Winter Olympics: must-see TV

NBC paid $963 million for the rights to air the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, a 24 percent jump over the $775 million it paid for the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Still, NBC has already made much of that back, selling more than $900 million in ad sales for the recent Winter games, a record according to the network.

The Winter Olympic Games got started in 1924. The Winter Olympics now alternates every two years with the Summer Olympics.

In 1896 Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the Modern Olympic Games. Coubertin, a French aristocrat with lofty, idealistic goals introduced the Olympic motto: "Citius, Altius, Fortius," Swifter, Higher, Stronger. Coubertin created the Olympics in three acts. The Opening Ceremony provides a festive Act I, Act II is the sports competition, and Act III concludes the show with the marathon race and  Closing Ceremony. 

Miguel de Moragas Spa, Nancy K. Rivenburgh and James K. Larson directed a research project on the role of television in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Television in the Olympics. Their work provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Olympics as a television show for the global audience.

The 1992 Olympic visuals emanated from state-of-the-art studios, four control rooms located within the stadium in the case of Barcelona, coordinating the output of dozens of cameras. The rich visual output got matched with a pre-produced musical soundtrack and the richly nuanced broadcasters commentary.

The Barcelona hosts compiled an extensive reference manual to assist broadcasters, supplying pertinent information Olympics and the host city. Broadcasters have great leeway on whether to use the official data or to meet the expectations of their particular viewing audience.

The Moragas Spa group noticed broadcasters adopt different personas move deftly from formal to informal tones of reportage. Olympic commentators present themselves as both insiders with valuable knowledge to share and alternately as “the humble observer of history, awed and lucky to be present.” (Moragas Spa 106).

The Moragas Spa group offered the example of the NBC reporters adopting an informal, playful style as the French team entered the stadium during the athletes’ parade at the Opening Ceremony. The American announcers waxed eloquent on the French record of success in the sport of fencing and added a lighthearted literary reference to Alexander Dumas, the creator of The Three Musketeers” … The broadcasters added  “and we’re told that the French, while they may not win the most medals, will, as always, live well. They brought their own wine to Barcelona.” (Moragas Spa 110)

The Moragas Spa team observed the broadcasters’ ability to adapt four distinct voices or perspetives:

1)    They used a mixed narrative model, the primary interpretive style was that of the ‘televised show’ with a supposedly knowledgeable, often well known host presenting him or herself as integral to experiencing the ceremony.

2)    NBC adopted an extremely colloquial tone for references to North American athletes.

3)    NBC announcers adopted a style more in line with news bulletins than with sports programs for commentaries on the athletes’ parade.

4)    The narrative voice adopted a mix between a historical report and the chronicle of events for describing the culture and political identity of the host city (Barcelona). (Moragas Spa 111)

The 1972 Munich games resulted in a remarkable exception to clichéd Olympic reporting. Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village and took Israeli athletes hostage, the beginning of the terrible tragedy that unfolded over the next day. Jim McKay’s powerful moment-by-moment commentary form the broadcast booth of the 1972 Munich games. McKay, the ABC broadcaster, worked with exceptional skill and sensitivity. He covered the horrifying events like a seasoned newsman asked to function under the most difficult circumstances. McKay’s calm, dignified and intelligent work underlined the Olympic broadcaster as both news reporter and sports analyst.

Camera shots enhance the Olympic television narrative. Shots vary.  The CU, close-up shot offers detail and emotional expression The MS, medium shot, is a appropriate shot when viewing the dignitaries. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics employed personality shots of the entourage of Olympic insiders. A view of King Juan Carlos as a symbol of Spain proved popular: “the image of the King of Spain (Juan Carlos I) was interpreted on nearly every television station around the world as a popular and accessible image.” (Moragas Spa 119)

I was traveling in Spain during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Crowds gathered around television sets whenever Spain’s basketball team faced an international opponent. Spaniards celebrated with Rafael Nadal’s gold medal in tennis, a first for Spain, and cheered mightily for their participants in cycling and canoe/kayak where they had several medal winners.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin established an Olympics paradigm, motivated by lofty principles of health, education and world peace. Coubertin made sound entertainment choices as well. Coubertin's Olympic themes will resonate across the television airwaves for the next 17 days in South Korea.

