Tokyo Olympics: All your questions answered before the Tokyo Games kick off

  • 20/07/2021

Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Newshub has asked Google what people are asking about the Games.

Here's all you need to know about Tokyo, and how it's going to work.

What are the Olympic Games?

The Summer Olympics is held every four years - in whichever country wins the rights to hold the event.

In recent years they've been in Bejing, China, London, England, and Rio in Brazil.

This year there are 33 sports involved, with karate, surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing all making their Olympic debuts.

When do the games start?

The opening ceremony starts on July 23 at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. But events actually start before that - baseball and football start on the 21st.

Our women's football team will start the Kiwi campaign on Wednesday night.

Will these Olympics be different than in the past?

You might have heard things will be different here in Japan - and that's very true.

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of almost 15,000 people here during the pandemic.

The Games were delayed by an entire year - which was a big deal. In the past, the Olympics has only ever been cancelled due to war.

And while it's happening now - there won't be any foregin fans - spectators are even banned from stadiums.

New Zealand at the Games

Now despite the presence of COVID - this will be New Zealand's biggest team ever.

We'll have 211 athletes coming over, 101 women, and 110 men.

And can we win? Of course we can. We've got loads of medal chances..

Valerie Adams? Lisa Carrington? Lewis Clareburt? Our Sevens teams? They're all in with a chance.

At the last Games in Brazil we won 18 medals - so that's the number to beat this time!

How can you keep up with the Games?

So how can you keep up with the Games? We'll we've got it covered.

Newshub's team of Lisette Reymer, Ollie Ritchie and Mitch McCann will have all the Olympic information you'll need.

They'll be on The AM Show, throughout the day on Newshub, and here online. See you soon - Sayonara from Tokyo Japan!

Join Newshub for live coverage of the Tokyo Olympics, starting 11:30pm Wednesday.