ESPN Star Sports' programming lineup for Olympics

MUMBAI: Gearing up for the London Olympics, leading Asian sports network ESPN Star Sports will offer extensive broadcast of the Olympic Games with more than 3,800 hours of coverage across 15 channels which includes round-the-clock coverage on ESPN, Star Sports, ESPN HD and ESPNEWS during the Games.

The London Olympics will be held from 27 July to 12 August.

The coverage will also comprise 10 dedicated high-definition ESS channels covering the London 2012 Olympic Games live. In addition, key events will be showcased in 3D for the very first time on ESPN Star Sports? 3D channel.

The broadcaster had secured the exclusive non-standard television rights including cable & satellite television from the International Olympic Committee for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games for 22 countries across the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia.

In the lead up to the event the broadcaster will showcase more than 660 hours of comprehensive programming which will showcase stories behind the Olympic milestones, and iconic feats that have left a legacy in the history of sports 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 3 June. 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.

Among the Indian athletes who have been profiled includes Mary Kom, the first female Indian boxer to qualify for the London Olympics, shooter Ronjan Singh Sodhi who is a four-time gold medalist in the World Cup, and boxer Vijender Singh, a bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympics Games.

In addition, ESS will also air Golden Moments which 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 spectacular leap of the century in the 1968 long jump, while the Story of Women at the Games traces the evolution of women?s participation at the Games.

ESS will also broadcast a weekly current affairs programme on the Games? preparations on Host City London, as well as a documentary about the evolution of the Games on the Olympic Spirit.

The London 2012 Games will feature over 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries around the world covering 302 events in 26 sports.