Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony Time 2016: TV Schedule for Parade of Nations

The 2016 Summer Olympics are already underway in Rio de Janeiro, but for many fans, the Olympic festivities don't truly begin until the Parade of Nations on Friday night.

As has been the case in recent Olympics, NBC will broadcast the opening ceremonies on tape delay. According to Philly.com's Jonathan Tannenwald, the event, which begins at 8 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, will air at various times across U.S. time zones:

Time Zone	Start Time
Eastern	8 p.m. ET
Central	7 p.m. CT
Mountain	7 p.m. MT
Pacific	8 p.m. PT

The Parade of Nations is always one of the biggest highlights from the opening ceremony. Michael Phelps will be carrying the flag for the United States.

Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, with 22 medals over four Olympics. His 18 gold medals are also nearly double the next-closest athlete, Ray Ewry, who won 10 golds from 1900 to 1908. In what could be his last Olympics, Phelps is competing in three individual events: the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley. 

Fellow swimmer Missy Franklin was happy to see Phelps selected following a vote among the American delegation, per the New York Times' Karen Crouse:

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When they first told us in the team meeting that he was being nominated, everybody got so excited because it feels so right to have the most decorated Olympian of all time being our flag-bearer and leading us. And outside of the pool, having someone who has overcome so much internally, externally, and shared that with everyone and just shown people what an inspiration he is.

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Phelps said being the flag bearer represents the evolution of his Olympic career, per CNN's Jill Martin:

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I'm honored to be chosen, proud to represent the U.S., and humbled by the significance of carrying the flag and all it stands for. For Sydney, I just wanted to make the team. For Athens, I wanted to win gold for my country. For Beijing, I wanted to do something nobody else had done. In London, I wanted to make history. And now, I want to walk in the opening ceremony, take it all in, represent America in the best possible way and make my family proud. This time around, it's about so much more than medals.

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Hosts Brazil will be closing out the Parade of Nations, with Yane Marques representing the country. The 32-year-old earned a bronze medal in the modern pentathlon at the 2012 Olympics. She also finished second at the 2013 World Modern Pentathlon Championships and then placed third in 2015.

In terms of the opening ceremony as a whole, Rio's organizers will have big shoes to fill compared to the last Summer Olympics. Officials for the 2012 Olympics in London enlisted the help of Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle and spent £27 million on the entire program.

In one of the 2012 opening ceremony's more memorable moments, Queen Elizabeth II made a brief cameo to greet Daniel Craig, who was playing the role of James Bond.

Another talented film director, Fernando Meirelles, will be at the helm for this year's opening ceremony. Meirelles, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, said last September fans shouldn't expect to see such a grand scale in Rio as they did in London, per the Associated Press (via the CBC):

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Meirelles said "high-tech" was being eliminated from the ceremonies. He listed drones, complex aerial equipment and disappearing stages as items that Rio would do without. The emphasis will be on the basics.

"We don't have high culture," Meirelles said. "Of course we have some pianists, some maestros and some orchestras, but that's not us. We come from the roots. The beauty of Brazil comes from the roots."

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Meirelles also explained he wanted to go out of his way to ensure costs would stay low: "I would be ashamed to waste what London spent in a country where we need sanitation; where education needs money. So I'm very glad we're not spending money like crazy."

While this year's opening ceremony may lack the overall pageantry of the 2012 edition, the event should be a great showcase for Rio and the whole of Brazil.