While the opening ceremony is not until 5.30am on Saturday (NZ time), the quadrennial celebration of sport actually begins tomorrow morning.
At 1am, the whistle will blow on two men’s football games — between Argentina and Morocco, and between Uzbekistan and Spain — and the Games will have begun.
Half an hour later, men’s rugby sevens will start with a clash between Australia and Samoa.
It has long been the case that some Olympic team sports start before the Games have officially been opened.
Simply, it is a logistical matter. Most of the team sports need to give the athletes time to recover between games, and the only way to fit everything in is to get cracking early.
Two New Zealand teams will be in action tomorrow morning.
The Oly Whites have a men’s football clash against Guinea at 3am, and the men’s sevens team play Japan at 4am and South Africa at 7.30am.
On Friday morning, the All Blacks Sevens play Ireland at 2.30am before a quarterfinal (7am or 8am), while the Football Ferns start their campaign against Canada at 3am.
