The BBC is to broadcast more than 300 hours of live coverage across BBC One and BBC Two of the upcoming Winter Olympics, with more coverage available on a second live digital stream on BBC iPlayer, Red Button and the BBC Sport website.
Live coverage will be led by Hazel Irvine, Jeanette Kwakye, Ayo Akinwolere and JJ Chalmers from Friday 4 February. Clare Balding will bring viewers a daily highlights show on BBC Two, and Aimee Fuller will present BBC Three ‘Extra’ – a daily one-hour show with extended highlights.
The team will be accompanied by an expert line up of former Olympians and international Winter sports athletes to offer insight and analysis of all the daily events over the 16-day duration of the Winter Games.
Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport said: “We are delighted to bring audiences the very best action and medal moments from Beijing. Our expert line-up of international winter sport stars, combined with our round-the-clock coverage, will ensure that the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games take pride of place in an already mouth-watering sporting year.”
The BBC will show live coverage and highlights of all the major events across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, Red Button and the BBC Sport website throughout the Winter Games.
A virtual-reality studio, based at Media City UK, will provide a ski lodge setting to bring viewers their favourite events, must-see moments and live reports from the host city.
Daily coverage will begin on BBC One from midnight until 6am (UK time) as Ayo Akinwolere presents the overnight action. Welcoming viewers from 6am until 9am on BBC Two, Jeanette Kwakye will take over to bring the latest live events from the slopes and arenas.
From 9.15am-12pm on BBC One Hazel Irvine leads the coverage, before JJ Chalmers takes over at 3pm on BBC Two to show extended replays of the action.
Clare Balding will present Today At The Games every night on BBC Two at 7pm to bring the best of the day’s action, before coverage switches to BBC Three at 8pm, where Aimee Fuller presents extended highlights from some of the day’s most exciting events.
A second live stream will be available on BBC iPlayer, Red Button and the BBC Sport website, to bring even more unmissable moments and complete the round-the-clock offering. Viewers watching live programmes on BBC iPlayer can make use of the live restart function to watch events from the beginning.
From the Salford based studio a range of guests and experts will offer their analysis including the most successful British Winter Olympian and most successful Olympic skeleton athlete of all time, Lizzy Yarnold; Olympic short track speed skater and 10-time British Champion Sarah Lindsay; figure skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean; Graham Bell and Chemmy Alcott.
A host of world-class athletes will be on hand to provide commentary including figure skating Olympic gold medallist Robin Cousins, ex-World Champion speed skater Wilf O’Reilly, Olympic bobsleigh medallist John Jackson and curling Olympic gold medallist Rhona Howie and World Champion Jackie Lockhart.
Reporters Jenny Jones, Matthew Pinsent and Sarah Mulkerrins will also be live from Beijing.
Ahead of the main event starting, BBC iPlayer launches Free Spirits on Tuesday 1 February. This special documentary follows a group of Team GB freestyle skiers and snowboarders around the world as they prepare for the biggest sporting event of their lives.
Jon Creamer
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