Tokyo Olympics: How to watch Simone Biles, gymnastics events

Simon Biles
(Image credit: Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

It’s nearly time to watch in awe as the men and women competing for gymnastics gold at the Tokyo Olympics twist and fly through the air with incredible precision. This includes one of the Olympics' biggest draws, not just for gymnastics but overall, Simone Biles.

When the Tokyo Olympics were delayed in 2020, there was a worry about what that may mean for Biles, who became a star at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She turned 23 in 2020, which even then was pushing the age that most gymnasts stop competing at the highest level. Now, at 24, Biles is the oldest member of the U.S. gymnasts competing in the team event by four years. Still, she is widely considered the favorite to lead the U.S. to gold once again in the team competition as well as the all-around events, which would arguably make her one of the greatest Olympians ever.

The rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team includes Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum. Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner are on the U.S. team but only competing in individual events.

For the boys, the U.S. men’s team is made up of Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Sam Mikulak and Shane Wiskus, all of which will compete in the team event, as well as Alec Yoder, who will participate just in individual events.

The team and individual competitions for the Tokyo Olympics are spread out during the two weeks of the games, with qualifications and team finals taking place in the first week and the individual all-around competition set for week two. Get the full breakdown of where and when to watch everything going with gymnastics below. Plus, here's a guide on how to watch all of the Tokyo Olympics.

Gymnastics team qualifications schedule 

The qualifications for the team finals for both men and women will be broken up by subdivisions — the full breakdown of each subdivision is available online, but as a quick note, both the U.S. men's and women's teams are each in their respective subdivision three. Coverage of each subdivision will be available live on Peacock. 

July 23
Men's team qualifications, subdivision 1, 9 p.m. ET, Peacock

July 24
Men's team qualifications, subdivision 2, 1:30 a.m. ET, Peacock
Men's team qualifications, subdivision 3, 6:30 a.m. ET, Peacock
Men's team qualifications replay, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
Women's team qualifications, subdivision 1, 8:30 p.m. ET, Peacock
Women's team qualifications, subdivision 2, 10:50 p.m. ET, Peacock

July 25
Women's team qualifications, subdivision 3, 2:10 a.m. ET, Peacock
Women's team qualifications, subdivision 4, 4:05 a.m. ET, Peacock
Women's team qualifications, subdivision 5, 7:20 a.m. ET, Peacock
Women's team qualifications replay, 7 p.m. ET, NBC

Gymnastics team finals schedule

July 26
Men's team final, 6 a.m. ET, Peacock
Men's team final replay, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

July 27
Women's team final, 6:45 a.m. ET, Peacock
Women's team final, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

Gymnastics individual all-around schedule

After the team competition wraps up, gymnastics heads into the individual all-around competition. Medals will be handed out for the all-around competition and individual events throughout July 28-Aug. 3.

Here is the schedule breakdown for the all-around competition

July 28
Men’s individual all-around, 6:15 a.m. ET, Peacock
Men's individual all-around replay, 8 p.m. ET,  NBC

July 29
Women’s individual all-around, 6:50 a.m. ET, Peacock
Women’s individual all-around replay, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

There will also be event finals for individual disciplines (separate from all-around) on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 that will air on Peacock at 4 a.m. ET and then re-air on NBC in primetime.

How to watch Tokyo Olympics gymnastics in the U.S.

Peacock will play a big part in NBC’s coverage of gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics. The streaming service will handle all of the live coverage for the competition, which as reflected in the schedule, will take place in the early morning because of the time difference with Japan. Watching the gymnastics coverage will actually be pretty easy for anyone willing to burn the midnight oil, as it will be available on the free, ad-supported version of Peacock. Though a premium subscription will be needed to watch Olympic basketball coverage.

The NBC flagship network, meanwhile, will replay coverage from the gymnastic events in primetime. Anyone with access to their local NBC station, be it through an antenna, a cable subscription or an vMVPD service (YouTube TV, Fubo TV, Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV) can watch the gymnastics and other Olympics sports covered on NBC during primetime.

Viewers who subscribe to a package that offers NBC will also be able to watch Olympics coverage on the NBC Sports app or through NBCSports.com.

How to watch Tokyo Olympics gymnastics in the U.K.

The BBC and Eurosport are splitting the Olympic coverage for viewers in the U.K. In addition to coverage on the traditional BBC One, BBC Two and Eurosport broadcast services, streaming of Olympics events will be available on BBC iPlayer and Eurosport Player, as well as Eurosport’s website and app.

The BBC broadcast network is free through Freeview TV or to anyone with a basic cable package, while Eurosport is a premium cable channel. Similarly, BBC iPlayer is available for free for those with a U.K. TV license, while Eurosport Player is available in tandem with Discovery Plus.

How to watch Tokyo Olympics gymnastics in Canada

The Tokyo Olympics will be broadcast by CBC in Canada. CBC Sports Streaming will offer coverage of practically all Olympic events live across CBC Gem, the CBC's dedicated Olympics website and the CBC Olympics app, including gymnastics qualifications and finals. CBC’s TV schedule does not specify what events will be covered, but it offers four different programs covering the games that begin at midnight, 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m., respectively.

How to watch Tokyo Olympics gymnastics from anywhere

You don’t have to be in the U.S. to get your Simone Biles fix, not if you have access to a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN routes the network traffic to and from your computer through a specific set of servers in a specific country, allowing for users to watch content on an encrypted feed.  

ExpressVPN

<a href="https://go.expressvpn.com/c/4550836/1330033/16063?subId1=hawk-custom-tracking&sharedId=hawk&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.expressvpn.com%2F%3Foffer%3D3monthsfree%26a_fid%3D744" data-link-merchant="expressvpn.com"">ExpressVPN is one of the easiest and affordable ways to watch what you want from anywhere you want to watch it. Plus it'll help keep your network traffic away from any prying eyes on public networks.

And it's a great way to keep up with all of the action of the Olympics from anywhere in the world.

Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.