Channel 4 to mark Two Years to Go to London Paralympic Games
Inside Incredible Athletes
Channel 4 will mark ‘two years to go’ to the opening of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London with a weekend of programming dedicated to Paralympic sport.
The August Bank Holiday weekend will see Channel 4’s first raft of special programming hitting screens, including Inside Incredible Athletes – a documentary profiling seven athletes who hope to represent ParalympicsGB in 2012. Featuring stunning sporting performance sequences filmed against a backdrop of iconic locations around London, the documentary aims to showing Paralympic sport as it has never been seen before.
The weekend also sees the launch of That Paralympic Show, a sports magazine series that, for 10 Saturdays, will present interviews and items on all things Paralympic, alongside highlights from the IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven. Supporting this diverse range of programming, T4 will be based next to the ParalympicsGB Training Camp for the entire weekend – featuring live music, features, and interviews with Paralympic athletes, who will be dropping by in between their arduous training sessions.
The weekend also marks the launch of the channel’s nationwide search for disabled talent. Working closely with Sunset & Vine and IMG Sports Media, Channel 4 will trawl the country to identify disabled sports reporters and commentators to be part of the team covering the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Having committed £500,000 to training disabled presenting talent over the next two years, the search will be echoed by Channel 4’s dedicated website, www.channel4.com/paralympics.
Channel 4 has also confirmed it has commissioned a landmark 10-part documentary series, to be broadcast in 2011, following disabled sportsmen and women as they battle to be part of London 2012.
Channel 4’s Acting Chief Creative Officer, Julian Bellamy, said: “The London 2012 Paralympic Games promises to be one of the most exhilarating sporting events ever broadcast and we want our viewers to feel part of this incredible spectacle. Too often the Paralympic Games has been made to feel like an after-thought and we are determined to change this. By broadcasting peak-time programming produced in an innovative, thought-provoking and entertaining way over the next two years, we believe we can really engage the public in Paralympic sport and give ParalympicsGB the attention and credibility they deserve.”
