Samsung Electronics, a global Olympic and Paralympic partner, announced today its plans alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) to revolutionize the broadcasting experience of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for viewers and fans. Groundbreaking and unprecedented images, captured and shared with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, will play an integral role in opening the historic opening ceremony on the Seine River and the sailing competitions of the Olympic Games like never before.
As the official partner for smartphones and computing equipment of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Samsung will leverage its advanced mobile technology and 5G connectivity to provide a closer perspective of these iconic moments of celebration and competition. This new view, powered by Samsung Galaxy innovation, will not only help Paris 2024 fulfill its promise to be the most open Games in history, but will also solidify Samsung’s legacy of innovation in support of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“In an increasingly connected society, Samsung Galaxy mobile technology has helped deepen and transform users’ relationships with the world, wherever they may be. Having been a global partner for nearly three decades, we understand firsthand how important it is to create and enable the same meaningful connections at the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Stephanie Choi, EVP and Head of Marketing for Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “We are honored to work closely with the IOC and OBS to provide high-quality images that will be part of a series of firsts at Paris 2024 and bring fans at home and on-site even closer to the excitement.”
Approximately one month from now, the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games will be held outside of a stadium for the first time in history. At Paris 2024, 10,500 athletes will parade downstream on the Seine in boats designated for each national delegation, in what aims to be the most open and accessible opening ceremony in history. Starting from the Austerlitz bridge, the iconic parade will follow a six-kilometer route through the center of Paris, passing by some of the official Olympic sites before culminating at Trocadéro.
To bring fans at home closer to the action and provide an intimate view of the athletes’ reactions during this once-in-a-lifetime journey, Samsung will install over 200 Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphones on the bow and sides of each of the 85 athlete boats in the opening ceremony. High-quality HDR images taken with the Galaxy S24 Ultra devices will be shared and transmitted through a private 5G network powered by Orange, the official mobile network provider for Paris 2024 in France. Orange will install over a dozen 5G antennas along the Seine to create the first standalone 5G network in France, as this pioneering collaboration is designed to ensure 5G connectivity and a seamless viewing experience for fans worldwide.
Samsung will also deploy the same technology for the sailing competitions in Marseille by installing the Galaxy S24 Ultra on each competition boat, allowing fans to experience the thrill of the race alongside their favorite Olympic athletes and truly immerse themselves in the action.
This presented an entirely new set of challenges and months of research, development, and testing, in close collaboration with OBS and Orange, to ensure video quality and connectivity performance across different bodies of water and weather conditions, which can be very windy with large waves or extremely hot and sunny. Samsung and its partners addressed these challenges by leveraging the optical image stabilization (OIS) features of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, increasing transmission power, and installing repeater towers on chase boats to ensure a smooth live streaming experience for viewers.
“As the host broadcaster of the Olympic Games, we are incredibly excited about this partnership with Samsung, which will enable a truly original perspective of Paris 2024, evolving how fans will experience the Games,” said Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of OBS. “Samsung’s latest mobile innovation will allow millions of fans around the world to live and breathe the spirit, action, and excitement of the Opening Ceremony and sailing competitions alongside their favorite athletes in real time.”
This announcement marks the next stage of Samsung’s long-term commitment, in close collaboration with the IOC, to drive digital transformation and deliver cutting-edge technology at the Games by opening the latest mobile innovations to athletes, fans, and communities alike. This originated with the first ‘Call Home’ program that allowed nearly 2,500 athletes to talk to their families at home for free in 1998, when access to mobile phones was limited. It continued with the Wireless Olympic Works (WOW) app, the first official Olympic information service on mobile. The WOW app was introduced to Olympic organizers through Palm OS phones supplied by Samsung at Athens 2004 and then made available to the public at Vancouver 2010, providing fans with the latest updates from the Games directly on their mobile phones.
In addition to driving mobile innovation, Samsung has also contributed to how athletes and staff connect and communicate during the Games. Since Nagano 1998, Samsung has provided athletes and staff with a total of over 120,000 mobile products.
Details on how Samsung will further leverage its technological capabilities to bring fans closer to the athletes, in another Olympic first, will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Samsung has been a global Olympic partner since the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics. For over 25 years, athletes and fans have relied on Samsung’s transformative mobile technology to share the Olympic spirit globally and continue shaping the digital future of the Olympic Games for Paris 2024 and beyond. The company’s commitment to the Olympic Movement will soon reach its fourth decade of partnership and extend to Los Angeles 2028. Samsung’s intentional innovations in wireless communications and computing equipment, including those featuring artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and 5G, will change the way the world experiences the Olympic Games.
Samsung is a global partner of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in the category of wireless communications and computing equipment. Since the Turin 2006 Paralympic Games, the company has proudly supported the Paralympic Movement and enabled athletes and fans around the world to share the excitement and inspiration of the Games through Samsung’s transformative mobile technology. Samsung’s commitment to the Paralympic Games will extend to Los Angeles 2028 and will be celebrated through innovative mobile and computing experiences driven by intentional innovations in the wireless communications and computing equipment category, including those featuring artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and 5G.
via: MiMub in Spanish
