One year until London 2012 Summer Games
Posted July 27, 2011 6:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LONDON (NEWS1130) – The countdown is on to London 2012; it’s exactly one year until the Summer Games kick off.
News1130 is the official radio station of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Canada is coming off a high at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, with a record 14 gold medals, and now looking ahead to next summer. Scott Moore, president of Rogers Broadcasting and Olympic broadcasting veteran, tells News1130 there are a lot of athletes that will make this country proud.
“I think about Clara Hughes as a great story… with one more medal will become the most decorated Canadian Olympian and the only Canadian Olympian to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Games,” Moore explains.
Canada received 18 medals at the last Summer Olympics in Beijing, so says it should be interesting to see what Canadians accomplish this time.
“There’s going to be a story out there that captures the imagination of Canadian sport and they’ll step up and it will be their shining moment, and that’s what we’re looking forward to covering,” Sportsnet’s Rob Faulds tells us. He will be doing the play-by-play for some major events like rowing, kayaking, and canoeing.
When it comes to the broadcasting, Moore says there will be a total of 5,000 hours of coverage across multiple platforms.
“I think tablets are going to be a really interesting addition, especially in the summer, when they’re out in their garden or on the patio, or maybe at the bar, can just sit and watch it on their tablet and watch almost any competition they want.”
He also believes that there is a bit of an Olympic hangover from the 2010 Games in Vancouver last year and Canadians will be paying close attention when our athletes head to London.
“There’s more interest in high-performance sport than there probably has been going into any summer Olympic Games. These are different games than Winter Games, obviously. There’s not the focus on hockey. There will be a lot of different sports for people to watch.”
Canada’s medal count next year
When it comes hardware, Own The Podium is setting a goal of 24 medals. Moore says that is six more than we took home in Beijing and taking home that many would be a tremendous accomplishment and put us amongst the top ten in the world.
News1130 spoke live with three time Olympic medalist Emilie Heymans. She says if you have Olympic hopefuls in your house, make sure they really want to do focus on their sport.
“I think the first thing is that you need to enjoy it; enjoy what you do because it’s really hard to put that much time and effort if you don’t like it.”
Heymans is among our medal hopefuls, aiming for a gold in three metre synchronized diving.
There’s lots of excitement happening in London today, including a massive celebration in Trafalgar Square, where International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge will invite the world to attend the Summer Games.
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