IOC & Tokyo 2020 Framework To Aim For Identical Competition Schedule In 2021

The 2020 Summer Olympics have been pushed to 2021, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee (Tokyo 2020) say it’s a priority to “replicate” the original plan for venue and competition schedules.

The IOC and Tokyo 2020 released a joint statement today outlining the framework for the postponed Olympics. Though nothing has been made official yet, the statement says that the goal is to “replicate the existing Games Delivery Plan for 2020,” with “particular focus… placed on the venues and the competition schedule, which were originally agreed by all stakeholders as the best plan for the 2020 edition.”

For swimming, that means organizers will attempt to stick to the original 2020 plan to run heats in the evenings and finals in the mornings. The lineup of events should remain roughly the same as well, though nothing is officialized yet.

Aquatics Specifics

For aquatics, the schedule has to balance all four pool-based disciplines within the Olympic venues. The original plan for Tokyo was to have swimming, diving, and aquatic swimming share the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, and for water polo to take place in the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center.

Under the original 2020 dates, swimming would begin the day after opening ceremonies and run across the first nine days of the Olympics. (The 8-day swimming lineup actually takes nine partial days because the evening-heats-morning-finals schedule pushes the last session to the morning of day 9). Artistic swimming would begin the day after pool swimming ends, with diving spread across the dates for both events.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, but here are the key dates of the Olympics if the schedule remains identical in its translation from the original dates (July 22-August 9, 2020) to the new dates (July 21-August 8, 2021):

• Opening ceremonies: Friday, July 23, 2021
• Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 (evening) – Sunday, August 1 (morning), 2021
• Open water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
• Artistic swimming: Monday, August 2 – Saturday, August 7, 2021
• Diving: Sunday, July 25 – Saturday, August 7, 2021
• Water polo: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 8, 2021

The swimming schedule would look like this:

24 July.2022
19:00-21:30 Heats

• Men 400m Individual Medley
• Women 100m Butterfly
• Men 400m Freestyle
• Women 400m Individual Medley
• Men 100m Breaststroke
• Women 4x100m Freestyle

25 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Men 400m Individual Medley Final
• Women 100m Butterfly Semi-Final
• Men 400m Freestyle Final
• Women 400m Individual Medley Final
• Men 400m Breaststroke Semi-Final
• Women 4x100m Freestyle Final

19:00-21:30 Heats

• Women 100m Backstroke
• Men 200m Freestyle
• Women 100m Breaststroke
• Men 100m Backstroke
• Women 400m Freestyle
• Men 4x100m Freestyle

26 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Women 100m Butterfly Final
• Men 200m Freestyle Semi-Final
• Women 100m Breaststroke Semi-Final
• Men 100m Breaststroke Final
• Women 400m Freestyle Final
• Men 100m Backstroke Semi-Final
• Women 100m Backstroke Semi-Final
• Men 4x100m Freestyle Final

19:00-21:30 Heats

• Women 200m Freestyle
• Men 200m Butterfly
• Women 200m Individual Medley
• Women 1500m Freestyle

27 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Women 200m Freestyle Semi-Final
• Men 200m Freestyle Final
• Women 100m Backstroke Final
• Men 100m Backstroke Final
• Women 100m Breaststroke Final
• Men 200m Butterfly Semi-Final
• Women 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final

19:00-21:30 Heats

• Men 100m Freestyle
• Women 200m Butterfly
• Men 200m Breaststroke
• Men 4x200m Freestyle
• Men 800m Freestyle

28 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Men 100m Freestyle Semi-Final
• Women 200m Freestyle Final
• Men 200m Butterfly Final
• Women 200m Butterfly Semi-Final
• Men 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final
• Women 200m Individual Medley Final
• Women 1500m Freestyle Final
• Men 4x200m Freestyle Final

19:00-21:30 Heats

• Women 100m Freestyle
• Men 200m Backstroke
• Women 200m Breaststroke
• Men 200m Individual Medley
• Women 4x200m Freestyle

29 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Men 800m Freestyle Final
• Men 200m Breaststroke Final
• Women 100m Freestyle Semi-Final
• Men 200m Backstroke Semi-Final
• Women 200m Butterfly Final
• Men 100m Freestyle Final
• Women 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final
• Men 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final
• Women 4x200m Freestyle Final

19:00-21:30 Heats

• Women 800m Freestyle
• Men 100m Butterfly
• Women 200m Backstroke
• 4x100m Medley Mix

30 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Women 200m Breaststroke Final
• Men 200m Backstroke Final
• Women 200m Backstroke Semi-Final
• Men 200m Individual Medley Final
• Women 100m Freestyle Final
• Men 100m Butterfly Semi-Final

19:00-21:30 Heats

• Men 50m Freestyle
• Women 50m Freestyle
• Men 1500m Freestyle
• Women 4x100m Medley
• Men 4x100m Medley

31 July.2021
10:30-12:30 Semi-Finals & Finals

• Men 100m Butterfly Final
• Women 200m Backstroke Final
• Women 800m Freestyle Final
• Men 50m Freestyle Semi-Final
• Women 50m Freestyle Semi-Final
• 4x100m Medley Mix Final

1 August.2021
10:30-12:30 Finals

• Men 50m Freestyle Final
• Women 50m Freestyle Final
• Men 1500m Freestyle Final
• Women 4x100m Medley Final
• Men 4x100m Medley Final

More From the IOC/Tokyo Release

A few other notes from the press release:

• The IOC says it will “explore all opportunities to optimise and streamline the scope and service levels at the Games, and reduce the costs that have been caused by the postponement.”
• Organizers will also add pieces to the plan to “address the potential impact of COVID-19.”
• The next step is for the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee to create a new “roadmap for the Games” plan, which should be created by May of 2020.

You can view the full IOC/Tokyo 2020 press release here.