How to follow the Winter Olympics

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It’s the Winter Olympics, that special quadrennial season in which everyone you know suddenly becomes an expert in luge strategy and curling technique from the comfort of their couch.

There’s a lot to dive into this year, in the unusually popular Milan Cortina Olympics.

Hundreds of athletes from around the world – including 232 from the United States – will descend on more than two dozen venues Across northern Italy To compete in 16 different sports. There are 116 medal events on the line throughout the two and a half weeks. And this time, unlike the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in the coronavirus era, spectators will be allowed to watch in person.

But you don’t have to be on a plane or sporting a hand-warmer to get a good view, thanks to NBC’s powerful broadcast rights and NPR’s scrappy team of journalists on the ground. Here’s how to follow the action — and peek behind the curtain — from home.

How to watch the opening ceremony

The opening ceremony on February 6th marks the official start of the Games (although many sports, including curling and ice hockey, begin competition two days earlier).

It will be held primarily at Milan’s historic San Siro stadium, featuring performances by icons such as Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, as well as traditional elements such as the Parade of Nations and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.

But there will also be simultaneous celebrations and sporting performances at some of them Other places – Scattered hundreds of miles apart – for the first time in history, a second Olympic cauldron will be lit in the Games’ co-host city of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

nbc Live coverage The opening ceremony (which is also streaming on Peacock) will begin at 2pm ET on Friday, February 6, with a prime-time broadcast planned for 8pm ET on the same day.

How to proceed once the games start

There are 16 days of competition between the opening and closing ceremonies, with competitions and medal events spread throughout, depending on the sport. here Full schedule (Events are listed in Italian local time, which is six hours ahead of Eastern Time.)

NBC says it will broadcast the events live throughout the day, with primetime nightly highlights at 8pm ET, followed by a late-night version.

US-based viewers can watch on NBC, Peacock and ABC Host for other platformsincluding apps and websites for both NBC and NBC Sports. Experienced Olympic viewers will recognize peacock viewing experiences such as "Gold area" (which jumps between key moments, eliminating the need to guide browsing) and "multi display," Now available on mobile.

The closing ceremony on February 22 will be broadcast live starting at 2:30 PM ET, and again in prime time at 9 PM ET.

It will be held in a historic amphitheater in Verona, which will also host the opening ceremony of the Paralympics on March 6. About 600 Paralympic athletes will compete in 79 medal events in six sports – including alpine skiing, sled hockey and wheelchair curling – before the closing ceremony in Cortina on March 15.

How to follow NPR’s coverage

In the meantime, you can check out NPR’s coverage of the Olympics to better understand the key people, context and moments shaping the Games.

NPR’s five-person Olympics team will bring you news, recaps and color from the ground in Italy, online, on air and in your inbox. Plus, expect occasional updates and deep dives from NPR journalists watching from D.C. and around the world.

Find all of NPR’s Winter Olympics stories (past, present and upcoming) Here on our website.

To listen to our radio coverage, tune in to your channel Local NPR station Our radio programs are broadcast on npr.org or NPR app.

plus, Subscribe to our newsletter, rachel goes to the games, To get a daily dose of what it’s like to be there in person.

We will also have a video podcast, Until the first winter gamesto further dissect today’s biggest Olympic stories and oddities. You can find it on NPR YouTube page.

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