Game, set and match to Danny Boyle

Raymond Snoddy says coverage of the Olympics has become the video and soundtrack to all our lives. Even those with zero interest in sport get sucked into the drama and sports such as the epee, dressage and single sculls that you normally wouldn’t cross the road to watch. It all adds up to one of the great shows on earth…

The moment when typical media cynicism evaporated can be pinpointed. The sheep and the geese were splendid and the cart-horses magnificent but the key moment came when Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean started noiselessly disrupting the best efforts of the London Symphony Orchestra – the most tweeted topic of the ceremony.

At that moment it was obvious that something special was on the way. Self-deprecation, humour – all the things we like to believe about ourselves. When the Queen gave the performance of a long lifetime it was game set and match to Danny Boyle.

The New York Times may have caught us all out though when it noted that all that modesty and humility was possible because of an underlying sense of superiority.

And then we were all riveted by the telly until long past normal bedtimes, giving the BBC a peak audience of 26.9 million and an average of 23 million.

It was said an estimated one billion watched worldwide, though the number is suspiciously round. Let’s just say the event was testimony to the remaining, undiluted power of television to gather together large audiences for big events.

It also looks like Twitter has won the gold medal for the competition between social media sites with 97% using the site for online Olympic opening conversations – with Facebook and YouTube nowhere to be seen.

The coverage amusingly exposed the right-wing nutters, the rapid Tory MPs and acerbic commentators who denounced the opening as Socialist crap and social worker television.
That was not how the audience saw it and Prime Minister David Cameroon was wise enough to realise that.

NBC

The coverage also highlighted the inevitable differences between British and American television. NBC delayed the opening ceremony for three hours on the East Coast and for six hours on the West to get prime-time audiences and advertising slots. It was obviously a difficult decision to take but probably an inevitable one given that NBC paid more than $1 billion for the rights to the Games and has to get its money back.

The Twitter feed waits for no man’s delayed broadcasts and was unforgiving. Some of those who picked up live streams from the ceremony said: Wow – no ads. In the US the ceremony was regularly interrupted for the ads and the memorial section for 7/7 victims was cut because it was believed that it would not interest an American audience.

NBC did however win a record audience for its delayed coverage of the opening ceremony. But it must have been embarrassing that despite NBC streaming all of the Olympic sports on the world wide web, the American co-presenter of the opening ceremony said: “If you don’t know who Sir Tim Berners-Lee is then neither do we.”

Olympic Broadcasting Services

In the UK a lot of the oddities have been caused by the fact that Britain is the host nation but the BBC is not the host broadcaster. Until 2008 the host nation produced the host broadcaster but now the coverage is run by a separate company owned by the International Olympic Committee – Olympic Broadcasting Services. This company slices up responsibilities between the various sports in a sometimes eccentric way.

As a result the centrepiece of the Olympics – the track and field events from the main stadium will be filmed not by the BBC but by Finnish broadcasters.

The Belgians like cycling so let’s give Belgian broadcasters the the cycling events… and we all saw how well that went with the men’s road race.

The BBC is safely tucked up with half a dozen sports such as rowing and equestrian activities.

It is perhaps a warning to sports organisations that think they can take control of their rights and become their own broadcasters.

Bad Press

Journalists responsible for the news coverage in the run-up to the Games should perhaps have a moment of quiet contemplation once the Games are over.

Before events happen journalists have to say something and strain for stories even though little is actually happening.

It happened before the World Cup in Poland and the Ukraine. Considerable emphasis was put on racist football thugs in both countries. They undoubtedly exist and the stories were true but were they out of proportion and did they actually prevent people from attending?

As it happened the World Cup went off with barely an incident at all – apart from the usual disappointment over the performance of the England team.

With the Olympics there was indeed trouble with the security and ticketing arrangements but the media have gone along with the scare stories, partly fuelled by LOCOG, the organising committee, that central London would be brought to its knees and gridlock would rule. The reality is that the centre is unusually quiet.

Sucked in

Despite all such minor irritations the coverage of the Olympics has become the video and soundtrack to all our lives for two weeks.

Even those with zero interest in sport get gradually sucked into the drama and sports such as the epee, dressage and single sculls that you normally wouldn’t cross the road to watch become unmissable. It all adds up to one of the great shows on earth.

For Brits there is the familiar pattern. The exaggerated optimism that people we have never heard of will suddenly turn years of training into an unexpected medal – only for the young woman to end up a plucky fifth as the latest Chinese wonder tears up the pool.

The word “disappointing” has started to be heard too many times. Maybe that’s another reason why Danny Boyle was perfect for the opening ceremony – he prepared us for smiling through the might-have-beens.

Off to the rowing on Saturday totally confident that the medals will start to shower down at last. The gold medal in the Women’s Pairs is a great start.

Then it’s off for a cruise down the Mekong – a trip booked long ago when the coming Olympics seemed to be something to escape from. Damn. Bad choice.

How will it be possible to find out who won the 100 metres final in the middle of the Mekong?

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