Somewhere in the Olympics saga stands the increasing commercialization of the Games, dispiriting episodes of International Olympic Committee officials taking bribes, and the persistent use of illegal, performance enhancing drugs. Asian countries have indicated enthusiasm for hosting the Games despite the immense cost for any country taking on that role. Those are all discussions for another day. 

Meanwhile.... enjoy the 2018 Winter Olympic Games!

Pierre de Coubertin: creator of the Modern Olympics

Coubertin’s Mosaic

In 1896, Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the Modern Olympic Games. The Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger, was borrowed by Coubertin from Father Henri Martin Dideon, the headmaster of Arcueil College in Paris, in a speech given to describe the great achievements of the athletes at his school. Another informal motto used by Coubertin came from a sermon made by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London Games: "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!" (Wikipedia website, Olympic Symbols) 

The Latin motto with its comparative adjectives pushing insistently for more of everything translates unusually well to the Postmodern Olympics—faster moving storylines, more thrilling video, and a firmer hold over the audience across the communications ether—seems apt as a slogan and business plan for the electronic version of the  Olympic Games as we know them today. The TV Olympics strives for more viewers, more expensive commercial time, and greater visibility for the host city. Coubertin, an educator at his essence, studied the educational systems of Britain and America and their emphasis on physical culture and games with the goal of reforming the rigid French pedagogy. Coubertin switched his attention from reforming the French educational system to creating the Modern Olympics but retained the same high-mindedness idealism for his new pursuit.

Coubertin was so closely identified with reviving the Olympics that he was president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1896-1925 and made Honorary President upon his retirement. Upon his death, Coubertin’s heart was interred in a marble monument at Olympia commemorating him as father of the Modern Olympics. The dramatic gesture of placing Coubertin’s heart in Olympia possesses religious overtones. Coubertin's passion for developing an improbable dream into a  quadrennial international gathering resulted in a grand achievement, one of enormous social and political relevance. The addition of a Winter Olympic Games, starting in 1924, made the Olympics a biennial event

The Olympic Games, primarily a television experience since the 1950s, corrals the viewers at home in a digitized, massaged and manipulated format, the ultimate expression of the television director’s art. Coubertin’s egalitarian Olympic message somehow survives and reflects Coubertin talent for pragmatism. Coubertin’s enduring optimism against triumphed over the resistance to the Modern Games. The Olympic paradigm, established by Coubertin, with its lofty principles of health, education and world peace, hopefully continues despite the commercialization of the Games.

Coubertin established a mosaic-like structure for the Games and fully understood the importance of symbolism, particularly in the choice of Athens as a first locale for the Modern Olympics. The Modern Olympics had a surprisingly auspicious start in Athens, Coubertin having gained the endorsement of the Greek royal family and the citizens. The Greeks rallied with some of the enthusiasm that characterizes the joyfulness of the host city to the present day. Interestingly, 1896 Athens greeted the event with a flair for symbolism not usually associated with sports events. Homes were decorated with colorful streamers and banners indicated the letters O.A., the Greek initials for Olympic Games, and the numbers 776 B.C. and 1896 A.D., the dates indicating the beginning year for ancient Games and for the new Modern Olympics. (MacAloon 208) Symbolism and a sense of historic grandeur would accompany later Olympic gatherings and reflect Coubertin’s desire for establishing more than a sports competition.

The Opening Ceremony, full of a theatrical grandeur not associated with sports competition, showed a marketer’s instincts for symbolism and drama. The Opening Ceremony provides a festive Act I, followed by Act II and the sports competition and Act III completion with the marathon race and  Closing Ceremony. Coubertin’s Act II inspiration was to take advantage of the luster of history and with “Athletics” events, the term for the track and field events connected to the ancient Games and expand the number and variety of events to include swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, shooting,  and tennis. The increased palette of sports guaranteed a wide public appeal, not to mention the likelihood of a wider spectrum of winners from the 14 participating nations.

American athletes succeeded mightily at the first Modern Olympic but the Games reached a crescendo of success when a finally a Greek athlete, Spiridon Louis, crossed the finish line as winner. Louis was triumphant in the marathon, the event possessing the most symbolic import for Greeks and every host city needs a hero to call their own. First and second place winner were awarded silver medals, and an olive branch and laurel branch respectively. The awarding of medals occurred at the end of the 1896 Games and provided an exciting Act III finale to go along with the Closing Ceremony. Coubertin had created a template for an Olympics dense with tradition, symbolism and drama that lasts to the current day. (Official Souvenir Program, Centennial Olympic Games)