Time to fire up the remote control for the Olympic Games

Extensive TV coverage ready to cater for Olympic fever in Ireland

RTÉ presenters Peter Collins, Evanne Ní Chuilinn, Joanne Cantwel and Darragh Maloney pictured in studio ahead of RTÉ's coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Pic: Marc O'Sullivan

IF Euro 2024 and the All-Ireland finals haven't left you exhausted, there's another Olympian tv challenge coming your way - our own RTÉ alone will have over 250 hours of live Paris coverage during the 19 days of competition.

Logistically, the Olympic Games is amongst the toughest to cover for the media, with venues and events flung far and wide - literally in the case of the XXXIII games with the surfing taking place in Tahiti!

There will be three daily programmes on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Evanne Ní Chuilinn will present Paris Olympics 2024: AM each morning. Peter Collins will be in the hot seat in the afternoons while Darragh Maloney and the ubiquitous Joanne Cantwell will present Paris Olympics 2024: Tonight. Coverage will begin around 9am each day (earlier on some days) and continue until 10.30pm.

Though the opening ceremony does not take place until Friday, RTÉ's coverage gets underway on Wednesday when the men's rugby sevens tournament kicks off. Ireland play South Africa at 4:30pm and Japan at 8pm. Both games will be shown live.

As they were for the recent European Championships in Rome, Derval O’Rourke, Rob Heffernan and Sonia O’Sullivan - holders of four World Championship medals and two Olympic medals between them - will be the athletics analysts. The rapport between the three Cork natives, along with their love for track and field, is strong, making for informative and absorbing television when the cameras turn back to the studio.

When attention turns to the pool, two Olympians - Andrew Bree, who competed at Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008, and Gráinne Murphy, who swam at London 2012 - will be the studio guides.

Boxing has always been one of Ireland's Olympic strengths. Montrose has 2008 silver medallist Kenny Egan and former world champion Bernard Dunne analysing every blow landed and taken by our 10 boxers. Dunne previously served as the IABA's high performance director and has just stepped down from a similar role with the Indian federation.

Maireád Kavanagh will be in the studio to offer her expert view on gymnastics. The Cork native was a judge eight years ago in Rio de Janeiro. Three-time Olympian Scott Evans, who became the first Irishman to represent Ireland in badminton at the Beijing Games, will be giving his view of the action on the court. Annalise Murphy, a silver medallist in laser radial at the 2016 Olympics, will be analysing the sailing which takes place in Marseille.

“Rarely from an Irish perspective have we had such a level of anticipation and expectation heading into an Olympic games," said RTÉ head of sport Declan McBennett.

"RTÉ Sport will be there for the key events, the reactions and hopefully the medal moments as the best athletes we have across so many disciplines not only take on, but match and better the best in the world.” Other options for Irish viewers include BBC, Eurosport and for those who really catch Olympic fever, discovery+.

Each weekday morning RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Sports Editor, Gearóidín Nic an Iomaire will take listeners through the day’s events on the station’s current affairs programme, Adhmhaidin. There will also be live commentary, updates, reports, and interviews throughout the day. At weekends, Raidió na Gaeltachta will provide comprehensive coverage of the games on Spórt an tSathairn, Spórt an Tráthnóna and Spórt an Lae.

BBC coverage will begin daily at 8am, switching between BBC1 and BBC2, while Eurosport will have a similar schedule.

discovery+, dubbed the "streaming home of the Olympics", promises to show all 329 medal moments and 3,800 hours of live coverage across more than 55 live channels.

Dubliner Craig Doyle and Derry native Orla Chennaoui will be two of the presenters on Eurosport and discovery+.