First Dates star Fred Sirieix will join BBC presenters for Olympic coverage
First Dates star Fred Sirieix will join BBC presenters for their coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant, whose daughter, Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, is a diver at the games for Team GB, will be part of the studio line-up to comment on the games.
Presenting the corporation’s TV coverage will be Clare Balding, Gabby Logan, Hazel Irvine, Isa Guha, Jeanette Kwakye, JJ Chalmers, and Mark Chapman.
The UK’s most decorated female Olympian, Laura Kenny, British long jumper Jazmin Sawyers, Olympic gold medallist Moe Sbihi, and Olympic bronze medallist Vicky Holland are among joining the guest line-up.
Gabby Logan will present evening coverage of the games
Former gymnast Beth Tweddle, former cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, former track and field athlete Dame Denise Lewis, retired heptathlete Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, four-time US gold medallist Michael Johnson, and former swimmer Rebecca Adlington will also share their analysis and expertise.
Adrian Chiles, Eleanor Oldroyd, Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman, Naga Munchetty, and Tony Livesey, will lead BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage.
The BBC will provide live TV coverage of all 32 events at the games on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, with a nightly highlights programme recapping the action from each day.
Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, said: “For the first time since London 2012 we have an Olympic Games taking place in a European time zone, which is really exciting for UK audiences.
“People can tune in to live coverage morning, noon and night, following all the biggest sporting moments as they happen.
“We are broadcasting hundreds of hours of coverage on free-to-air platforms and our two carefully curated live feeds, and covering all the big stories online, across social media and radio, meaning audiences can keep up to date with all the best of British sporting stories by simply sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the sport.”
Coverage will begin with the opening ceremony at 6.30pm on Friday, July 26, on BBC One, during which each country will arrive on Paris’s River Seine.
Live sports coverage will then begin at 8am on Saturday, July 27, on BBC One, with Jeanette Kwakye and JJ Chalmers hosting from the broadcaster’s central Paris studio in the morning, before Hazel Irvine picks up proceedings at 1pm on BBC Two, and action returns to BBC One at 2pm, after the News at One.
Evenings will be hosted by Clare Balding and Gabby Logan, with Balding reporting live from the swimming events, before Logan presents the athletics.
Logan said: “Paris has got exceptional venues. In a city which loves to show off its spectacular beauty, it’s going to be a visually stunning Games, and for the tourist an amazing experience.
“For us in the UK, being only an hour ahead will feel like a home games.”
Mark Chapman and Isa Guha will present the Tonight At The Games highlights programme from 10. 40pm until midnight on BBC One.
BBC Radio 5 Live will provide 12 hours of consecutive Olympics coverage each day from 10am to 10pm.