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London 2012. The End.

Memories of an amazing summer (September 2012)

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GE
Gareth E
When the Olympics finished, we were sad, but we had the Paralympics to look forward to. When the Paralympics finished last night, we were sad, but we had the Athletes Parade to look forward to. Now the Athletes Parade is over, that really really really is it. Its done. Finished. Gone.

So I thought it might be an idea to share our collective memories and thoughts on an amazing summer of sport from a broadcasting and presentation perspective.

I have a few personal highlights. The BBC got its Olympic coverage absolutely spot on. Really tapped into the mood of the nation. Although there was the odd gripe about slightly mundane graphics and presenters and their shifts etc, I can find little to fault. The studio set-up in the Olympic Park was amazing and gave the viewer a feeling of being right at the heart of the action. The unprecedented level of live coverage was outstanding. The 24 extra channels were a stroke of genius. And IMO, Gabby Logan's Olympics Tonight programme was simply superb.

Channel 4's coverage of the Paralympics was also superb. Its disabled talent search came up trumps, with Daraine Mulvihill and Arthur Williams proving competent, knowledgeable and entertaining. After a few doubts about how it would fare following the BBC's almost universally praised Olympics offering, Channel 4 really did pull it off. Its graphics, presentation and commentary were all superb. The Last Leg with Adam Hills was groundbreaking and entertaining. The only thing missing was a studio with a real view of the Olympic Park. The IBC set-up left the viewer feeling slightly cut off from the action.

And the Award for Outstanding Olympic Achievement and Sheer Broadcasting Brilliance goes to . . . who else . . . Ms Clare Balding, who has in my opinion established herself as the stand-out sports broadcaster of her generation. Divine, sublime, simply brilliant. She added a touch of excitement to every event she covered. National Treasure status assured.

Roll on Sochi, Glasgow, and Rio.

EDIT: for those who are interested, Eddie Butler's review of the Olympics (including the full BBC credits set to the Imagine montage) is currently on a loop on the BBC Sport Multiscreen.
JO
Jon
There isn't much I can add to that.

The fact there were very few moans on forums, which are the places people moan for the sake of moaning, speaks volumes for the BBC's effort. Great sets, great positions for the main studios and in the venues. Graphics looked good and most of the presenters really working well in their roles. Olympics Tonight, was a quality light hearted production to round off each evening. Different to the equally as good Last Leg, but very watchable.

I'm glad Channel 4 were covering the Paralympics. I think people would have been pointing out all the inconsistencies between the BBC's coverage of the Olympics and the Paralympics had they picked up the rights and the BBC wouldn't have wet the appetite with the inspired advertising campaign the Paralympics benefited from, by Channel 4. Channel 4 have given the world some great new talents and increased usage of Clare Balding from the BBC. Obviously it would have been nice for Channel 4 to have covered the rowing, road cycling etc but we were spoiled really and I think Channel 4 played it just right. Nice set as well considering it was lacking the real view the Beeb had.
Last edited by Jon on 10 September 2012 8:39pm
VM
VMPhil
I may be oversimplifying things here, but is it not better that the Paralympics are on another broadcaster? That way, as Channel 4 have shown, if a broadcaster is willing they will take it and maximise coverage, rather than it really just being an afterthought on the BBC. This is their first year doing it and although they didn't get everything right, they didn't get everything wrong either. The Last Leg was the highlight for me, I am going to miss watching that each night.

As for the celebrations of 2012 and London 2012... my, has it gone by fast. What a bore next year will be in comparison with 2012! Seven years of waiting and it was all over in a matter of weeks. But as others have said its legacy will live on.
BR
Brekkie
Absolutely agree with both of you in reviewing the summer, so let's put a positive spin on thing (no, my account hasn't been hacked!) and hope this is London 2012 - The Beginning and hope that Olympic and Paralympic sport gets greater coverage on free to air television over the next few years. At times some of us (well, me at least) have been rather underwhelmed by the progress made in the lead up to the games but it is easy to forget that before London won the bid things like the Rowing World Cup, Cycling World Championships and Swimming World Champs didn't get much coverage at all, never mind live coverage. Hopefully now the BBC step up their efforts and especially with the changes being made to their red button service are not afraid to put live coverage of such events on the main channels across the week.

