‘XXX Olympic Games’
If the last Summer Olympics were a big, splashy coming out-party for China, these Games will be a quiet, sensible return for Great Britain.
The Games of the XXX Olympiad begin with the Opening Ceremony Friday, July 27, and events take place from Saturday, July 28, to Sunday, Aug. 12.
And all the events will be available all the time, on CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and myriad other broadcasters, as well as streamed on the Web and various digital devices.
As Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium President Adam Ashton says, these Games are being referred to as the Lego Games or the Green Games — for their minimal impact on London and the fact that everything that is built new can be removed.
“The venues they have built, they’ve been very creative in making sure that they’re either temporary or they can be torn down and rebuilt in areas of Great Britain where they’re needed,” he says. “I think it’s a great sustainability and legacy model.”
London will be hosting the Games for the third time, so a lot of the major sites — such as Wimbledon and Wembley Stadium — are already in place.
And, then there are the sites that are almost magical in their historical resonance.
“London has the history of the Olympic Games,” Ashton says. “London is able to tap into so many landmarks to host these Games.
“You think of Wembley Stadium and Wimbledon, for tennis. You think of beach volleyball being hosted at Horse Guards’ Parade. Or Hyde Park hosting elements of the marathon and triathlon.”
“We’re going to be doing over 6,000 hours of coverage,” Ashton says. “This is the equivalent of 284 days straight, 24/7. On broadcast, over those networks, there will be 2,000 hours. And online and on smartphones and tablets, there will be another almost 4,700 hours of coverage.”
The lead English-language broadcasters are CTV and sister station TSN, and the Games will be carried in French on the sports network RDS and Canal V. Also, selected events will air on Rogers Sportsnet, OLN Canada, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, ATN, Omni.1 and Omni.2.
If you’re a traditionalist and just want to sit back and watch the Games go by, CTV will provide the flow and highlights.
The network will be running Olympics all the time, starting with the first events — in the early hours