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Where to watch the Paris 2024 Olympics

Laura Woods with a microphone
Laura Woods will play a lead role in Eurosport's coverage of the Paris Olympics – the broadcaster's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is the main European rights holder - PA/Mike Egerton

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games officially began on Friday with the opening ceremony on the River Seine.

There will be 329 medal events across 32 sports, with the preliminary action starting on Wednesday, July 24 with football, and rugby sevens, then also handball and archery on Thursday, July 25.

The last sporting action and closing ceremony are on Sunday, August 11.

You can see the full day-by-day schedule here. Telegraph Sport has also published a guide to the British athletes competing at this summer’s Games.

Here is a guide to watching this summer’s Olympics on television.

How can I watch on TV in the UK?

The important thing to understand is that BBC coverage of the 2024 Olympics is very limited. Viewers who enjoyed watching every Olympic event on the BBC during London 2012 and Rio 2016 are likely to be disappointed.

The BBC’s offering for 2024 is spread across just two live streams at any one time. BBC One or BBC Two will show one of those streams, with the other stream broadcast on the iPlayer, Red Button and online. Any event not covered by one of those two live streams will therefore not be available to view on terrestrial television in the UK.

For more comprehensive live coverage of the 2024 Olympics, UK viewers will need to subscribe to Discovery+, which is available on smart TVs, via an app, or online. It has a special Olympics offer for £3.99 per month.

Discovery+ is the main European rights holder for broadcasting the Olympics this year and will show every moment of the Games with “wall-to-wall linear coverage on its Eurosport channels (1 and 2), along with seven dedicated Olympic ‘pop-up’ channels”.

Warner Bros Discovery also co-owns TNT Sport, whose customers can access Olympic coverage via the Discovery+ platform as part of their existing subscription.

Telegraph Sport will be running live blogs on all the key sporting events.

What times of day are the events on in the UK?

Being in France, just one hour ahead, the timing of events is kind to British viewers. Competition starts in the morning – as early as 6.30am BST for the endurance events which seek to avoid the heat – and continue late into the evening, with beach volleyball, basketball and football matches scheduled to run until 11pm BST.

How can I livestream the Olympics online?

You can stream the Olympics online on Eurosport and Discovery+, where every piece of action will be available, and also on the BBC iPlayer app and BBC website, which can broadcast a maximum of two live streams of Olympics action at any one time.

How much coverage will be on the BBC?

BBC One and BBC Two will cover British athletes and broadcast the biggest events. There will be an Olympics Extra channel available on iPlayer, Red Button and online. However, as with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the BBC can broadcast a maximum of two live streams of action at any one time, after the International Olympic Committee awarded media rights in Europe to Warner Bros Discovery.

BBC One will also broadcast a highlights package, Tonight at the Games, every evening.

Who will be on pundit duty for the BBC?

BBC pundits will include Britain’s two most-decorated female Olympians, Dame Laura Kenny and Dame Katherine Grainger, cycling great Sir Chris Hoy, retired heptathletes Dame Denise Lewis and Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, as well as the American four-time Olympic sprint gold medallist Michael Johnson and double Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams. Sharron Davies will report on swimming as part of a team that includes double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington.

Who will be the BBC presenters and commentators?

A familiar roster of BBC Sport faces in Paris include Hazel Irvine, Gabby Logan, Clare Balding, Mark Chapman, Isa Guha, Jeanette Kwakye and JJ Chalmers. Because of France’s working time directive, however, they will be unable to work the mammoth shifts they usually have at Games. The BBC has also signed up the TV personality Fred Sirieix, whose daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix is competing in 10m diving events.

What about Eurosport pundits and commentators?

Laura Woods will lead the coverage of the opening ceremony on Eurosport and host the evening highlights programme Bonsoir Paris, while Orla Chennaoui, known for leading Eurosport’s cycling coverage, will present morning show Bonjour Paris.

British diver Tom Daley will join the Eurosport team at the end of his competition, while other sport specialists are: Adam Blythe (cycling), Shauna Coxsey (sport climbing), James Cracknell (rowing), Carl Frampton (boxing), Ugo Monye (rugby sevens), Lutalo Muhammad (Taekwondo), Stef Reid (athletics), Laura Robson (tennis), Joanna Rowsell (cycling), Ellie Simmonds (swimming), Iwan Thomas (athletics) and Nile Wilson (gymnastics).