The Paris 2024 Summer Games opening ceremony is nearly upon us and it should be spectacular, taking place in some iconic Parisian landmarks, including, of course, the Eiffel Tower. As a result, there is not much action today, save for some shooting training.
We have though already seen some fantastic soccer, rugby sevens and handball action. There's also been a world record in the archery. South Korean Lim Si-hyeon scored 694 points from a possible 720, beating the previous record by 2 points.
Things are only going to get better from here. You won't want to miss any of it. Here's how to watch Olympics streams and 4K TV broadcasts from everywhere.
How to watch Paris Olympics 2024 free online
All the ways you can tune into the Paris 2024 Olympics for free:
🇬🇧 BBC iPlayer – 250+ hours of free coverage
🇮🇪 RTE – 250 hours of free coverage
🇦🇺 9Now – every event free across 40 live channels
🇨🇦 CBC – 22 hours per day of free live coverage
Blocked? Watch your local FREE Olympics stream with a VPN
Where can I watch the Olympics in 4K?
In the USA, Comcast's USA Network will broadcast selected events in 4K with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio. Nice. Meanwhile, Australia's Stan Sport will stream " all medal events" from Paris 2024 in 4K Ultra HD.
Sadly, UK fans are out of luck here. Eurosport will broadcast selected events in 4K via HD+ on Astra. but these feeds are limited to Europe. Boo!
Of course, if you are an Aussie in the UK you could use a VPN to subscribe to Stan Sport ($21/mo) and watch Olympics in 4K. You'll need a 4K TV, naturally.
How to watch Olympics in the UK
The time difference between France and UK is only an hour, so watching the Paris Olympics won't require any nasty alarm calls.
BBC One and BBC Two will broadcast more than 250 hours of live coverage across the entire 19-day Summer Games. You can also watch Olympics Extra, a second live stream on BBC iPlayer (free with TV license), to follow the best moments.
Need to catch up? Tonight at the Games on BBC One every evening will examine the day's biggest talking points with the help of the BBC team: Fred Sirieix, Isa Guha, Hazel Irvine, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan, Jeanette Kwakye, JJ Chalmers and Laura Kenny.
Nice. But the BBC is not the home of the Olympics in the UK – that honour goes to Eurosport (and it's Discovery Plus streaming platform). Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 will deliver wall-to-wall coverage with live action from 7am -10.30pm daily, totally 350 hours, plus highlights and replays through the night.
Discovery Plus (£3.99 a month) – the official 'Streaming Home of the Olympics' in the UK and Ireland – will serve up all 329 medal moments and 3,800 hours of live coverage via 55+ live channel feeds. It even has a dedicated Team GB Hub.
Watch Olympics streams from abroad
You won't be able to watch your go-to Olympics live stream while travelling abroad. The streaming service will spot that you're in a foreign country and block you. You can use a VPN (virtual private network) to get around this, though.
It's a straightforward piece of software that sets your device to appear as if it's in the right country, allowing you to watch any Olympics live stream from anywhere in the world.
We rate NordVPN as the best VPN for streaming. It offers a 30-day guarantee for all your money back if you're not happy with the service.
Watch Olympics Paris 2024 live in US
In the USA, cable TV coverage is spread across NBC, USA Network, Golf Channel, E! and Telemundo. The action will also be available to stream on Peacock ($7.99 a month with ads), NBC Sports App and NBCOlympics.com.
Peacock will use "interactive features" to help fans navigate more than 5,000 hours of live coverage throughout the Games, including all 329 medal events.
Both NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26, beginning at Noon ET. Nearly 100 boats will carry athletes down the River Seine.
NBC Olympics primetime will be hosted by host Mike Tirico, Grammy-winner singer Kelly Clarkson and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning. Snoop Dogg will also join NBC's Primetime in Paris, reporting on various Olympic competitions.
Don't have cable? You can watch NBC Olympics streams via Sling and Fubo.
Australia: Olympics 2024 live stream
You'll find all-day Olympic coverage on Channel 9 and 9Gem, while 9Now will stream every moment of every event FREE across more than 40 dedicated live sport channels. Phew!
To check which events are on Channel 9 and 9Gem, check out the schedule here. Of course, you'll need a good streaming VPN to watch 9Now when outside Oz.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony will stream live on 9Now. A replay will be broadcast on Channel 9 from 1pm AEST on Saturday, July 27.
Fun fact: each sport has its own dedicated page on 9Now. You can find available live streamed events scheduled for the upcoming Olympic day from 6am AEST each day. If the event you is still live, you can use the 'Start Over' option to watch it from the beginning.
Canada: Watch an Olympics 2024 live stream
In Canada, Olympics coverage is spread across CBC, Sportsnet and TSN ($19.99 a month).
CBC’s comprehensive free coverage of Paris 2024 will feature live broadcasts from every venue and include every Canadian medal-winning moment, with 22 hours of live TV coverage each day, totalling more than 3,000 hours of live action.
Looking for online coverage? CBC Gem offers FREE live streams of every event at Paris 2024, with pre-Olympic coverage of soccer and rugby sevens beginning Wednesday, 24th July.
Coverage of Team Canada kicks off Thursday, 25th July on CBC and CBC Gem with the first match for the Canadian women’s soccer team at 10.30am ET. CBC’s live coverage of the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony begins Friday, 26th July at 1pm ET on CBC networks and streaming platforms.
