RIO DE JANEIRO, Sporting Alert – Rio 2016 will officially commence on Friday with the Olympic Games opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium. Live coverage gets under way at 7:30 p.m. ET and it will be on NBC and streaming live on NBCSN.
COVERAGE FROM NBC NETWORK
ET/CT viewers: Watch the stream here at 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. CT
MT viewers: Watch the stream here at 6:30 p.m. MT
PT viewers: Watch the stream here at 7:30 p.m. PT
The live coverage on NBC will be streamed on the NBC Sports app and on NBCOlympics.com together with the television broadcast.
Special guidance will be led by hosts Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Hoda Kotb, with Michele Tafoya and Ros Gold-Onwude reporting as well from Macarana Stadium.
The familiar face of Bob Costas, the primetime Olympics host for NBC, opens the telecast on Friday night.
Meanwhile, For those living the UK, addition coverage can also be seen live on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, Red Button.
The British broadcasting network has also revealed that up to 24 HD video streams on mobile, desktop, connected TVs and other application will also be available.
BBC Radio 5 live radio and live text commentary will also be free for those wanting to follow the opening ceremony.
Athletes from no fewer than 206 nations and a refugee team will line-up in 28 sports in Brazil and billions are gearing up to watch the prestigious event, which only comes around every four years.
This year will see a Refugee Olympic Team competing under the Olympic flag and it will be completed with 10 members. Five athletes from South Sudan, two from DR Congo, two from Syria and one from Ethiopia.
Rio 2016 competition has already gotten underway with the first rounds of the women’s and men’s soccer fixtures. The official part of the Games will take place between August 5 and 21 August and is being held in South America for the first time.
Several high-profile superstars, including sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who hunts an Olympic Games sprint treble for the third successive time, American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time and the host nation’s poster boy and leading forward Neymar.
However, the likes of NBA super stars Stephen Curry and LeBron James, tennis players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, and golfer Rory McIlroy are among those who will miss the Olympic Games.
