... to call for more sensitive interviewing of young athletes?

[hepsitemiz]

I mean, is it too much to ask?

Today the BBC intercepted a GB olympic diver who had just performed disappointingly. I'm afraid I didn't retain her name, but she was being touted as a medal hope.

To paraphrase the interviewer quite liberally, he said something along the lines of "you were hoping for a medal and you only came 6th. How does that make you feel?"

How could he not have died of shame when her face crumpled and she said that basically not so long ago she was suicidal, so was just happy to be here and supported by her family. With all the signs being that she could barely hold it together, and after she pointedly repeated that she just wanted to to see her family poolside, he said something like "not so fast, let's delve a little more into why, despite your obvious talent, you missed out on a medal this time".

I mean, do they get extra points when they make someone cry?

IITMTA for more sensitive post-performance interviews?

YABU - yes, it is too much to ask
YANBU - no, it is not too much to ask

I think the interviewing/reporting at this Olympics has been terrible. When someone has under achieved the first question is always ‘What are your emotions?’ I am waiting for some to say ‘Bloody pissed off’. Why do we need their emotions?

Let’s start with ‘ An Olympic final! Fourth in the world! What an achievement!’

This has become the ‘backstory’ Olympics. ‘a month ago they broke all four limbs/their cat died/they had a bad cold/promised their dad’ … It’s been painful. How many times did they show that Kelly Brotherton video as a child - I think I saw it 4x in 24 hours. Same with the Josh Kerr piece.

I understand there has to be filler but surely it used to be more sport focused? And the focus on emotions is new.

One of the reasons I enjoy Michael Johnson so much is that he is knowledgable, factual and analytical and it is NOT all about the ‘feels’.

Agree @theresnolimits i love Michael Johnson’s style of commentating. So glad they always have him there.

I did think she seems to be quite a vulnerable person and I found it difficult and uncomfortable to watch that interview when she clearly wanted to go to her family for a hug. I do not think the interview should have continued once she had disclosed feeling suicidal even if she was referring to her feelings in the past- I agree that the interviews should maybe be conducted after the medal ceremony or a little later, rather than immediately after the event.

I've been an avid watcher of athletics and Olympics for decades. This is the first year I have been shouting at the TV about the interviews.

I've been watching with my teenage DD and we'd noticed this negative reporting was happening before the Andrea SS interview. There is a woman doing the athletics interviews who is particularly negative. I don't remember which race is it but DD and I were saying "please don't go and see depressing woman"

Anyway I will complain to the BBC.

I thought the guy interviewing the athletes in the stadium last night was a lot better.. I just tried googling the names of these interviewers and can't find them but did find a big sub on Reddit where the consensus is they are trying to get the athletes in tears and create sound bites for SM

Thanks to everyone who provided more context, and thanks for those who shared Andrea's backstory. Not living in the UK, I had not known about any of that, including how she spoke in the past about her quite serious mental health struggles.

Even without this knowledge - which the reporter surely had -, anyone could see that she was not ready for a grilling about why she hadn't won a medal in that particular category.

I suppose many of us might have said to her "that last dive you just did was fantastic - what a note to end on! And you're going home with a medal for the synchronised diving!" - then, depending on how she handled that, one might have asked her what she thought about her fellow competitors, because the Chinese divers were quite phenomenal and consistent in their perfection, and, if I remember from what Andrea did say, she had been very generous with her praise for the winners.

I'm glad people have been complaining. I have done so this morning, in a toned-down way, I might add, compared to my quite dramatic OP. Because yes, the reporter shouldn't actually die of shame, but he should be ashamed, just a little - he maybe is, I don't know - and could perhaps be a better interviewer if he bore in mind some of the things that have been pointed out on this thread.

Totally agree. Never thought I would say this but I have been pleasantly impressed with Snoop Dog & Martha Stewart who have embraced the Olympic spirit much more positively (back to the days of Eddie the Eagle).

