Buckle up your soft furnishings and apply for a new sofa pass, because television is about to get pretty sporty once again this summer. To ease you into it gently, here are all the details for the UK TV coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, so you can start to make preparations for the relentless onslaught. Luckily, it’s not a difficult one to follow; all you really need to do is take as much time off work as possible (leg operations, maternity leave and joining the circus are among the best excuses we’ve heard recently), put the kettle on and forget about leaving the house, because there’s going to be more coverage on the BBC than Michael McIntyre’s floppy little quiff.
For anyone not up on their Olympic planning just yet, the 2016 Summer Games will be taking place from the opening ceremony on the 5th August until the closing ceremony on the 21st, with both samba-infused events covered in full on the Beeb. You’ll have the opportunity to watch a combined 3,000-hours of live sporting action across television, radio and online courtesy of good old mum, with 550 hours of that going out directly on BBC 1 and BBC 4.
If you followed the Rio World Cup a couple of years back then you’ll probably know this already, but the time difference between the UK and Brazil is 4 hours behind. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that by watching the Olympics you’re tapping into some kind of odd time machine through your telly, it does mean that you’re going to need to plan things a little better to make sure you don’t miss the action. It also means that everything will be happening a fair bit later when televised in the UK, so if you are working over the summer, which we’re assuming is the sad reality for the majority of people, then you might find it difficult to stay up late to watch some of the sporting action live. Check out the TV scheduling details below to help you plan ahead.
In addition to the standard coverage, there will also be up to 24 live HD video streams operating at any one time to give you the opportunity to choose what portions of Rio 2016 to watch. You’ll be able to watch these on mobile and tablet devices, desktop and laptop computers, smart TVs and gaming consoles, so if anything you’ll probably struggle to miss it.
Having done an incredible job with the the London 2012 Olympic Games, the BBC are clearly going to town this time around to maintain the Olympic spirit momentum that London sparked so well. It’s essentially delivering total coverage of the huge sporting event with 17 days of relentless Olympic competition, so if you’re not a fan you might want to schedule a technology free holiday to a Yurt in Outer Mongolia to get away from it all (luckily wild horse milking and arid mud wrestling don’t count as Olympic events, so you should be safe).
BBC TV team for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
As you can see from the pic above, the BBC team covering the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be led by the unflappable and lovely Clare Balding, who, if anything, is getting a little bit fitter with each passing tournament. What she’s been doing to her skin, we’re not too sure, and perhaps don’t want to know, but it is radiant. She’s like a golden TV goddess with an elfin flick. Fwoar!
She’ll be joined by Hazel Irvine, Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Jason Mohammad on the TV professionals side of the fence, and Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Chris Hoy, Michael Johnson, Denise Lewis, Sir Clive Woodward, Victoria Pendleton, Beth Tweddle, Rebecca Adlington, Darren Campbell and IBF world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
The worst news for us though is that the one-man Muppet Show that is John Inverdale is also getting a look in this year, so we’ll have to put up with his cringe-inducing tosh once again. It’s like he’s got a ball bag for a uvula (the dangly thing at the back of your throat) and can’t stop himself from saying things that sound just a little bit scrotal. He’s been doing it throughout the French Open, so it’s a shame we’ll have to make it through Rio with his steaming pile of nonsense. It would have been better all round if the BBC had done the kind thing and locked him in the Broom Cupboard throughout the summer with Ed The Duck and Gordon The Gopher for company, for surely only they can do something to bring a little cheer to his soulless, disinterested peepers.
How to keep up with the Olympic Games scheduling
With so much sport, punditry, commentary and hopefully a few new athletic celebrations to add to the Mobot and the Lightning Bolt, it’s not going to be easy keeping up with everything that’s going on, especially with the time difference between the UK and Brazil. Luckily, the official bods at the Olympics have been kind enough to put together a very easy 1-page PDF schedule for all of the events, so you should be able to see what’s happening when on a day-to-day basis pretty easily.
Coverage on BBC 1:
06:00-09:15 – BBC Breakfast will be going Olympics mad during the event
13:00-19:00 – with Hazel Irvine
19:00-00:00 – with Clare Balding / Mark Chapman
00:00-04:00 – with Jason Mohammad
Coverage on BBC 2:
09:15-13:00 – Replay of the best of the overnight action
Coverage on BBC 4 and BBC 4 HD:
13:00-18:00 – Ore Oduba
18:00-01:00 – Dan Walker
01:00-04:00 – live action
Fortunately, the BBC will also have all of the highlights available on their website throughout the Games, so if you miss anything big live you should be able to catch up pretty easily. You’ll also be able to visit the BBC’s Rio 2016 section to keep up-to-date with what’s on when, as well as finding out much more about the athletes, sporting events and debate relating to the 2016 Olympic Games. It doesn’t have a forward looking schedule at the time of writing, but it will do by the time everything kicks off on the 5th August.
Other ways to get involved in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games action
If watching the Games on th’telly isn’t quite enough action for you, there are a few options available to you to increase your quota of Olympic glory. By far the easiest option is to pick up the official computer game for event – Mario And Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games on the Nintendo Wii U. While previous years have also featured more lifelike computer games too, Rio will only have Mario and Sonic, so you might want to power up some gold stars while you’re doing your pre-Games stretches.
In addition to the main coverage on the BBC, it will also be producing a number of special programmes linked with Rio 2016. This will include Mo, a 1-hour BBC 1 feature on Mo Farah, providing a unique insight into the life and training regime of the Olympic champion. Another one to watch will be One Night In 2012, an Imagine special, which will see Danny Boyle going into the detail, thought process and creation of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony. There will also be a series of BBC Sport specials to focus on the 2016 Team GB hopefuls and what makes them tick, so you should get a chance to find out more about the athletes that will be making a name for themselves at Rio.
Rio 2016 Paralympics coverage
The good news is that it’s not just the Olympics that will be gracing our telly boxes over the next few months, because Channel 4 has picked up the coverage rights for the Rio 2016 Paralympics again for the UK. In a move of equal genius to the BBC, Channel 4 have also coaxed Clare Balding over to head up the coverage and she’ll be joined by RJ Mitte of Breaking Bad fame.
Live coverage will air on Channel 4 from the 7th September 2016, running through until the closing ceremony on the 18th September. It will also see the return of The Last Leg Live, so you’ll also get more irreverent conversation and humour from Adam Hill, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker. You can keep up-to-date with all of the pre-Games prep with the Channel 4 Rio 2016 section.
