Olympic Dreams 2008
By Tessa Livingstone, Executive Producer, Olympic Dreams
The BBC has now launched its long-term documentary project that is following athletes right up to the London Olympics in 2012.
The first TV series ran daily on BBC Two from 17 to 21 December 2007. Observational in style, it used interviews and video diaries to provide an intimate insight into each athlete's Olympic hopes, featuring hopefuls from cycling, diving, athletics, rowing, Paralympic dressage, gymnastics and table tennis. The series was narrated by Chris Hollins, the sports correspondent for BBC Breakfast.
A mini-site on bbc.co.uk/olympics will continue to support the series before, during and after transmission, and the featured athletes will add content in the form of blogs, video and photo diaries in the run-up to Beijing, giving the project a more permanent life online.
For 2008, a further four-part series will be aired on BBC One in the lead-up to the Beijing Games. As well as catching up with all the athletes from the 2007 series, the audience will be introduced to hopefuls from several more sports.
Over the coming years, Olympic Dreams will continue to follow a host of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls from the UK teams on their path to the London Games and will help to tell their sometimes extraordinary personal stories. The project has support from areas across the BBC, including Breakfast and Children's, and will stay at the heart of a pan-BBC initiative, celebrating what will no doubt be one of the UK's defining moments in sporting history.
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