How to watch the Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Asif Iqbal

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games are almost upon us, with the opening ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium taking place on Friday August 5.

The opening ceremony for an Olympics is always a spectacular event, so you'll want to make sure you don't miss it, especially in the UK where the time difference means you'll need to stay up until midnight to watch it. In this guide we'll show you how to watch it, and the rest of the 2016 Games, in style.

The Rio Olympics actually get underway just before Friday's opening ceremony, with the women's soccer tournament kicking off on Wednesday August 3. Other early events include the preliminary rounds for archery, rowing, shooting, table tennis and water polo.

How keep up with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games schedule

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games run from August 3 to August 21, and 306 competitions in 42 different sports will be held across 33 different venues in Rio de Janeiro.

The prospect of keeping up with all the action at an Olympics can seem a bit overwhelming, but thankfully there are a number of ways to easily access the Rio 2016 schedule, so that you know when and where each sport is being played.

One of the easiest ways to keep up with the Olympics schedule is with Google, which has announced it will provide event schedules, medal counts and athlete information direct from its search results page.

All you need to do is type 'Rio Olympics' into Google, and you'll see a host of information about upcoming events.

The schedule will show you broadcast times in your local time zone, and Google will also be making event highlights from official broadcasters available on YouTube, so even if you can't watch the sports live you'll still get to see all the action.

If you have the Google app on Android or iOS, you can can stay abreast of developments with automatic updates. Just search for 'Rio Olympics', or the sport or athlete you're looking for, and you'll be asked if you want to turn on automatic updates.

How to watch the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on live TV and online

In the UK the BBC will be showing a whopping 3,000 hours of live, free-to-air TV from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, spread over its four TV channels and itsBBC iPlayer app, which is available on every platform going.

Just as at London 2012, the BBC will deliver 24 live HD video streams, broadcasting eight of them live on its Red Button interactive service. The Olympics Playlist, a downloadable catch-up programme, will also be available to view every morning on iPlayer. Since the major events will be broadcast free-to-air, in the UK that brings into play live TV apps like TVCatchup.

In the US, head for the NBC Olympics Live Extra app, although live streaming online with NBC apps does require a login with a cable provider.

In Australia, Channel 7 will broadcast 1,000 hours free-to-air on its 7, 7two and 7mate TV channels, and provide online live broadcasts and catch-up. However, if you want access to Channel 7's 36 live streams from Rio, that means getting the PLUS7 app, which is reported to be charging for access during the games.