team USA’S best female athletes called “On Her Turf at the Olympics” will be streamed on Peacock during the games. Women have won more than 50% of Team USA’S medals at the last two Summer Olympics. It will air Monday-saturday at 7 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. ET on Sunday.
As competition kicked off on Wednesday, here’s how to follow the members of the U.S. Olympic team with Connecticut ties currently scheduled to compete in Tokyo.