Similarly I hope C4 continue their association with the Paralympics and offer increased coverage of future IPC Athletics, Cycling and Swimming events and don't bury it away in the early hours of the morning. Their task though is slightly more difficult though as the rest of the world has a way to go to catch up with them - it's unbelieveable to think really that those athletes performing in front of sold out crowds of 80,000 this summer were competing in front of a crowd of just 1,000 or so at last years World Champs.
CR
Critique
I have to agree with everything said here. Whilst I didn't manage to catch much of the Olympics, as I was away, of what I did see, it was fantastic. The BBC really did try to keep every base covered, and with 24 channels, you were spoilt for choice. The studios the BBC used were lovely, they had an excellent commentating team (read 'everyone was good bar Trevor Nelson'), and it was fantastic. I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself now - all that variety is gone, and Cash in the Attic is back. The BBC really were great, and it really is saying something when even TV Forumers couldn't find much to fault.

And then came the Paralympics, and despite all my worries about adverts ruining the coverage, I was once again impressed. Channel 4 took Clair Balding to the Paralympics, after a great Olympics, and continued where the BBC had left off in terms of coverage. Whilst it was a shame that they didn't have all the facilities that the Olympics had, Channel 4 really went for it - they must be taking it seriously if Come Dine with Me was being pushed off the schedule!

All in all, it was a superb games, and I really do hope there is a long lasting legacy from all this. I've never been so engrossed in the Olympics until London 2012, and superb coverage is just one of the reasons that I got so engrossed, along with the amazing performances from the athletes. Thank you London - Rio in 2016 have got one heck of an act to follow!
CF
CatsFast101
I would just like to say that I've thought enjoyed the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic games. There have been practically no problems or issues, London have really shown the world we can do it and we did it in style. I'm actually really sad at how quick this summer has gone! Proud to be British! Unfortunately I did'nt get to go and see any events, I watched from morning til night every single day & I hope to go to Glasgow in 2014. But Sochi & Rio really have something to live up to!

But the summer of 2012 will be one to be remembered for years and years.
Summer 2012- the summer we all want to relive.
JO
Jon
I would just like to say that I've thought enjoyed the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic games. There have been practically no problems or issues, London have really shown the world we can do it and we did it in style. I'm actually really sad at how quick this summer has gone! Proud to be British! Unfortunately I did'nt get to go and see any events, I watched from morning til night every single day & I hope to go to Glasgow in 2014. But Sochi & Rio really have something to live up to!

But the summer of 2012 will be one to be remembered for years and years.
Summer 2012- the summer we all want to relive.

That's good.

But what did you make of the TV coverage?

So I thought it might be an idea to share our collective memories and thoughts on an amazing summer of sport from a broadcasting and presentation perspective.
GE
thegeek Founding member
I may be oversimplifying things here, but is it not better that the Paralympics are on another broadcaster?

It is and it isn't, I reckon. You've got a fresh team covering things, but you've got to let them find their feet and get into things - witness the criticism of the ad breaks during the opening ceremony, which died down fairly quickly as they worked out how best to handle them.

What bothers me more than that though is the amount of infrastructure the BBC put in to the IBC, only for it to be ripped out again as soon as the Olympics finished. One broadcaster covering both games is undoubtedly getting better value for money from the economies of scale of it.

Anyhow. It's not often such a major sporting event happens just down the road, and it was fantastic to be able to be a part of it. I was up at 4.30 every morning to sit in a small corner of the BBC's bit of the IBC, and keep an eye on things to make sure they didn't break. Largely, they didn't - which meant that after everything was set up and tested (the hard work), I had a fairly easy time of it. And had afternoons free to wander the park, see some sport, or go to the pub.
The BBC really got some fantastic people together to make everything happen - there were hundreds of them, as you'll have noticed from the credit roll - and it was a pleasure to work with them. Even at 5 in the morning.

Oh, and I've now got one of these. I'll keep it safe, along with my Blue Peter badge.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8156/7544657038_fc0e6ee1e6_n.jpg
LL
London Lite Founding member
BBC One's coverage, superb, loved the set, although felt some of the presenters didn't quite feel comfortable. Gary Lineker springs to mind presenting any sport that wasn't football. Yet, I couldn't expect anything more of their coverage of the various sports on the main channel.

