Finals at a Games are sometimes held at times that appear indefensible for the athletes involved. The explanation is the revenue model rather than indifference.
Broadcast rights carry the budget
A large share of the money that funds the Games comes from selling television and streaming rights, and the largest fees come from a handful of markets.
Those fees are priced against expected audience, and audience depends heavily on whether the event falls in prime viewing hours locally.
A final shown live in a paying market's evening is worth considerably more than the same final shown at breakfast, which gives the schedule a direction before anything else is considered.
Time zones create direct conflicts
When the host and the largest paying market are many hours apart, one of them has to accept inconvenient timing.
Moving a final into the host's morning places it in a distant evening, which is why swimming finals in particular have been scheduled in the morning at some Games.
Athletes then have to shift their preparation, since peak performance times are trainable but not instantly adjustable.
Heat and venue constraints push the other way
Endurance events held in hot host cities are moved to early morning or late evening for safety, regardless of what the schedule would otherwise prefer.
Some events have been relocated to entirely different cities for climate reasons, which creates its own broadcast complications.
Where the two pressures collide, safety has increasingly won, partly because a serious incident during an event is more damaging than a poor audience figure.
Sports compete for uncontested slots
Two finals at the same moment split attention and reduce the value of both, so the schedule spaces marquee events apart.
Smaller sports depend on this, because a slot with no competition is the only opportunity many of them get to reach a general audience.
Placement in the schedule is therefore negotiated between federations and organisers with real consequences for a sport's visibility and funding.
Why athletes have limited leverage
Competitors are not party to the broadcast contracts, and the schedule is set long before qualification is complete.
Federations negotiate on their behalf, but a federation dependent on Olympic revenue has a weak position when arguing about the source of that revenue.
The result is a schedule that reflects who pays for the Games, which is the same reason the event can be staged on its current scale at all.