Team GB obsession spoiling it for me.

[throckenholt]

Am i the only one ? The constant obsession with British competitors to the almost total exclusion of everyone else is driving me mad ! I taped last nights athletics. So far there has been a lot of talk in the studio with the pundits, pole vault just showing the British girl knocking the bar off, and two heats on the track with no line up to show who was running, cameras zoomed in on the brits, and interviews immediately afterwards saying you went out in the first round how does that feel ? In between that we have had a life history of the brit pole vault girl, a hark back to great british hurdlers. And just once of twice they mention other people who are taking part.

It is driving me mad - the Olympics is supposed to be a celebration of the best in the world. I want to see the best, and if they happen to be British, then great - I will cheer with the best of them, but for gods sake please show us the best. If there is time left over then, ok a bit of British focus is fine, but only after they have told us about the best !

Thank god for the fast forward. I have just given up watching what I recorded because it is annoying mt so much. Will try again later, finger poised over the fast forward button.

What seem to have consistently missed is a run down of all medals awarded that day.

And I've seen nothing at all of sports like table tennis or weightlifting.

A main-channel round up of everything (not just everything GB) which is happening would make the coverage even better.

I don't care.
I have watched a world cup in France where they didn't show matches other than France and the remainder of the scheduling was 'how we will win the world cup' followed by 'how we won the world cup. I also watched the masters in America and 90% of the coverage was Tiger Woods. The remainder was Phil Mickleson. They also managed to cover the Ryder Cup without mention most of the Europeans and when i tried to watch a diamond league athletics meet it wasn't being shown anywhere - not even highlights.

We try to be even handed most of the time but it is London 2012, the Brits are doing shockingly well. Tough really.

HauntedLittleLunatic -- that's particularly odd because they've filmed those VTs; they show them on the big screens at the more obscure/niche events.

I stand by my views on some of the earlier coverage.

But I think they've got it much, much better on Beeb1 tonight: coverage of heats; some coverage of field events (would still like to see a bit more of this), VT in hurdling technique.

And best of all, full coverage of the medals ceremony for Kirani James.

I'll look forward to watching that then - I have taped tonight's coverage so will have to wait til tomorrow to catch up on it.

Do you know what - I was about to come and post what Edith has just said. It's as though they were reading this thread.

For me it was particularly noticeable that they were showing the field events between track races, but managed to cut to the track whilst they were doing the lane line-up each time.

Either that or there aren't any of the huge GB personalities for them to do the biographies on like there have been for the last few days.

Either way....twas like atheletics coverage should be.

I decided to revisit this. I watched the athletics last night. Whilst I really enjoyed the 800m and the 200m, I have a feeling there was at least a triple jump final, a javelin final and the finish of the decathlon yesterday as well. But as far as I can recall there were only a couple of jumps shown (in the early rounds), the javelin I could vaguely see was taking place in the background, and the decathlon wasn't mentioned. I can see the results on the web - but I wanted to watch the competition build. I suspect since GB competitors had all fallen by the wayside in those events there was no interest in showing them.

They did say you can watch the javelin etc on the red button - but on my freeview that was NOT an option. And anyway - I don't want to watch the javelin to the exclusion of the rest - I want to watch the highlights of them all. There was time in the schedule to give us at least some of it (I did get bored with some of the Bolt hype, and watching him celebrate for so long was frustrating when you knew other stuff was also going on).

The bbc website seems to be similarly obsessed with Team GB - must see events seem to included almost exclusively GB (apart from Usain Bolt - but maybe we can adopt him as British - surely we can claim a tenuous link for his ancestors being in Jamaica, and us making Jamaica what is by being in charge for a couple of hundred years ?).

Haunted - I have seen loads of videos shown explaining rules and things, infact yesterday I commented how useful they had been.

I am intrigued how the BBC are expected to show everything on one channel which seems to be what the OP is after. You can watch any sport you want on the BBC website. Of course they will focus on team GB just like I am sure every other country is focusing on their team.

Hmm objection to too much home team coverage.

Now objecting to too much coverage of a country whose former colonial power was the home team and who celebrated the 50th anniversary of wrestling away from that colonial power?

What shall we object to today?

No I am not objecting to the coverage of Jamaican athletes yesterday - I was trying to make a joke that maybe we could include them in team GB in some way :).

I thikn my point is the main BBC 1 evening coverage is maybe the only bit a lot of people have time to watch. It should aspire to show us the best of everything that has happened that day. In my opinion that has not been achieved, it has tended towards a team GB fest instead. And I think that is not what the BBC should be about.

Even the BBC news (and local news) seems to be obsessed with Team GB. Surely if you are that interested in the olympics you will be watching that and not the 6pm news ? I am interested in the olympics, but I still wondered if nothing else has happened that was news worthy ?

All I am asking is for a bit of perspective, a return to more balanced reporting, and not limiting it to the cult of celebrity and GB is the only thing.

While I am at it - maybe we should be celebrating the fact that the olympics seems to have been a great success - despite all the doom forecast in the weeks before it. It seems it hasn't been the total chaos that the media were expectantly forecasting a few weeks ago.

Well, on a sports programme, not showing large chunks of the sport does seem a reasonable complaint.