BBC Three were clearly trying to keep on demographic with their open-air set and camera work, it did feel like being on a waltzer. The crowd cheering from below was a nice touch though. If it wasn't for the service licence, I suspect they wouldn't have taken breaks for unnecessary 60 Seconds news updates.

As for the Paralympics, I felt Channel 4 were learning as the games went on, especially after the Opening Ceremony with poorly scheduled breaks and too much waffle from the commentators. Once they realised that viewers were behind the games, the general entertainment filler was swiftly moved to the multichannels, C4 could provide (as best as they could with the lack of OBC feeds) throughout the day bar C4 News.

As mentioned previously, C4 have discovered some unearthed talent among their disabled presenters, Daraine, Arthur and comedian Adam Hills's profile in this country will be higher after the excellent Last Leg programme which showed creativity in comparison to the Beeb's Olympics Tonight. BBC Three should have had a satirical look at each day's events for the Olympics using one of their roster of comedians with guests.

I can't fault Claire Balding either. Solid, yet was able to adapt her delivery for Channel 4, while giving gravitas on the Beeb.

C4's weak link was sadly Jon Snow, going on about banana republics during the opening ceremony and stumbling during the athlete's parade coverage. I'd have Daraine and Ade present from Buck House instead.

I'd like Channel 4 to bid for Rio 2016, with a few tweaks that they've learned along the way, I'm sure viewers would return for more "Superhuman" sport.
IS
Inspector Sands
I'd like Channel 4 to bid for Rio 2016, with a few tweaks that they've learned along the way, I'm sure viewers would return for more "Superhuman" sport.

Does anyone know who has the rights to the 2014 Winter Paralympics, if they've even been given out yet?
CF
CatsFast101
Jon posted:
I would just like to say that I've thought enjoyed the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic games. There have been practically no problems or issues, London have really shown the world we can do it and we did it in style. I'm actually really sad at how quick this summer has gone! Proud to be British! Unfortunately I did'nt get to go and see any events, I watched from morning til night every single day & I hope to go to Glasgow in 2014. But Sochi & Rio really have something to live up to!

But the summer of 2012 will be one to be remembered for years and years.
Summer 2012- the summer we all want to relive.

That's good.

But what did you make of the TV coverage?

So I thought it might be an idea to share our collective memories and thoughts on an amazing summer of sport from a broadcasting and presentation perspective.


I for one couldn't think of better coverage? 26 channels of Olympic sports, 4-5 Paralympics channels- I've not watched much Paralympics previous to 2012 but now I've found my self not wanting to turn over. The BBC have years of experience with such events and know how to do it well, the coverage was fantastic one minor criticism that I did raise on here was about due to the impartiality of the camera crews often British compitors were shown delayed and by the cheering/ gasps from the crowd you kind of knew what had happened- this was only really a problem in gymnastics but possibly a few others.

Channel 4 has really made a superp effort, and it's payed off. This is possibly the biggest ever event covered live on the channel and they did it really well. Coverage again was superb, no faults. The ad breaks are the only thing that let them down, but there's no way around it really. During the sporting action, they did take that at appropriate time and you didn't feel like you missed out on any sporting action to get the ads. But during the ceremonies I didn't like having adverts it just didn't feel right for some reason.

The extra Olympics/ Paralympics channels were introduced as the games were here in London, but now i think I want them on every Olympics/ Paralympics. But on the whole C4 & the BBC covered these games fantastically 10/10 really!
TO
topdog2006
I'd like Channel 4 to bid for Rio 2016, with a few tweaks that they've learned along the way, I'm sure viewers would return for more "Superhuman" sport.

Does anyone know who has the rights to the 2014 Winter Paralympics, if they've even been given out yet?


I have a feeling they work similarly to the Summer Paralympics, i.e. the broadcasting rights are sold by the organising committee of each games, rather than the IOC who sell the Olympic rights for a few years in bulk. I'd imagine it'll probably be decided at some point in the next year in terms of Sochi?

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