AFP in the news
Olympics: special AFP coverage of this summer’s major sports event
Sports, a strategic priority, are being featured at AFP all summer. Beginning long before the start of the events, AFP has been on the ground since London was named in 2005 to hold this year’s Olympic Games to monitor preparations.
AFP is sending 180 journalists to the Olympics in the British capital to provide comprehensive coverage of all the action and behind-the-scenes news.
With more than 1,000 videos in six languages, the coverage will call on a dozen teams of video reporters assigned to cover the build-up to the Games as well as the personalities involved. In addition, clients will receive daily schedules of all our coverage and comprehensive round-ups of all the day's events.
In photos, 70 AFP photographers from 24 countries around the world are flying in to provide up to 2,000 photos a day, while an unprecedented technical infrastructure has been put in place to ensure clients can access photos practically in real time. For example, a dozen remote-controlled cameras have been positioned at the bottom of the Olympics swimming pool and in the rafters to give a whole new perspective on one of the most-watched events at the Games.
In text, we will transmit between 400 to 500 stories a day in six languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish), using an expert team of reporters to provide insight and analysis of all events as well as the athletes themselves.
Web and mobile clients will monitor events in real time, with daily Live Reports in both English and French. The opening ceremony will also be covered by a Live Report in Spanish. "Rich media" articles, comprising weblinks and videos as well as Games-dedicated content, have been designed to enhance Online News content.
AFP Graphics will at the same time provide the results, key moments, winners and the overall medal table.
In addition, blogs focusing exclusively on the Games will be updated by AFP staff on the ground and offices around the world. To familiarise the public with the Olympic City, its daring architecture, its ethnic diversity, its 1,001 green spaces, its sometimes chaotic public transport and its never-ending artistic creativity, … the web documentary “London etc.”, produced by AFP’s London office, is now accessible on the Agency’s site.
Finally, AFP is launching AFP Olympics 2012, an iPhone and iPad application for live coverage of events throughout the Games. In particular a selection of articles illustrated with videos and photos, the latest results, the schedule of events and the medals table will be offered.