RTÉ will provide more than 1500 hours of coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics across RTÉ Television, RTÉ Radio and RTÉ.ie beginning with the opening ceremony at 1pm on Friday 8 August (08/08/08) to the closing day on Sunday 24 August.
RTÉ Television and RTÉ Radio will provide coverage of all the live action throughout each day and night of the games as well as comprehensive analysis with some of Ireland’s biggest sporting stars and former Olympians.
In a new departure, RTÉ’s dedicated website RTÉ.ie/Olympics will have six separate web-channels enabling users in Ireland to view five additional events on RTÉ.ie as well as the RTÉ Television coverage which will be streamed simultaneously live.
The website will also contain a comprehensive on-demand video/audio section of Irish-related Olympics clips, plus top Olympics highlights (Ireland only), a comprehensive live results section, profiles of all Irish Olympians, news stories on Irish athletes, breaking stories from Beijing, photo galleries as well as feature pieces from the RTÉ News Correspondent in Beijing, Margaret Ward.
RTÉ Television
RTÉ Television will provide up to 17 hours of coverage each day, bringing viewers all of the action through the night, expert analysis on all of the main events as well as focusing particularly on the progress of the Irish Olympians.
Twelve former Olympians and some of Ireland’s biggest sporting stars will join RTÉ’s team of analysts this year; Sonia O’Sullivan joins Eamonn Coghlan and Jerry Kiernan for Athletics, Bernard Dunne, Katie Taylor, Michel Carruth and Andy Lee join Mick Dowling for boxing, while Gary O’Toole and Earl McCarthy provide analysis for swimming. Former Olympic rower Neville Maxwell and former Irish soccer international Kenny Cunningham will also add their expertise in their respective sports.
RTÉ will be particularly committed to focusing on the achievements of the Irish athletes who are competing in athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming and triathlon
Olympics Through the Night presented by Clare MacNamara will begin with the main event each night (12.30/3am) and continue through to 7am taking in all of the live action as it unfolds from Beijing.
Olympics AM (7am- midday) Darragh Maloney and Joanne Cantwell or Michael Lyster and Tracy Piggott will be joined by some of Ireland’s top sporting names and past Olympians as they look back on highlights of the action as it unfolded through the night as well as live action.
Peter Collins will present Olympics Today from midday to 4pm featuring regular Olympic News Reports and updates on the Irish as well as plenty of live action including all of the big athletics finals.
Each evening from 7pm, Bill O’Herlihy presents Today at the Olympics providing a comprehensive round-up of all the action including discussion and analysis of the major issues of the day with RTÉ’s top team of analysts.
RTÉ Television’s commentary team includes Jimmy Magee, George Hamilton, Ger Canning, Marty Morrissey, Shane O’Donoghue, Ryle Nugent, Stephen Alkin, John Kenny, Nick O’Hare and Robert Hall.
Reporters Shane O’Donoghue and Marty Morrissey will be in Beijing, while Katriona McFadden, Paul O’Flynn and Eamonn Falvey will provide updates on all the breaking stories.
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is set to broadcast up to ten hours of extensive coverage daily of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with dedicated programmes on RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and RTÉ lyric fm. For the first time ever RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast an event on five platforms: FM, LW252 and on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra on DAB, online, satellite and cable.
Olympic Breakfast, presented by Con Murphy, kicks off RTÉ Radio 1’s broadcasts at 7am on Friday 8 August and will broadcast live each day throughout the Games.
Beijing ’08 Through the Night, a mix of music, sports reports and live commentaries, presented live from both Beijing and Dublin by RTÉ Radio sports presenters including Con Murphy, Siobhan Madigan, Cathal Murray, Damien O’Meara and Damien O’Reilly, begins at 2am on Saturday 9 August and broadcasts until 5.30am each night of the Games. Olympics programming will also be repeated on RTÉ Radio 1’s trial DAB service, RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, and on LW 252.
From Friday 15 August, Des Cahill will present a special weekday show, Beijing ’08, from 12noon to 3pm on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and LW 252. Drivetime Sport with Des Cahill (weekdays, 6.30pm to 7pm) will have all the latest news from Beijing and regular weekend sports programmes Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport will include Olympics features and interviews from Siobhan Madigan and Damien O’Reilly.
The Mooney Show (3pm, Friday 8 August) will feature the official Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and there will be further Olympics updates every day at 11am on Today with Pat Kenny, at 3.30pm on The Mooney Show and during hourly news bulletins.
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Mártan Ó Ciardha and Gearóid Mac Donncha will report live from Beijing each day with commentary, analysis and comprehensive reporting from all the main events of interest to Irish listeners. At weekends, there will be more interviews and sports packages on Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae.
On RTÉ lyric fm, George Hamilton will host a special two hour edition of The Hamilton Scores at 10.30am on Saturday 9 August as the world's greatest sporting festival gets under way. RTÉ 2fm will also keep listeners regularly updated with the latest Olympics news with its hourly sports bulletins.
From the unique spectacle of the opening ceremony on Friday 8 August to the closing day on Sunday 24 August, RTÉ Television, RTÉ Radio, and RTÉ.ie will capture all the action as the drama unfolds at the 29th modern Olympiad.
