They may be happening one year later than expected, but the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will begin in just over a week and promises to be a spectacular event. Tokyo 2020 is being held in 2021 with Free Live Streaming on BBC iPlayer. Need a VPN for 2020 Olympics?
The Olympics are the pinnacle of sport. If you’re a sports fan, there is something for you to enjoy at the Olympics, from Track and Field events to Swimming, from Martial Arts to Gymnastics, and from team sports Basketball and Football to the Equestrian events.
🇯🇵 Tokyo 2020 Olympics
📺 Free Live 2020 Olympics Streaming on BBC + Catchup on BBC iPlayer
📅 23 July 2021 – 8 August 2021
There will be 339 different events across the 30 different types of sport that will be represented at this, the 29th modern Olympiad. Though stylised as the XXXII Games, numbers 6, 12 and 13 were all cancelled due to the World Wars and nobody thought that it might be important to not count them so as to avoid confusion down the line.
In total over 11,000 athletes from 206 nations will take part in the games, which are a model of planning and coordinating, and each of them will arrive in Tokyo with dreams of returning home with a medal. For some it might be their first games, for others their last and for the majority it’s probably the only chance they will get to chase glory and represent their country on such a stage. Each one has their own story of how they got there, each will have heroes who inspired them to get here. All will have dreams of creating their own “Olympic moment” that will live on years after they’ve stopped competing. It’s not just about winning, moments can be made simply by taking part. Remember Eric Moussambani?
A swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, Eric Moussambani had never even seen an Olympic sized swimming pool before. He qualified for the games via the Wildcard initiative which is designed to help athletes from developing countries achieve their dreams. He landed in Sydney with no chance of winning a medal, but left with something that made him a part of Olympic folklore. His moment. In his heat, he was drawn in a three man race and when his two opponents both false started, all he had to do was start and finish the race to win. The World Record for the men’s 100m freestyle was set at 47.84 seconds during the semi-finals at the same Olympics. Moussambani’s time? One minute, 52.72 seconds. Over a minute slower than the world record. Almost a minute longer than every other swimmer who competed in the event that year. Moussambani appeared at one point to be more likely to drown than finish the race. A packed house at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre cheered him home and he completed the race to rapturous applause.
Eric Moussambani didn’t win a medal, he didn’t even qualify for the semi-final because of his slow time, but he became an Olympic hero and his name lives on 21 years later. The image of “Eric the Eel” slowly making his way back up the pool comes to mind long before the medal winners in that same event.
Olympic moments aren’t just heartwarming stories. Tommie Smith and John Carlos won a Gold and Bronze medal respectively at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City but are remembered more for how they collected their medals than how they won them. The duo raised their fists to the air and drew global attention on the plight of black people still fighting for their rights in the USA. It’s probably the most iconic image in the history of the games.
Who can forget Cathy Freeman romping home to win the women’s 400m in Sydney? Freeman, an Aboriginal Australian, was cheered on by a packed crowd at Stadium Australia and broke down so many boundaries for the Indigenous people of Australia in doing so.
Of course, there are different types of legends. Some people have dominated their events to an unprecedented extent. Michael Phelps collected a bag full of medals, Usain Bolt dominated sprinting like nobody who came before, Michael Johnson set Atlanta 96 alight with his performances in the 200m and 400m, Larisa Latynina collected 18 medals, including 9 Gold, across three Olympics as she became the most successful Gymnast in history, Carl Lewis won four gold medals in LA in 1984 as did Jesse Owens in the same events as Lewis in 1936 during Hitler’s 1936 showpiece.
Tokyo 2020, not being renamed because the IOC don’t want to spend money on rebranding, promises to be the most technologically advanced games in history, as well as they most well organised. With a stunning array of venues, Tokyo has readied itself to welcome the world. Rather than wasting billions on stadiums that will never be used again, such was the case in Athens, Rio and others, the Japanese have opted to built only five new venues and renovate many others to maintain links to their Olympic and sporting past. Their new National Stadium, built on the site of their old one, is a triumph in simplicity and sustainability. Sustainability will be a theme of the games, as the Japanese are aiming to make these the greenest Olympics ever. With huge sums invested in their rail network to limit the numbers of cars and buses required to transport athletes and spectators, they’ve also built venues entirely out of wood and recycled products.
The opening ceremony will take place on July 23th with the closing ceremony set for August 8th. In between will be 16 glorious days of sport to enjoy at your leisure. In good news for folks in the UK, and ex-pats, the BBC will have extensive coverage of the games with 350 hours of coverage set to come across BBC One and BBC Two, as well as the BBC iPlayer. With the heartache of England’s defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final still echoing around the country, the chance for Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny or perhaps Charlotte Dujardin to add to their already impressive Olympic resumes, Jason Kenny will take sole ownership of the record for most Olympic Golds by a British competitor if he wins one in Tokyo to take his record to seven. Likewise, his wife Laura has a chance to catch Jason and Chris Hoy on six if she wins two more, as she did in 2012 and 2016.
While some Brits may be concerned about having to pay for specialists channels, or deal with foreign language coverage, BBC having free to air coverage takes care of that once you enable your Liberty Shield VPN with a UK setting. No hassle, no fuss, just 350 glorious hours of sport ahead of you with 11000 athletes vying to create their own Olympic moments.
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The easiest way to watch the 2020 Olympics live from from anywhere in the world is on BBC Sport…
If you try watch BBC Sport or ITV in English-speaking countries such as Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, Spain, France, Canary Islands, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, New Zealand, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, or Dubai you will get a Geo block error. To bypass this and watch all content for all you need is a a Proxy, VPN or VPN Router to overcome location restrictions that would otherwise block you from watching BBC & ITV Live Streaming and all other UK TV services.
The 2020 Olympics from Tokyo will be streamed live on the BBC Sport website the various BBC iPlayer and BBC Sports apps on iPhone, iPad, Android, Smart TV, Now TV, FireTV etc.
Watch 2020 Olympics Free Live Streaming from Anywhere
When you load BBC iPlayer in the USA, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Dubai, Canada etc. you will get an error message.
BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only.
This is basically because their streaming services are geoblocked based on the IP address being used to access it. You must be a UK domestic web user to access BBC live tv streaming and catchup with BBC iPlayer.
- Get a UK IP address.
- If you just want to watch on your PC, Mac or iPad. Then you can get a UK Proxy or VPN from Liberty Shield from only £6.99 per month.
- Prefer to watch on supported media streaming devices like Now TV, Smart TVs, Apple TV, Xbox, PS4, Amazon Fire TV, Roku etc? You’ll need a UK configured VPN Router setup as British for only £9.99 with Worldwide Shipping.
Furthermore BBC iPlayer isn’t the only geographically-censored streaming services a VPN or Proxy will allow you to access. Other UK services like ITV Hub, All 4, Sky Go and Now TV are available.
Plus with the option to switch to our USA service whenever you like, you can access Hulu, HBO GO, Netflix and Pandora. Essentially you can access international content from virtually anywhere!
Liberty Shield allows you to reap all of the benefits of having a VPN while also offering a 48 hour free trial alongside the service, so you can try out all of the features for yourself before committing to a subscription. Furthermore, we offer support 365 days a year so that you can make the most of your subscription.