I've complained as well. Not something I would normally do but watching this interview was upsetting so thank you for posting the link.

It was upsetting. The poor lady who fell in the hurdles was obviously struggling too. I didn't like the one with Adam Peaty after his silver either.

I thought Beth Shriever did very well after the BMX racing actually, the interviewer was clearly poking her for a reaction and after winning all the heats then coming in last in the final you'd understand her being upset. But she talked about how great the Olympics are, how much she's enjoyed being there etc, how good the others are and how much she's enjoyed racing against them etc.

I think saying "it's a shame some of your dives didn't work quite as well as in the semi, but that last one was superb, and you must be delighted to be going home as an individual finalist and with a synchro medal" would be fine, but they shouldn't be upsetting people more than they already might be.

I agree (although she should have mentioned God earlier. That would have got him off her back pdq).

The interviews are completely inane and pointless. All they seem to do is inconvenience the athletes, who should be able to relax and recover, celebrate or be comforted instead of answering tedious questions like "What are the emotions?" (heard twice yesterday). They never give interesting answers, either, just like footballers!

Fred has the privilege to be poolside when other parents are paying £400 for tickets, if they can get them at all.

no other parent is allowed actually in the competition arena, for any sport.

he won’t be upsetting his gravy train.

Sports national governing bodies don’t give a flying fuck about MH.

medals = money. Can’t deliver a medal? Off you fuck.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

yep.

Agree.

Andrea has had the advantage of her dad throughout her career, and is not unused to the media.

Don’t agree.

She said through hiccuping tears “I just want to be with my family”. This is what he said:

Optics are everything on telly. This interviewer failed big time.

Ah, I am in Ireland so that’s why I am unable to view it!

It really seem to be sensationalist journalism - the if it bleeds it leads school, but more like 'if theres tears, I get cheers' from the journalists. I made a complaint today because I feel that so many of these athletes are so young, and they want to be agreeable to the media, but it has just gone too far this year.

Has anyone received a reply from the BBC after complaining? It’s here if anyone is interested.

Thanks for contacting us about our interview with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix on 6 August.

We’d like to assure you there was no intention to cause any upset or offence here. Andrea spoke openly about her feelings after the competition, sharing how while she was disappointed with the result, she was also happy with how far she’s come in her performance, while also having struggled with her mental health previously.

After Andrea stated that she wanted to see her family, we only asked her one further question in an attempt to instead focus on some of the positives. Our interviewer highlighted that she had already sealed an Olympic medal, and she’d also completed her expressed desire to win a medal in each of the three nations she has family ties to, stating “that is something to smile about”.

Part of the job of our team was to bring the latest reactions to the viewers at home. We take our duty of care very seriously, and we will always obtain permission from an athlete prior to any interviews given.

This is sometimes a difficult balance to find, and we understand you weren’t happy with our approach here. We’ve discussed your concerns with the team at BBC Sport, which helps to inform decisions about our ongoing work.

Yes, @DanceMumTaxi - I got the same reply, word for word.

I think athletes should be briefed to give a standard, boilerplate response to this kind of interrogation:

"I feel like crap. It's shit. I feel so shitty - it's actually beyond shitty!"

Which, on TV, will be translated as "I feel like [bleep]. It's [bleep]. I feel so [bleep] - it's actually beyond [bleep].

Same here.
We can hope they reflected a little.

I also received the same response. It's the hypocrisy that gets me. They claim to be all about mental health, until there's an opportunity for social media clicks by reducing a young athlete to tears. It's all about the joy of sports, but let's focus on the disappointment to Team GB if you managed to just miss Gold / a podium spot when you've literally just proven you're one of the best in the world at your sport.

Yes same message here, hopefully the number of complaints with have resonated somewhere in BBC sport.

Thanks for sharing that, Taxi. I've been away and have not opened my email in ten days... having a look now

Got the same message, verbatim!