ESPN Star Sports lines up Olympian fare in run-up to London 2012

With 60 days to go for the mega sporting event, there is plenty on favourite athletes, iconic moments and compelling stories that make up the Olympic saga

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 1, 2012

With 60 days to go before the world's biggest sporting event, Indian sports fans can get into the Olympic spirit with ESPN Star Sports' (ESS) line-up of programmes that will provide the ultimate coverage building up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

As the official broadcaster of the London 2012 Games, ESS will showcase remarkable superhuman stories, insights to the aspirations behind the Olympic milestones, and iconic feats that have left a legacy in the history of sports. There will be more than 660 hours of comprehensive programming leading up to the Games, including historical archive footage chronicling the last two decades, as well as exclusive athlete interviews.

Headlining the list of programmes is ESS' exclusively produced new documentary series, 'Living the Dream', that focuses on the best sporting talents from Asia and their Olympic aspirations starting on Sunday, June 3. Hosted by SportsCenter anchor Christy Simson, the extensively researched eight-part programme follows the lives of 24 athletes from Malaysia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, and their quest for sporting excellence through their triumphs, setbacks, hopes and dreams.

Among the athletes include pint-sized Mary Kom, the first female Indian boxer to qualify for the London Olympics. She has won five consecutive world titles and is a favourite for the gold medal. Other Indian athletes include young archer Deepika Kumari who was recently crowned world champion, shooter Ronjan Singh Sodhi who is a four-time gold medallist in the World Cup, and boxer Vijender Singh, a bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympics.

In addition, ESS will have every aspect of the Olympics covered with the following programmes:

• Athlete-centric programmes that tell the stories of great strides taken by iconic athletes to achieve their dreams that have captured the true spirit of the Olympic Games. Golden Moments showcase vignettes of the greatest and most inspiring athletes in Olympics history, while Olympic stars chronicle the biggest and brightest athletes that shined in Sydney, Athens and Beijing.
• Contemporary features include rivalries that defined the Olympic Games in Champions and Challengers, game-changing Olympic moments in Olympic Peaks, which details the advances in sports and the science of human performance.
• Documentaries that take a historic perspective of the Olympic Games include the IOC Official Films and Olympic Sports, which depict the progression of major sports over the years and delves into the advances in strength, technique and artistry that defy limits and set standards. Sports fans can also take a closer look at iconic images in Olympic history and the personal stories behind them on The Games Through the Lens that includes Bob Beamon's unexpected yet spectacular leap of the century in 1968, while the Story of Women at the Games traces the evolution of women's participation at the Games.
• ESPN Star Sports will also broadcast a weekly current affairs programme on the Games preparations in Host City London, as well as a documentary about the evolution of the Games in the Olympic Spirit.

ESS, the official broadcaster of the London Olympics, will offer the biggest ever and most extensive broadcast of the Olympic Games with more than 3,800 hours of coverage across 15 channels. This includes round-the-clock coverage on ESPN, Star Sports, ESPN HD and ESPNEWS during the Games. The coverage will also comprise 10 dedicated high-definition ESS channels covering the London 2012 Olympic Games with live and first-run coverage. In addition, key events will be showcased in 3D for the very first time on ESPN Star Sports' 3D channel.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com