It took an extra year in the making but the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will take place between Friday, July 23 and Sunday, Aug. 8 this year. They will still be branded with the year 2020 on all official Olympic merchandise.
Professional Sports Handicappers
Heading into early May, sports bettors looking forward to all the action still have more than three months to prepare a winning betting strategy.
Whether you are looking forward to men’s and women’s basketball or all the various track and field events, there will be more than two solid weeks of wall-to-wall betting options on the board at your favorite online sportsbook.
New Summer Olympic Sports
It may have been worth the wait given the exciting lineup of new Summer Olympic sporting events. At the top of the list is the return of men’s baseball and women’s softball. Other new sports on the list include:
Skateboarding
Karate
Sport Climbing
Surfing
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Inside the Summer Olympic Schedule
Tokyo is the host city with most of the events taking place within the city limits. However, certain sports will expand the action to other locals. Road cycling will be contended along the foothills of Mount Fuji.
The surfing competition will be held 40 minutes outside of Tokyo on Japan’s east coast. Sapporo will be the site for the men’s and women’s marathon as well as various walking events. This city is actually 500 miles north of Tokyo.
The international soccer competition will be staged in six different cities in Japan. Baseball games will take place in Fukushima with Yokohama hosting the softball competition.
This will be the second time that Tokyo has hosted the Summer Olympics. The first was the 1964 Summer Games.
Coronavirus and the Summer Olympics
The planned 2020 Summer Games have come a long way since getting postponed completely last year during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. This summer’s events will still have capacity limits with only Japanese spectators in attendance.
Actual limits and health protocols measures are still being formulated more than three months out.
It is expected that more than 11,000 athletics will compete in this sporting event. The Summer Games will also be covered by more than 25,000 journalists representing as many as 200 different countries. This alone presents a major challenge in light of the ongoing health crisis.
Athletes will be permitted to stay at the Olympic Village for the duration of their individual competition. Regular testing will take place along with any necessary vaccination measures.
Summer Olympics National Coverage
Olympic fans and bettors alike can turn to NBC as the official broadcasting network. This includes NBC Sports, CNBC and USA Network. Most Olympic events can be streamed via NBCOlympics.com. You can also download the NBC Sports app.
Telemundo broadcast platforms will cover the Summer Olympics for the Spanish speaking market.
Summer Olympics Early Betting Options
Some online sportsbooks are starting to post betting odds for 2020 Summer Olympic futures. These boards will continue to expand as we move closer to the July 23 start.
Right now, a popular prop bet option sets the USA as an -800 favorite to win the most gold medals. China is second on the list at +550 with Great Britain and host country Japan at +1600 odds. Germany rounds out the Top 5 at +4000 odds.
