Tokyo Olympics: Here's when Bedford's Ethan Vernon is competing in the Olympics - and how you can watch

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 are now under way after a year-long postponement in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

The first events of the Games, including football and softball, began on Wednesday (July 21), and the opening ceremony will officially kick things off today (Friday).

After fierce debate, the Japanese and Olympic authorities decided to press ahead with this year's Games, although the tournament will take place largely in empty stadiums due to the rising number of virus cases.

Former Bedford School pupil Ethan Vernon will be competing in the Men's Team Pursuit.

Ethan said: "We are going out to win, as I’m sure every nation is, but we are reigning champions from the previous three Olympics in this discipline, and we are looking to make it four in a row.”

What is the Tokyo Olympics 2020 schedule?

The original Tokyo Olympics schedule was scrapped and replaced after the Games were pushed back by 12 months due to the pandemic.

But 206 countries will now compete in Japan for coveted gold medals.

This year’s tournament will feature a record number of 46 competitions and 339 gold medals to be won over two weeks across 42 competition venues.

Here is the schedule for the men's Team Pursuit events:

Monday, August 2: Men's Team Pursuit Qualifying - 9.02am

Tuesday, August 3: Men's Team Pursuit First Round - 8.22am

Wednesday, August 4: Men's Team Pursuit Finals - 9.45am

For a full list of the schedule for the Tokyo Games click here.

What new sports will there be at the Olympics?

There are five new sports featuring in this year’s Summer Games.

These are: baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing.

While baseball and softball were included during the 2008 Games in Beijing, the other four sports are making their Olympics debut.

Where can you watch the Tokyo Olympics in the UK?

Japan is eight hours ahead of British Summer Time, meaning a lot of the 2020 Olympic Games action will happen during unsociable hours in the UK.

But there are still plenty of ways for sporting fans over here to watch the Tokyo tournament despite the tricky time difference.

The Games will be available to watch live in the UK via BBC One every day.

Coverage will start on the channel at midnight and will run to about 9pm.

And if you miss your favourite sport, BBC Two will be showing a daily highlights show from 9-10pm.

There will also be options to stream sports not showing live on BBC One via BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and the BBC Sport website.

The BBC is set to cover over 350 hours of uninterrupted coverage live

The Games in their full glory will also be shown on Eurosport, as well as on online streaming platforms Eurosport Player and Discovery+.

For a full list of the schedule for the Tokyo Games click here