You can also watch Olympics documentaries, including two-parter La Grand Seine, which tells the story of the final 12-months of preparation for the Opening Ceremony – arguably the biggest show on earth. Part one airs Thursday, 25th July at 9am ET on CBC Gem.
New Zealand: Paris 2024 Olympics live stream
Sky Sport is the exclusive New Zealand broadcast partner for the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024. Sky's coverage boasts 12 Olympic channels, covering 32 sports and 200 Kiwi athletes over 19 days from 25th July to 12th August.
You'll find extensive coverage across Sky Sport and the Sky Go app, plus streaming on Sky Sport Now (a one-off Olympics Games Paris 2024 Pass will set you back $35).
Looking for FREE Olympic coverage? The free-to-air on Sky Open channel (Freeview channel 15 or via the Sky Go app) will cover most events featuring Kiwi athletes.
Daily live coverage will air from 7pm - 9am NZDT, along with 24-hour replays, highlights and special features during non-competition times.
Sky Sport will also dish up a daily early morning review show, hosted by Kirstie Stanway. Laura McGoldrick will front the evening coverage which kickstarts the day in France.
Watch Olympics 2024 live in Ireland
Olympics fans in Ireland can watch 14 hours of coverage a day across three daily TV programmes on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, featuring athletics, swimming, boxing, rowing, gymnastics, badminton, rugby sevens and more.
You can watch FREE Olympics streams via RTÉ Player, RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Traveling outside Ireland? You'll need a good VPN to watch the Irish coverage from abroad.
RTÉ's Olympics 2024 live stream begins on 26th July at 6pm IST, when the Opening Ceremony gets underway in Paris. Tune in to see approximately 10,500 athletes cross float down the River Seine on boats!
Paris 2024 will see the largest-ever Irish contingent travel to the Olympics, with 133 athletes competing across a multitude of sports. Ireland’s hockey team competing at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium is set to be a highlight.
RTÉ's studio line-up includes Andrew Bree and Gráinne Murphy (swimming), Derval O’Rourke, Rob Heffernan and Sonia O’Sullivan, (athletics) Bernard Dunne and Kenny Egan (boxing), Johnny Bell (hockey), Mairéad Kavanagh (gymnastics) and Annalise Murphy (sailing).
Paris 2024 Olympic Games schedule of events
- 3x3 basketball (Jul 30 - Aug 5)
- Archery (Jul 25, Jul 28 - Aug 4)
- Athletics (Aug 1-11)
- Artistic gymnastics (Jul 27 - Aug 1, Aug 3-5)
- Artistic swimming (Aug 5-7, Aug 9-10)
- Badminton (Jul 27 - Aug 5)
- Basketball (Jul 27 - Aug 4, Aug 6-11)
- Beach volleyball (Jul 27 - Aug 10)
- BMX freestyle (Jul 30-31)
- BMX racing (Aug 1-2)
- Boxing (Jul 27- Aug 4, Aug 6-10)
- Breaking (Aug 9-10)
- Canoe slalom (Jul 27 - Aug 1, Aug 3-5)
- Canoe sprint (Aug 6-10)
- Cycling road (Jul 27, Aug 3-4)
- Cycling track (Aug 5-11)
- Diving (Jul 27, Jul 29, Jul 31, Aug 2, Aug 5-10)
- Equestrian (Jul 27 - Aug 6)
- Fencing (Jul 27 - Aug 4)
- Football (Jul 24-25, Jul 27-28, Jul 30-31, Aug 2-3, Aug 5-6, Aug 8-10)
- Golf (Aug 1-4, Aug 7-10)
- Handball (Jul 25, Jul 27 - Aug 4, Aug 6-11)
- Hockey (Jul 27 - Aug 9)
- Judo (Jul 27 - Aug 3)
- Marathon swimming (Aug 8-9)
- Modern pentathlon (Aug 8-11)
- Mountain bike (Jul 28-29)
- Rhythmic gymnastics (Aug 8-10)
- Rowing (Jul 27 - Aug 3)
- Rugby 7s (Jul 24-25, Jul 27-30)
- Sailing (Jul 28 - Aug 8)
- Shooting (Jul 27 - Aug 5)
- Skateboarding (Jul 27-28, Aug 6-7)
- Sport climbing (Aug 5-10)
- Surfing (Jul 27-30)
- Swimming (Jul 27 - Aug 4)
- Table tennis (July 27 - Aug 10)
- Taekwondo (Jul 7-10)
- Tennis (Jul 27 - Aug 4)
- Trampoline gymnastics (Aug 2)
- Triathlon (Jul 30-31, Aug 5)
- Volleyball (Jul 27 - Aug 11)
- Water polo (Jul 27 - Aug 11)
- Weightlifting (Aug 7-11)
- Wrestling (Aug 5-11)
Why do some Olympic events start before the opening ceremony?
It might seem odd that some events start before the Olympic ceremony has taken place, but there are good reasons for it. Some sports, such as soccer, have required resting periods and so take longer to complete. Others, like handball and weightlifting, share facilities so one needs to be completed before the other can begin.
Who is US women's soccer team coach Emma Hayes?
Emma Hayes is the all-conquering former manager of Chelsea in the WSL. She led them to the league title 7 times and won 5 FA Cups. She has now taken on arguably the biggest job in women's soccer - coaching the USWNT. This is the first tournament we will see the side under Hayes's leadership and she has already made some big decisions. Notably, Alex Morgan has not been selected.
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