Insomniacs of the world unite

So where will you be at four in the morning on September 17th? In front of your telly watching the clash of Hungary and Angola…

So where will you be at four in the morning on September 17th? In front of your telly watching the clash of Hungary and Angola in women's handball? Next day? Canada v Kazakhstan in Water Polo? Me too.

Ah yes, the Olympic Games are upon us, time to gorge ourselves on a televised sporting feast that they only hold every four years so we've time to recover and time to get to know our families again.

Time, too, to be introduced to sports we never heard of, countries we weren't quite sure existed and non-stop, 'round-the-clock, wall-to-wall telly coverage of beach volleyball (and, when the scantily clad babes and dudes are resting, a few other sports, too).

RTE are promising 270 hours of live television, the BBC 330, but you can probably add a nought to that figure for Eurosport's coverage - if it moves in Sydney they'll have it live, and then they'll show you the highlights later in the day.

READ MORE

Michael Lyster and Flor MacCarthy start the day for RTE with Good Morning Sydney (7 a.m. to 9 a.m.), featuring reviews of the previous night's action and news reports. Lyster, who made his Olympic debut in 1980 for RTE Radio, is looking forward to the Games, but admits he's not anticipating with relish the prospect of getting up at three o'clock every morning.

He has a radio alarm, "but whatever I do it always seems to be set on some station from Afghanistan or somewhere". (If you spot Flor on her own in the studio any morning take it that Michael didn't hear Kabul calling).

Tom McGurk will look after the 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. shift, when he hosts Sydney Live which will take in most of the major swimming and athletics finals.

Bill O'Herlihy, who's anchored every Olympic Games for RTE since 1968 (with the exception of the 1984 event), clocks in at seven in the evening to present Today In Sydney with Sharon Monaghan, before chairing a nightly discussion (Talking Sydney, 10.30 p.m. to midnight) when pundits such as Gary O'Toole, Eamon Coghlan, Sean Kelly and Mick Dowling debate the latest happenings and, presumably, controversies.

Finally, Tracy Piggott is on the night shift, presenting All Night Sydney from midnight through to 7 a.m. All the usual suspects will be on commentating duty - George Hamilton, Jim Sherwin, Ger Canning, Myles Dungan and Jimmy Magee amongst them - with Tony O'Donoghue, Ryle Nugent and Claire McNamara keeping us informed of news from the Irish camp.

The BBC has a 42-strong team of experts and commentators with Steve Rider, Sue Barker, Hazel Irvine and John Inverdale their chief presenters while Barry Davies and David Coleman lead their commentary team.

Coleman has returned from semi-retirement to cover his 11th Summer Olympics and, in the course of the previous 10, has provided some of the great commentating moments of our time.

Our favourites? "There's going to be a real ding-dong when the bell goes"; "It's a great advantage to be able to hurdle with both legs"; "And here's Moses Kiptanui, the 19-year-old Kenyan, who turned 20 a few weeks ago" and "This is a fascinating duel between three men". None, however, matched this all-time classic: "There goes Juantorena down the back straight, opening his legs and showing his class." Welcome back David, we missed you.

For fans of Synchronised Swimming (and we know you're out there) your party doesn't start until four in the morning on September 26th. In our schedule it says that's when the "duty free routine" kicks off, but other listings have it down as the "duet free routine" - we prefer the sound of the former.

The Opening Ceremony gets under way at 8.50 a.m. on RTE 1 on Friday and, judging by the number of countries represented at the Games, will probably conclude sometime in November. Meantime, turn your tellies on and let the Games commence.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times