After more than a year of disruption to international sporting events, Tokyo 2020 will become the first major international sports event to implement an innovative new Virtual Fan solution.

Our cheer button and fan video upload apps will allow remote viewers to interact with selected live events in Tokyo, bringing your passion to every event to cheer for your heroes and potentially put yourself in the stadium - on the big screens as well as in the hearts of the athletes.

Follow the schedules of your favourite sports or Olympic athletes and use our virtual tools to add your cheers to a united global voice. See your region shine brighter the harder you cheer and see which nation is interacting the most during any given event.

You can even put yourself in the venue and really show your passion by recording a short selfie video clip of you cheering on your favourite athlete or nation. Selected uploads will be collated in a video fan wall that will be shared with the venues and broadcasters worldwide.

So, how do you get involved? Using the Virtual Fan widget is easy - just follow these simple guidelines (if you use a VPN, make sure it is disabled before you get started):

  • The widget will default to support the region that you are in. You can easily change who you are cheering for by clicking on the arrow just below the sport name in the top-left corner. The flags displayed will change to represent your chosen nation.
  • Click on the Cheer button (the clapping hands icon) as many times as your heart desires to emphasise your support. Watch the counter tick upwards as you click and see the map animate around the world as fans like you do the same.
  • To record a visual representation of your passionate support, click on the tab that says “Fan Video”
  • Select the camera that you want to use and hit “Start Recording” to begin capturing your five-second selfie. Don’t hold back – show your passion for your favourite athlete or nation!
  • You can review your video to make sure you are happy with it. If you are, hit “Submit”; if not, hit “Redo” and go again.
  • Before you submit your finalised video, we’ll need to ask you a couple of brief questions. Once you have completed those, hit “Submit”.
  • You can add more videos – just click “Record another one” and repeat the process.
  • If you want to minimise the icon on your screen, click on the down arrow in the top-right corner. You can continue to click the Clap icon with the widget minimised, but you will need to expand again to upload a new Fan Video.
  • Support: Please report any issue to dfe.support@obs.tv and we’ll do everything we can to put things right.

So, while the global Olympic audience remains on stand-by for now, the Games remain within reach for all of us. And that’s something for everyone to cheer about!