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GREG GROGGEL, SENIOR COMMISSIONING EDITOR OF THE OLYMPIC CHANNEL, RELIVES THE CHANNELÕS LAUNCH AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016 AND REVEALS WHAT GOES ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE NEW ONLINE GLOBAL PLATFORMBEYOND THE RINGSA DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PRODUCER  It’s five hours until the Closing Ceremony and the headline talent is still asleep. Granted, Kygo, the international pop superstar from Norway, only landed in Rio two hours ago, but the city’s crosstown traffic is notoriously difficult and I can tell that our Brazilian drivers are getting restless. So is the videographer, who needs to first get a shot of Kygo walking along the beach, if only the weather will cooperate.I stand waiting in the hotel lobby and look over to the record label executive for help; he feigns another phone call to avoid my nagging queries. Great. This is the life of a multimedia producer. Or, in my case more specifically, the Senior Commissioning Editor of the Olympic Channel. I’m in Rio to help pull everything together for the launch of the Channel at the Closing Ceremony. That first meant convincing athletes to show me (and my camera team) their best dance moves from inside the cafeteria of the Olympic Village. Dance moves that will soon be shown on the big screens at the Maracan‹ Stadium and to billions around the world. Now it means herding a sleepy Norwegian and his entourage with the clock ticking. No pressure. But what is the Olympic Channel? How can I watch it? And why is it launching after the Games? All good questions.In short, it’s a new online worldwide network chronicling sport’s most intriguing characters, improbable journeys, and incredible possibilities. It’s available anytime you want, anywhere you want. We’re focused less on what happens in Rio and more on the blood, sweat and tears of victories big and small that occur in the years in between Games. Back in Madrid, where the Channel is based, my days typically start with Asia. A quick check-in to China, the latest from India, some introductions to producers in Australia Ð all before the morning coffee. The afternoons are devoted to productions based in Europe and Africa, providing notes and feedback to programmes, approving stories, and generally staying on top of projects from ideation to delivery. Days typically end with video conferences with partners on the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada. It’s a daily worldwide whirlwind.More broadly, the commissioning department is charged with developing original programming with producers from around the world. The team hails from Argentina, Lebanon, Singapore, Spain, and France, not including this American, and we touch all corners of the globe in order to find break-out creative concepts and the right talent to produce them. It’s a dream assignment, and we all know it.For me personally, it’s the culmination of a long and winding engagement with the Olympic Movement. I first became smitten with the Olympic rings while watching the ÒDream TeamÓ take on the world at the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992. Four years later, I convinced my mum to load up the minivan and drive the family to Atlanta to witness the Games in person. After college, I was awarded a Thomas J. Watson fellowship and lived in six former Olympic host cities to understand their lasting legacies. Since then, I’ve worked at five Games as a broadcaster for NBC and ESPN. Yes, I’m an Olympic nerd.Luckily, so are many of my colleagues at the Olympic Channel in Madrid. And at that moment, waiting in the hotel lobby, the entire team Ð from news to technology and social media in-between Ð is feverishly working to prepare for the launch, an Olympian undertaking by any measure. But Spain feels a long way off as Kygo finally makes an appearance and we load into the stream of official vehicles ready to whisk us off to the Maracan‹ Stadium. Disaster averted. Kygo and Julia Michaels give a show-stopping performance as rain lightly falls around them. It was a thrillingly imperfect launch, as only live television can offer. But it’s just the beginning. A new beginning for the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement. The real challenge starts now. ■Greg Groggel is a three-time Emmy award-winning producer from Omaha, Nebraska (USA). He joined the Olympic Channel in September 2015 after spending eight years in New York City working in television and new media.28 OLYMPIC REVIEW COLUMN