The Opening Ceremony will start at 8pm local time at the New National Stadium in Tokyo on July 24.

Competition will have already begun in softball and women’s football two days earlier, while archery and rowing events will also start a day prior to the Opening Ceremony.

Tokyo 2020 have confirmed the women’s 10 metres air rifle shooting event will be the first medal competition of the Games on July 25.

Medals will also be awarded in archery, fencing, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting and the men’s cycling road race.

Taekwondo has normally taken place in the closing days of the Games, but has been moved to the start in Tokyo.

Swimming competition at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre will take place from July 25 to August 2, with finals taking place in the morning in Japan.

An agreement had been reached between organisers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Swimming Federation (FINA) last year.

It was considered that the influence of American broadcasting giant NBC – which paid a sum of $7.65 billion (£5.9 billion/€6.6 billion) to the IOC for exclusive rights to broadcast all Summer and Winter Olympics until 2032 – has proved a factor.

The morning finals in Japan would ensure they are broadcast in prime-time in the United States.

Tokyo 2020 have revealed both the Aomi and Ariake zones serve as “hotspots” for urban sports.

Several sports and events will make their Olympic debuts in the zones, including men and women’s 3×3 basketball competitions which will start on July 25, the first day of the Games.

Skateboarding street events will be held on 26 and 27 July, while the skateboarding park will take place on August 5 and 6.

BMX freestyle park will take place on August 1 and 2, while sport climbing competitions will be held from August 4 to 7.

Skateboarding and sport climbing are two of four sports set to make their Games debut next year, having been included as “additional sports” by Tokyo 2020 and the IOC.

Surfing, another sport added to the programme, has provisionally been scheduled to take place between July 26 to August 2 at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach.

The competition is subjected to change depending on the wave conditions, with Tokyo 2020 stating action will be held on a four-day schedule.

Karate will be the last of the new sports to debut, with competition beginning on August 6.

Tokyo 2020 hope “Super Saturday” and “Golden Sunday” will be on August 1 and 2, with both expected to achieve high stadium audiences and television viewership.

A total of 21 medal events will be held on the Saturday, including events featuring for the first time in the Olympic Games, such as the judo mixed team event, the triathlon mixed team relay and the shooting trap mixed team event.

The day will also see the men’s football quarter-finals, which will be staged at four different venues.

The final day of fencing events, including the men’s team foil final, and the closing day of swimming events will also take place on August 2.

Athletics events will begin on July 31, with Tokyo 2020 promising finals will feature in almost all sessions.