BBC 5 Live Gets Radio Rights To 2012 Paralympics
BBC Radio 5 live and its sister station 5 live sports extra have been awarded radio rights for the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
The event takes place from 29 August (17 days after the Olympics close) to 9 September and will include 20 sports.
Twenty-five hours of programmes and news from the London Games will be broadcast on 5 live, with commentary and analysis on 5 live sports extra.
Boss Adrian Van Klaveren said the Games will generate “unprecedented interest”.
He added: “We’re committed to bringing our listeners all of the sporting stories, capturing the human drama and raising awareness of Paralympic sport.”
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Radio 5 live is a brilliant sports broadcaster and a perfect radio partner
Lord Sebastian Coe
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Britain is recognised as the birthplace of the Paralympics after Sir Ludwig Gutteman devised idea of an event for injured war veterans in Stoke Mandeville in 1948.
The first Paralympic Games was held in Rome in 1960 and since then Britain has been one of the leading nations in disability sport.
GB finished second behind China in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics medal table, winning 102 medals, including 42 golds.
Last year Channel 4 were awarded the UK television rights for the Games.
London organising committee chairman Lord Sebastian Coe said: “The BBC has been a great champion of the Paralympic movement, and many of our iconic sporting memories are from the BBC’s radio coverage of the world’s biggest sporting events.
“Radio 5 live is a brilliant sports broadcaster and a perfect radio partner. “
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