Follow the Winter Olympics like an expert with our daily newsletter

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.

The Beijing Winter Olympics officially open on Friday, but competition gets underway even sooner than that. Rocks start flying in the mixed doubles curling event on Wednesday morning in Canadian time zones. Canadian athletes begin competing on Wednesday night, when Rachel Homan and John Morris hit the ice in the mixed doubles and the women's hockey team begins its quest to recapture gold. Figure skating gets going on Thursday night.

Clearly, things are about to escalate quickly. And if, like most people, you haven't spent the past four years closely following Canada's winter Olympic athletes, the thought of figuring out who, what and when to watch might seem a bit overwhelming. Throw in the time difference (Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time) and the various challenges presented by the pandemic, and… well, it's a lot to keep up with.

That's where we think the Buzzer can help. Starting this week and continuing every day through the closing ceremony on Feb. 20, we're going to get you up to speed on everything you need to know to get the most out of these Olympics.

The newsletter will arrive in your inbox each day around 4 p.m. ET. We'll recap the most interesting stuff that happened that day, and then look ahead to the key events coming up when the new competition day begins a few hours later. We'll tell you not only what and when to watch, but why. You'll find out which Canadian athletes have a good shot at a medal, and learn a bit about their backstories. Our aim is to guide your nightly TV and/or live-stream viewing and help you feel like an expert while you're