Beijing Olympic Games 2008

First of all I should say that I am an Olympic fanatic. I’ve watched every Olympic Opening and Closing ceremony from LA in 1984 till the present. Whilst recognising the brilliance of the Beijing ceremonies I can’t help but think they pale along side LA in 1984, Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney in 2000. On all occasions the athletes had fun, whilst we the viewers were treated to unforgettable spectacles. Also I have to admit that I have nothing fond memories for David Coleman and his wonderful and informative commentaries over the years.

The BBC’s coverage this year has been fascinating all round, though there have been various weaknesses . I was initially surprised to see that Barry Davies would be sidelined for the ceremonies, but I was not aware that they now fall under the remit of BBC News. Of the three commentators it was Carrie Gracie who did impress me. She was highly informative and guided us through the ceremonies effortlessly. My only complaint would be that she seemed somewhat characterless to me. Also, some of her ‘observations’ on China seemed nothing more than conjecture.

Hazel was as annoying as she was in Turin, why has she been promoted to such a prominent position? She has no ad-libbing skills, whilst the comments she makes are so superficial. She adds nothing to the proceedings and is nothing more than a competent pair of hands. Of the BBC’s four female presenters (her, Sue, Claire and Gabby) she languishes in fourth place for me.

Huw’s presence added nothing for me. He seemed very badly prepared, didn’t know what was happening and had no knowledge of sport. As the lead commentator it was his job to set the scene, give us historical info and integrate Olympic history. He did none of this, whilst getting numerous facts wrong. I am an Olympic geek but David Coleman told us every year the history of the Olympic flag, the authors of the Olympic hymn and all the protocol. Huw failed miserably to do any of this. He talked at inappropriate moments, including over the Olympic hymn. He was totally useless during the Closing ceremony, Carrie and Hazel did the majority of talking. The closing ceremony has a greater emphasis on sport and the achievements of the past two weeks, Huw sat silent. Also it is his job to pick up on small details. Was I the only person to note that when the National Anthem was played they sang the second verse? We do not sing it anymore, instead we go to the third verse. Whilst I was no fan of Barry Davies he did know how to commentate on ceremonies. Huw needs to go back to the news room.

Overall I felt the BBC’s coverage worked well, though I had a few gripes:
1. Too many presenters. No need for Adrian Chiles if he was only gonna be there for 2 ½ hours per day. Rishi Persad was as bad as ever; has he learnt nothing since Athens?
2. Claire Balding MUST receive a better slot in future. She was wasted on the early shifts. Gabby Logan is a VERY unlikable person!
3. The BBC still needs a strong male lead anchor.
4. Why was Barry Davies banished to the hockey? Matt Baker was embarrassing in the gymnastics. He lost all sense of perspective when Team GB won it’s medal. He should stick to children’s tv.
5. Once the athletics started other sports were relegated. Steve Cram is not an adequate lead commentator on athletics. In the Men’s 200m he didn’t bother to look to see who finished second and third! The BBC should hire Tim Hutchings of Eurosport, he’s the best athletics commentator around.

So a lot for the BBC, and Team GB, to work upon for 2012. I wish they were here already!!

I know it was started again on 301 from about 17.30, but judging from what you say; it was only repeated once. Surely they could've used 302 to show the half-hour review, instead of just leaving it on the blank holding slide as it is now - whilst showing the highlights from the closing ceremony on 301?

Agreed - I saw Carrie do a piece into one of the network bulletins where she interviewed several Mandarin speakers and translated their responses back to English, which I thought worked very well.

yep, I did.

btw: our two major swimming finals (women's freestyle 50m and 100m were at o'clock in the morning and still loads of people watched it! okay, not much difference to britain there, no europeans had live olympics at prime time. but at least we were able to watch everything live or sometimes with a few minutes delay due to a different event) olympics every day from 2am till 5pm, so 15 hours a day : (in germany)

1) Adrian was out reporting and filming pieces while he wasn't in the studio. Rishi Persad has improved, but is a bit of a weak link.
2) I think Gabby's OK. I agree about Claire
3) Probably. Not really bothered.
4) Matt Baker was superb. Full of enthusiasm. He's a natural and made the sport even more exciting to watch,
5) Steve Cram is also excellent. He knows his stuff, he's got a good voice and is the best for the job. It wasn't a case of not being bothered to look at 2nd and 3rd, it was the case of him being mesmerised by a mesmerising event. He's only human.

As I am sure you seen, on Saturday, they were asking what the table would look like if points were awarded instead of medals (3 for gold, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze). I've done my calculations and here's what it would be like.

1) China 223
2) USA 220
3) Russia 139
4) Great Britain 98
5) Australia 89
6) Germany 83
7) France 70
8 ) South Korea 67
9) Italy 54
10) Japan 49
11) Ukraine 46
12) Cuba 39
13) Spain 38
14) Holland 35
15) Canada 33
16) Belarus 32
17) Kenya 29
18 ) Jamaica 26
19) Brazil 25
20) Poland 22
21) Hungary, Norway and Kazakhstan, 21 each
24) Romania 17
25) Ethiopia and New Zealand, 16 each
27) Czech Republic 15
28 ) Slovakia and Turkey, 14 each
30) Denmark 13
31) Georgia 12
32) North Korea and Azerbaijan, 11 each
34) Mongolia, Thailand, Argentina, Switzerland and Uzbekistan, 10 each
39) Zimbabwe, Slovenia and Sweden, 9 each
42) Bulgaria and Indonesia, 8 each
44) Mexico, Finland, Croatia and Lithuania, 7 each
48 ) Latvia, Greece and Armenia, 6 each
51) Belgium, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Portugal, India and Nigeria, 5 each
57) Iran, Trinidad & Tobago, Austria, Ireland, Serbia and Chinese Taipei, 4 each
63) Bahrain, Cameroon, Panama, Tunisia, Algeria, Bahamas, Colombia, Kyrgysztan, Morocco and Tajikistan, 3 each
73) Chile, Ecuador, Iceland, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam, 2 each
81) Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Mauritius, Moldova, Togo and Venezuela, 1 each

What do you think?

