When Do The Paralympics Olympics Start: How To Watch 2016 Rio Games And Full Schedule Of Events

The 2016 Paralympic games will be kicking off this September in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Olympic Games are already off to a great start, and officially began on Friday Aug. 5. Even though the world is currently tuning into the Rio games (remember, the Olympic Games will be running until Aug. 21), it is definitely not too late to begin planning for September’s Paralympic events.

The Paralympic Games officially begin on Sept. 7 with the Opening Ceremony and will run until Sept. 18. Read on for the full disclosure of where, when, and what to watch.

- The full schedule of events, organized by day, can be found on the Rio 2016 Paralympics website here.

- Viewers can tune in to USOC and NBC to watch the livestream of the games. The link has yet to be disclosed, so be sure to check Paralympic.org periodically here.

- Closer to the Sept. 7 date, NBC will be post the TV listing schedule. Keep checking back here.

- What not to miss: Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball. Check out the full list of sports and events here.

The Paralympic events made recent headlines when it was announced this weekend that Russia would not be participating in this year’s games. The country previously counted 102 medals from the 2012 summer Olympics, which took place in London.

NPR reported that Russia’s whole Paralympic team would be banned from Rio’s Paralympics in September due to the doping scandal. The International Paralympic Committee ruled a unanimous decision to ban the entire team from competing.

“Tragically this situation is not about the athletes cheating a system, but about a State-run system that is cheating the athletes,” Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), stated in a release on the Paralympics website. In his statement Craven went on to say, “I have deep sympathy for the Russian Para athletes who will miss out on the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. They are part of a broken system and we sincerely hope that the changes that need to happen, do happen.”

Russia has since appealed the ruling.