Getty will beam 360-degree photos from Rio 2016 to Oculus headsets

By Brad Jones August 3, 2016

getty to provide360 images 2016 olympics rio city — marchello74/123RF Stock Photo

On August 5, the Summer Olympics will get underway in Rio de Janeiro, as over 11,000 athletes converge on the Brazilian city. Despite some safety concerns and the ongoing issues related to water purity and the Zika virus, there’s plenty to be excited about for sports fans — whether they’re flying out to the Games or watching from home.

Indeed, many Americans will be hopping on a flight down to Brazil to take in some of the action in person. However, there’s another way to immerse yourself in the Games, as long as you have access to a compatible virtual reality headset.

Oculus and Getty Images are partnering to bring the Olympic experience to the Rift and Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus. As the Games play out in Rio, fans all over the world will be able to take a step closer to the action by donning their headsets, thanks to groundbreaking imagery that is being supplied by some of the world’s top photographers.

By the end of Rio 2016, 400 360-degree images from the Olympics will have been uploaded to the Oculus 360 Photos app. New content will be added on a daily basis starting this Friday, and spanning a wide range of events at the Games.

Oculus and Getty aren’t the only companies that are preparing to take advantage of public interest in the Olympics. Twitter has announced a new section of its curated news feed pertaining to the Games, while the hit video game Overwatch is adding a broad swathe of new content themed around the event.

Sports fans who own one of the supported headsets should head to the Oculus 360 Photos app once the Olympics are underway. The 2016 Summer Olympics will run from August 5 to August 21.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

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