As all eyes turn to Rio and the 2016 Olympic Games, BBC World News and BBC.com/sport have announced a raft of dedicated programmes and special digital initiatives to bring global audiences an in-depth view of the city, the athletes and the Games themselves. With dedicated programming documenting the lives of the people in Rio and the hopeful athletes, as well as expert news and analysis live from Rio throughout the games, BBC World News is offering a comprehensive view of this global event.
For the first time, BBC World News has gained access to refugees who are hoping to be selected for the newly formed team of Refugee Olympic Athletes (ROA). With behind the scenes access to training sessions, refugee camps, favelas and the athletes themselves, Team Refugee tells the personal stories of several athletes who fled the horrors of war and now hope to be on a world stage competing as an Olympic athlete.
Further BBC World News programming discovers the stories behind the Games and unearths some of the hidden secrets of Rio. From Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls living in Rio’s favelas to inspirational stories of how sport has changed the lives of some of Brazil’s real-life heroes, and from the unique tales and history of the city, to examining the key moments which helped shape the Olympic Games into a global phenomenon – BBC World News and BBC.com delve beyond the sporting events and into the people, history and culture behind Rio 2016.
Chris Mitchell will also be reporting live from Rio for Sport Today and Babita Sharma will be covering all the news from the Games for BBC World News.
In addition BBC Sport’s digital Olympics service will bring comprehensive coverage of the games in Brazil. Fans can follow the action with in-depth news and analysis from BBC Sport experts and pundits on the BBC.com/sport live text pages. There will also be an online medal table updated in real time as well as results and schedules for every event on the BBC Sport website and mobile app.
Global audiences can personalise their digital Olympics service. Users of the BBC Sport app will be able to add ‘Rio 2016’ and their favourite Olympic sport to their My Sport page, placing their Olympic interests alongside their current selections.
Notifications and reminders will also ensure that fans don’t miss the latest news, or forget their favourite event as they will be able to set reminders for over 100 events taking place every day. They can also set gold, silver and bronze medal alerts for all countries taking part in the Rio Olympics and Sports News Alerts will ensure that fans don’t miss breaking news stories and key highlights from across Brazil.
Users can also catch up on all of the news on the nations and sports that matter most in one place using the ‘My Sport’ section of BBC.com/sport and the BBC Sport app.
Social media users will be able to experience exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the Games via BBC Sport’s social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Instagram.
In partnership with the World Service, live reporting of the Olympics will also be available via BBC Russian and BBC Brasil (in Portuguese).
Programme Information
Hidden Rio
In the run-up to the Olympics, Hidden Rio, presented by Rodrigo Pinto from BBC Brasil, explores some of the unique tales of locals living in Rio de Janeiro. These extraordinary stories reveal another side of Rio and touch on the city’s ancestral roots, samba, geology, art, social protests and inequality. The stories include those of a former slave refuge in Rio’s richest area where descendants still live, and a town in the mountains that was founded by Finnish migrants where Father Christmas is out all year round, temperatures fall below zero – and it snows!
TX: BBC World News, 0130, 0830 GMT, July 16 2016
BBC World News, 1430, 2030 GMT, July 17 2016
BBC World News, 0930 GMT, July 18 2016
Favela Athletes
All over the world athletes are stepping up their training in a bid to represent their country in one of the most revered sporting competitions on the planet: The Olympic Games. As all eyes turn to Rio, this programme follows three young Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls on their journey from their homes in the Rio favelas to the moment of ‘selection’. For 17 year old diver Giovanna, 13 year old gymnast Ana Carolina and 28 year old Paralympian high jumper Jorge, the moment of truth has almost come. Will their dreams of sporting glory come true?
TX: BBC World News, 0130, 0830, GMT, July 23 2016
BBC World News, 1430, 2030 GMT, July 24 2016
BBC World News, 0930 GMT, July 26 2016
Team Refugee
For the first time, refugees around the world are in training hoping to compete in the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes (ROA), newly formed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). From fleeing the horrors of war and seeking refuge, to being on a world stage competing as an Olympic champion; BBC World News and BBC.com are charting the dramatic changes in circumstances of a group of incredible athletes.
Team Refugee follows Syrian teenager Yusra Mardini who fled the country’s civil war and is now in Germany hoping to swim for the ROA. It also examines the stories of Popole Misenga and Yolande Mabika who escaped from the DRC and made a bid for asylum in Brazil during the 2013 World Judo Championships in Rio. They are now living in the Rio slums but train every day with the help of the Brazilian National Olympic Committee (NOC). And in Kenya, the programme follows a group of athletic competitors from the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps. Somalia-born Mohamed Daud Abubaker and South Sudanese refugees Garkouth Puok Thiep, Angelina Ndai and Rebecca Nyamal are all hoping to qualify in long distance running for the IOC’s Olympic Refugee Team and make it to Rio this August.
TX: BBC World News, 0130, 0830 GMT, July 30 2016
BBC World News, 1430, 2030 GMT, July 31 2016
BBC World News, 0930 GMT, August 02 2016
Witness
In a special sport episode, Witness looks back at five key moments in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The programme meets Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian who charmed the world by scoring the first ‘perfect 10’ in gymnastics and Derek Redmond, the British runner who reduced the world to tears when injury forced him to hobble to the finish line with his father. Witness also travels to Kenya to meet blind Paralympian, Henry Wanyoike, who set world records which still stand to this day and became a well-known disability rights campaigner. In East Timor, the team meets a policewoman who made it to the Olympics even though her home had been torched by Indonesian troops. And, finally, British archer Margaret Maughan looks back to the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, when the organisers were still trying to work out how to host a sporting event for disabled athletes.
TX: BBC World News, 0230, 1730, 2330 GMT, July 30 2016
BBC World News, 1030 GMT, July 31 2016
BBC World News, 0930 GMT, August 04 2016
Heroes
In the run-up to the Olympics, BBC World News explores the amazing stories of five real-life heroes. This programme, presented by BBC Brasil’s Silvia Salek, tells the stories of five exceptional individuals who overcame great obstacles in their lives through sport and now use it to help people living in some of the poorest and most violent places in Brazil. Heroes includes stories from a skateboarder, a runner, a sailor, a golfer and a badminton coach. Their work is helping to tackle Brazil’s most pervasive problem: the country is still one of the most unequal in the world.
TX: BBC World News, 0130, 0830 GMT, August 06 2016
BBC World News, 1430, 2030 GMT, August 07 2016
BBC World News, 0930 GMT, August 09 2016