Come February 7, the once little known resort town of Sochi, Russia, will be home to the world’s top winter sports athletes competing for Olympic Gold at the XXII Winter Olympic Games. With an unpredictable Putin at the helm, a nationwide ban on the LBGT community and recent terror attacks in Russia, the world will have an even closer eye on all things Sochi.
The once every four year winter sports enthusiast will no doubt be watching their appointed broadcaster but the true Winter Olympic tragic will also be scouring the internet, social media and smart phone apps to get the full experience.
The IOC have created The Olympic Athlete’s Hub app for mobile devices and an aggregate feed of over five thousand athletes and their Facebook, twitter and instagram feeds. Search by country, team and sport and gain immediate access to relevant social media networks and start following your favourites. The app also allows fans to post to athletes social feeds and once the games commence live chats will also be broadcast from the Athlete’s Village.
If you’re in the USA then NBC will stream over a thousand hours of footage on Facebook. Check out the NBCOlympics.com homepage for more information.
In the UK the BBC continue on from the success of their London interactive coverage with online coverage via the BBC iPlayer. The Winter Olympics Live page will feature coverage via video, audio, stills, social media, on demand and more. They will also be offering news and coverage via the BBC Sport App for mobiles and tablets.
In Australia the TEN Network will offer streaming and broadcast online via tenplay.com.au and the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia and Ski and Snowboard Australia Facebook pages will also offer links to up to date information direct from the games. The Australian Olympic Team have also creed a Sochi Winter Watch Twitter list worth following of athletes and media associated with winter sports.
This year will be the first year that ski slopestyle, ski halfpipe, snowboard slope style and snowboard parallel slalom will be included at the Winter Olympic Games. Follow global commentary at Freeskier.com, Powder Magazine and ESPN as well as Snowboardermag.com. Try the FIS Freestyle skiing and FIS Snowboard Facebook pages too.
How, what and where will you be watching or following the Sochi Winter Olympics online, in person, via social media and more? What are your favourite websites and social media accounts for the Olympics?
Photo credit: Love the ski boot decal? Buy it on etsy
Lame sauce for Aussies. I’m sure Channel 10’s coverage will be pretty poor……and nothing in comparison to NBC.
Presuming that indeed it will be dud coverage within Australia, what’s the best way to get coverage of the events that are not screened locally? Any streaming sources or alternatives with region changing services?