Brian Barwick: Brilliant Beeb can use Olympics to create 'minor sports' legacy
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UPDATED:
21:30 GMT, 12 August 2012
And so the Olympic Games are over. The most talked-about televised sporting event in my lifetime.
Team GB have delivered day in, day out, producing medal-winning performances by the bucketload. It has been exhilarating stuff captured by Olympic Broadcast Services.
And that other British team – BBC Sport -
have been with the GB heroes for every step, jump, stroke, throw,
punch, paddle and pedal.
Going for gold: The BBC have been nothing short of brilliant throughout the Olympic Games
Their comprehensive service has combined an on-screen and off-screen professionalism with a technological expertise that has long been the watchword of the BBC when they raise their sporting game.
This has been a high-watermark performance by the BBC across their range of services and perhaps the ultimate reminder to the Corporation’s top brass that sport really matters.
And, just as every opportunistic politician will now champion a new era of sporting participation, so viewers may welcome a new outlook on sport from its licence-funded national broadcaster.
Not every TV sports contract costs ‘squillions’ and as the BBC struggle to keep their share of the expensive ones, why not build on the unparalleled interest they have now created in less familiar sports.
All the right people: The likes of Ian Thorpe and Mark Foster provided swimming expertise, while other former professionals proved more than capable of giving the public excellent insight
All the right people: The likes of Ian Thorpe and Mark Foster provided swimming expertise, while other former professionals proved more than capable of giving the public excellent insight
Of course, the BBC love big ratings like every other broadcaster, and, boy, has the Olympics delivered those, but now they have a chance to park that run-chase and really put their power behind creating their own ‘broadcast’ legacy.
Suddenly we have a whole new set of small-screen stars – and without an audition in sight. New heroes people can actually relate to and strive to emulate – and television can help with this.
Sure, the heady Olympic mix will fade as autumn and winter advance but there is now a genuine alternative source of inspiration.
At London 2012, the BBC’s cutting-edge 24-channel streaming service has been not just a Games-maker but a game changer – and it could be a life changer too for viewers whose channel grazing has helped them discover a new sporting passion.
Brilliant work: Claire Balding
On screen, Clare Balding was outstanding. She’s a broadcast journalist with good words, good knowledge and a good sense of what and where a story is. Balding fronts Channel 4’s Paralympic Games coverage later this month.
Other notable performances include Gabby Logan’s energetic hosting of the Olympics Tonight show, which did a lot more than re-hash the day’s action.
Plaudits should also go to Jake Humphrey, who seamlessly turned his presentation talents from four wheels to two legs, and Shirley Robertson, who delivered cogent live reports while afloat off a windy Weymouth coast.
There was a lot expected of Gary Lineker, one of over 15 presenters I counted across the BBC Sport schedules.
I thought he did well, especially putting young medallists at their ease. At times, though, he was swallowed up by the BBC’s cavernous studio and the inevitable concentration on live athletics in the second week. That became John Inverdale’s patch.
Best commentary, Brendan Foster and Steve Cram’s double-hander on Mo Farah’s 10,000 metres win.
Hugh Porter and Chris Boardman recovered from a dodgy start on the men’s road race to accurately and emotionally call home medal after medal. Ian Thorpe and Michael Johnson took the honours for punditry, while athletics’ trackside interviewer, Phil Jones, hands on or hands off, did a tricky job well. I’ve seen others struggle in that role.
In the end, it was the sheer weight and volume of coverage from the BBC that puts them top of the broadcasting medal table.
This was the Olympics where the choice of what, when and how you watched the day’s action was left to you.
BBC head honchos Roger Mosey and Dave Gordon should be congratulated and director of sport Barbara Slater should now be encouraged to build a new and imaginative future for BBC Sport.
