Eurosport and Discovery have given us a glimpse into the future of coverage by using incredible technology that means presenters can be in the same studio but in different countries.
As part of their Olympic broadcasts this summer, the channels are using 'The Cube', an interactive 4m x 4m and mixed-reality studio that combines augmented reality (AR) and enhanced graphics.
Eurosport, along with partners White Lights LTD and Dimensions, had been actively researching the technology for a number of years and rolled it out at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games before it was used at the US Open in September.
For the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the studio has a total of seven different 360-degree locations on the set and can even be matched to the local weather.
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And with over four million LED pixels, the Cube enables presenters to converse when they are opposite sides of the world through green screen and holograms.
Viewers were a little taken aback on Friday morning when 2012 gold medallist Greg Rutherford had a chat with host Reshmin Chowdhury despite one of them being in Tokyo and the other being based in London.
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Although, it looks like something from out of Star Trek and means Eurosport can still provide high-quality, immersive coverage with insight from athletes in a team where COVID-19 has forced the event to go ahead without any fans in attendance.
"The technology itself is just genuinely remarkable," Rutherford told the Daily Mail prior to the Olympics getting underway.
"What you can do and how it then looks, that really makes a difference to it.
"I'll be on the ground in the venues but will be teleported out to Reshmin and just a very interactive time which you wouldn't normally have.
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"We all should be lucky to live in an era where technology can promote and push something what is a very different Games."
Featured Image Credit: EurosportTopics: olympics