I agree about the lack of "fun". That seems to have been a theme throughout the games. Very well organised, very smiley, but not a lot of laughs.

Can't agree about David Coleman though. Think he did more to ensure that Sports presenters aren't allowed to commentate at ceremonies than almost anyone else... (Along with Alan Partridge...)

I really didn't every enjoy his commentaries.



The whole of Sport and News are now part of BBC Journalism - and the head of BBC Sport is a former head of TV News.

With Huw being the new "voice" of BBC One for state occasions, and an experienced commentator - it made total sense for him to cover the event, particularly as there could easily have been a political dimension (protests etc.) Can you imagine David Coleman dealing with a Pro-Tibet demo?



Well Carrie has lived in China extensively, and as a fluent Mandarin speaker and former Beijing resident probably does have a much wider insight than it may appear. I suspect her observations are actually REAL observations gained whilst living there. She does have a wicked sense of humour - as was seen during her News Channel lives - but suspect felt the ceremonies were not the place for it.


Hazel is there as the representative from BBC Sport. Of all the BBC Sport team I think she's normally the most well-prepared, with an encyclopaedic fact recall.



Don't think you can rank them - they are all different. Gabby is very much a set-piece, polished presenter, Claire is very much an on the hoof one. Hazel is really knowledgable, and Sue is just Sue. (i.e. a national treasure!)


Think Adrian was doing stuff out and about as well - and was there more as a colour presenter.

Didn't see much of Rishi - but he and Jake struck me as noticably weaker than any of the ladies.



Clare is great - but don't agree about Gaby. I thought she was great on The Games Today - much warmer and funnier than I've seen her on other shows. Her style was right for that kind of more produced show.



Yep... Problem is that they've got too many decent women!



Think they are slowly phasing Barry towards retirement.



He was quite enthusiastic - but that is the role of the non-expert commentator. If you think he lost it - you should hear the NBC guys...



Again - don't agree. Steve Cram works far better for me than the guys on Eurosport. I can't listen to more than about 5 minutes of them before they start sounding like Alan Partridge. Their closing ceremony commentary was a bit like that too. (They didn't talk much thank goodness...)
So a lot for the BBC, and Team GB, to work upon for 2012. I wish they were here already!![/quote]

Well everyone is dissecting this post so I'm not going to miss out:



Agreed - bigger doesn't mean better. The closing ceremony was great, but the opening ceremony wasn't as accessible to the casual viewer.



Carrie Gracie was excellent. I didn't agree with Huw Edwards doing the commentary - it should remain under the remit of BBC Sport and with Carrie their to provide the local knowledge a BBC News presence wasn't necessary. No problem with Hazel Irvine myself, but three commentators was one too many. For the record I think Hazel Irvine is by far the best BBC presenter of these events and I think it's now time Sue Barker stepped aside - but like many of our failing athletes she is of course clinging on for 2012.



Adrian Chiles was underused - but excellent and was probably their to capture the typical football loving non-Olympic fan, and I think he did that well.



Completely agree - Claire Balding always gets the worst shifts. As I've said throughout the coverage Jake Humphrey should have been given his chance in the overnight shift with a more experienced host such as Claire Balding in the prime afternoon slot.

Gabby Logan - there was never any justification in the BBC snapping her up when ITV dropped her considering they're not short of female sport anchors, or football presenters - and Inside Sport could have easily been fronted by someone already within BBC Sport. That said I don't dislike her, but I wouldn't miss her.



The BBC have one, but for some reason (I can only assume it's his own choice as it baffles me otherwise), John Inverdale remains sidelined on Radio 5 Live.



LOL - Matt Baker is probably the person I've seen most complaints about, but I didn't really have a problem with him myself. I think he's made the transition to sports broadcast far better than Jake Humphrey.



Firstly, I think Steve Cram is excellent - and also a word about Michael Johnson - by far the best pundit around.

But agree the athletics was too dominant in the schedules in the last week, especially when the British presence in the sport we had in previous years isn't there at the moment.

It was very annoying that at night athletics had a 2-hour highlights block repeated on the interactive stream, meaning with Games Today on 81, Freeview viewers only had one stream offering extended highlights from a variety of sports - and by Friday that stream had been given up for Reading and Leeds.

As for the live action I've said all along that even with the interactive service, they should have simulcast on BBC1/2 for a couple of hours in the afternoon (BBC2's coverage should have remained on air through to CBBC at 3.15pm) so that while Athletics dominated one channel other sports could be covered on another.

Barry Davies should have been doing this and not Huw Edwards if you ask me, he has a better voice and sets the mood better in my opinion.

Thought the Beeb's coverage was great, definitely worth an award nomination.

Looking ahead a couple of months to Sports Personality of the Year (I guess it's between Rebecca Adlington and Chris Hoy) and specifically the Team of the Year award.

Now I think usually the Olympic Team is considered as one, but IMO it's the cyclists that should get it - they are the true definition of a world class team and it would kind of be an insult to them if they had to share the award with the whole Olympic Team.