I'm wondering how many of us who think the BBC is getting the balance wrong are old and the issue is that we remember how they used to do it. We used to do a reasonable job of "showing everything" in the athletics, because when there was a gap in live coverage, between heats or events on the track, they'd seamlessly cut to footage of the field events that they'd recorded while the track events were running. Now they fill that space with biographical featurettes or cutting to pundits in the studio instead. Back when the Coe/Ovett rivalry was at its height I don't recall seeing a single featurette in which they played back clips of a pre-recorded interview with Sebastian Coe and his mum, or where we were treated to scenes in Steve Ovett's local pub as they watched his race on television. They'd cut to showing us the women's hammer or the men's shot put, or whatever else was going on that day, instead. I think there's at least an argument that if something needs to be shunted off onto red button or online coverage it should be the fluffy filler rather than the sport.

Precisely ! (is that spelt right ?). That is what I have been trying to say.

It used to be better. We could make better use of the live coverage, and put the extra info on the red button, website etc. It is all there anyway if you want to go looking - biographies of every competitor.

The small sections on the rules of a sport, or the tactics - yes great - include when there is a lull in the action, but not instead of the action.

I think what is really winding me up in the athletics in particular (but also in the swimming) is all the biopics - lots of background to gb athletes who then don't do that well

If the only thing you care about is medals than you are right miserable.

I think its great to see the athletics who COMPETE FOR OUR NATION get the coverage alongside the ones who do win. If we don't talk about them and appreciate their performance, do you think anyone else will? We should recognise anyone who represents our country to this level...

In the Times there was some estimate that every taxpayer has contributed just over £400 to the Olympics. I want to feel as though I have received my £400 worth - the beeb and Team GB are doing a grand job.

I do feel like an addict though and am worried about what happens when it all finishes

I think its great to see the athletics who COMPETE FOR OUR NATION get the coverage alongside the ones who do win.

Yes - alongside fine - but it has been tending towards instead of - which is my point. I don't like that and want a return to the previous more even handed approach. I am happy to hear about GB competitors, but not to the exlcusion of the others.

I think the beeb have got the main covering pretty right. The majority of people watching the main evening show are not hardcore sports fans, they are people with some interest in sport (somewhere between strong bad pretty low) who are interested in the once-every-four-years spectacle of the Olympics. I think for that audience, getting some insight into what goes in to becoming a champion, what it is like for their families, how exciting it is for their home towns, and so on, is part of the whole story - as is focusing on the GB medals.

For those really interested in the sport itself rather than the spectacle and the fun, there are lots of other channels. And if you don't have broadband or the right channels, that could be annoying for you - but the beeb still needs to cater to the majority, and I think the majority interest is in the spectacle, the fun and the excitement of the GB team excelling, rather than in the sport per se.

You'd think there were only Brits winning medals, or taking part for that matter. It is WAY too one-sided.

I would be quite keen to see footage of events where other nations than Brits are competing. But no.

On some occasions, where Team GB has won a gold or a silver, they have not even bothered to name who actually WON the event!

BOOOO BBC!!!

Sorry, I meant where Team GB has won a silver or bronze...

When were these halcyon days of full coverage? The Atlanta Olympics when we one one gold and a handful of other medals? Other games when we traditionally earned 5 golds?

With not a lot to celebrate with Team GB, there would have been more time to flit around the stadium with a camera. When the swimming was on, we got plenty on non-Brit coverage, with Team GB not doing so well.

More likely, the coverage of field events in the past was thanks to Fatima Whitbread, Tessa Sanderson, Steve Backley, Geoff Capes, Daley Thompson, Jonathan Edwards, et al. Other than that, coverage of field events would be for exceptional throws and jumps. No one wants to see a lot of red flags which is a reality for field events.

I think in years gone by, we did have a lot of prime time touchy-feely coverage of athletes' lives. I think I know a lot about former stars, which must have come from BBC1 coverage, because it didn't come from 24hr radio, web, digital channels.

I can't see how anyone can object to Colin Jackson's one-minute explanations as to how each sport works. They are fab, and some understanding is essential to enjoyment and appreciation.

Having lived in the USA for 4 Olympics, I will not have anyone say anything bad about Auntie

They are showing men's polevaulting (no Brits) and women's hammer on BBC1 right now.

It was good watching tonight (apart from the womens 1500). Although they (the commentators) admitted they had no idea who won the 4 by 400 !

I said to DH that the stuff about Steve Cram for example was interesting - why didn't they put all that stuff together and do programs like that before the Olympics - could have done one on each sport - past and present. I just would prefer to see the action on the day, and have all that stuff at some other time.

No Brits in the pole vaulting except Steven Lewis who according to coverage beforehand is ranked #5 in the world and was one of our hopes for a possible medal (he finished equal fifth in the end).

(not objecting to the coverage, though - in fact, if you hadn't noticed him that suggests it was very even-handed)

this is kind of what it's like watching BBC coverage of the world cup (or other international football). every player is related to what English league team he does/has played for and 1966 is mentioned somehow in every game! it's nice when they just get on and talk about what's actually happening. :)

Does anyone know who won the womens handball? Or mountain biking?

Yes! A French woman won the biking....Julie someone...what stamina! And Norway won the handball. Mountain biking was on BBC1...