For the first time in its 37-year history, ESPN’s signature news and information program SportsCenter will originate full live programs from the site of an Olympic Games with five shows airing Aug. 8-12, the first full week of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
SportsCenter Face to Face with anchor Hannah Storm will air each day at 10 a.m. ET from a set located across the street from Barra Olympic Park, the heart of the Rio 2016 Games. The one-hour programs will feature interviews with athletes and other newsmakers.
“I’m so thrilled to broadcast from the Rio Olympics,” Storm said. “When I started out my career, one of my main goals was to broadcast an Olympic Games, and this will be my fifth overall, but first since Sydney in 2002. There’s nothing like an Olympics with the stories, the spectacle, the world coming together in one place, and the pride and the pressure of competing in what many cases is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Among the “Face to Face” interviews scheduled to air during the week:
Carmelo Anthony – The NBA star discusses becoming the face and voice of social action and what he feels an Olympic gold would mean in that context.
Katie Ledecky – The gold medalist swimmer on her heritage and swimming for her grandfathers, beating men at practice and her unique attacking style in the pool.
Bubba Watson – Two-time Masters champion tells why he chose to participate in the return of golf to the Olympics when many other stars of the sport did not.
Carli Lloyd – Now co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, Lloyd talks about her secret life at the London Olympics, where she started on the bench, and how she’s motivated by being largely unrecognized until the last World Cup.
Storm also will interview swimmers Maya DiRado, David Plummer, Simone Manuel and Nathan Adrian; soccer star Alex Morgan from the USWNT; and player Kyrie Irving and coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Monty Williams from the U.S. men’s basketball team, among others.
In addition to the five live editions, SportsCenter will have daily onsite reporting from Rio with anchor/reporter Michael Eaves and reporters Mark Schwarz and T.J. Quinn. Reporters and analysts from ESPN.com, espnW.com, TheUndefeated.com and ESPN International also will contribute.