I got up early to watch the Women’s Olympic Marathon this morning and what I saw of the race was mostly worth it. Why do I say mostly?
The athletes were amazing, the race fantastic.
I enjoyed watching the woman’s race, the different strategies that were being used on a very tough course, in very soggy conditions.
Of course I wanted the Americans to get on the podium and even though they didn’t, they gave it everything that they had – Flanagan, Goucher and Davila. The three medalists worked their butts off and all deserved their places on the podium.
Even though it might not mean a lot – I am very proud of all three of our American runners and so should everyone else who followed their exploits this morning.
The focus of my blog post should be on the athletes, the race itself and how great it was. Because I thoroughly enjoyed the race.
Instead I am going to be writing more about
NBC’s Women’s Marathon Coverage
Personally and this is speaking only for myself – I did not like NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Marathon. I know that they have to make money and show commercials during the events, but it sure did seem to me that at times like the Marathon was interrupting their commercials.
It was like they had a commercial break every 4-5 minutes for 2-3 minutes, no matter what was happening in the race. During one of the more exciting and important parts of the race when the lead pack took off from the main pack, they went to commercial break, instead of staying and letting the announcers discuss the strategy that was happening.
Then they would have what amounts to having another commercial when they would break away from the marathon coverage, to talk about the tennis match that was going to happen.
Also I have to ask, why were three guys – none of who were a marathoner (yes both color guys were/are runners and have Olympic Medals, but this was not their event) announcing the Woman’s Marathon? Aren’t there any retired Olympic women marathoner’s who could have done the color for their own event. Especially since the event has only been around since 1984?
During the Women’s Olympic Marathon, I also participated in a special #runchat live Twitter chat. The biggest thing that I took from this chat was the disappointment in NBC’s coverage of the race. As some stated would it be so hard to have a Picture In Picture (PIP). While I liked the stories about the runners, would it be too much to ask while the race is going on to have the PIP going – when they go to story telling mode or commercial.
Overall, the race was fantastic, but the coverage of the race by NBC was disappointing at best, in my opinion.
Do you think that NBC will make any changes to the Men’s Olympic Marathon, based on the amount of complaints they received about their coverage of the Women’s Marathon or will they use the same plan that frustrated so many of us?
I wonder if the announcers will be the same or if they will change?
The reality is that
If I had to make a bet, I would bet on no changes and we will have to put up with interrupting NBC’s commercial breaks, with the Men’s Olympic Marathon coverage.
It is too bad that the Marathon or other longer races do not have timeouts or breaks, made just for TV. Wouldn’t the TV execs love it if during a major race – when the leaders went a mile, everyone had to stop for 1-2 minutes so they could have a commercial.
Maybe that is why longer distance running is unpopular with TV powers that be – it isn’t made for TV, it is made for people to run without stopping.
Maybe it was too much running for some people and they believe that watching someone run/race for 26.2 miles, is like watching paint dry, but for the runners/marathoner out there were, the coverage was disappointing. Sorry for the bit of a rant, but this seems to happen at all the bigger races that are covered on TV and NBC’s coverage of the Women’s Marathon don’t do justice, to the athletes that competed in this event or the sport of running.
I usually don’t complain too much about things, but NBC’s coverage of this race did annoy me. Now that I have my first cup of coffee in me, maybe I will be in a better mood 
.
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Carrie
August 5, 2012 at 12:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I thought the same thing the other night while watching one of the 800m swim finals when they went to break in the middle of that race. Seriously, they couldn’t hold off of commercials for 8 minutes to show the race in it’s entirety?
Harold L. Shaw
August 5, 2012 at 3:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I watched that as well and couldn’t believe that they couldn’t wait for a commercial. In a long race like the Marathon I expect there to be commercials, I understand they have to make their money, but just not every 5 minutes. Wonder why so many have such long attention spans, if the action doesn’t have a timeout or break every 5-10 minutes, must be something wrong (sarcasm). Not too much we can do about it, other than not watch and I want to watch the Olympics and they are just about the only way to do it. IOC and NBC have a monopoly on how and what we see at the Olympics.
Happy Runner
August 5, 2012 at 6:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I am so happy to have been able to watch the marathon live (even though that meant I missed some of the action). The athletes ran past me 4 times and it was a joy to watch. I love the strength and determination you see in them.
Harold L. Shaw
August 5, 2012 at 9:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So jealous that you got to see it live, that must have been pretty amazing, one of those things that I want to see someday
Freckle's Run
August 5, 2012 at 10:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Totally agree- in fact, they treated it like it was boring!! So aggravating!
Week in Review 8/5/12 | A Veteran Runnah
August 5, 2012 at 3:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
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