Very disappointed by tv coverage of Women's 10m Pistol final

[HBP]

I've just finished watching 70 minutes of tv coverage of the Women's 10m pistol final. I should be happy since this is the most coverage I've seen of pistol shooting in 30 years of tv viewing, but I'm not . . .

Shooting is under threat internationally because it is seen to not be tv viewer friendly, yet watching this single event I can see why.

1. Of the 70 minutes, 20 was of the actual shooting, the rest was of confused looking officials and competitors and the medal ceremony.

2. All the drama supposedly created by the finals format was negated by the broadcaster not showing shot scores, or shot placement. Throughout the entire final series no individual shot scores were shown at all.

3. The superimposed target in the bottom corner of the screen was so small I could not see the shot, despite sitting up to 5ft from the large screen tv (and knowing what to look for).

4. For some unknown reason they abandoned the superimposed target half way through, so for the last three or four rounds (when the lead changed each time) one had no idea of who shot what.

5. No side-on footage was shown at all, so what all the fuss is about re. blinders is unknown. All footage of competitors was from the front.

6. This was a particularly exciting final, the lead changed with virtually every shot, yet it came across as bland and boring. One could not "get involved" because as a tv viewer I had no idea of who was shooting what score. There had to be a shoot-off for the gold medal (how potentially exciting is that) yet with no scores or targets shown one had no idea who won.

I understand shooting, I know what to look out for, I understand the scoring, and I was confused and uninformed as to who was shooting what scores, and where they stood. To novice shooters, or non-shooters it must have looked like a joke. Surely, for the single biggest sporting event in the world the Olympic body would get together with the braodcasters and determine a suitable television format for each discipline. It's not brain surgery.

[Don]

I know your frustration. I have told the NBC tv people and many others that the shooting events could be made interesting to the average viewer, if they would just have someone that knows the sport do the reporting and directing the cameras. I know of several people, myseif included, that could do this easily, but of course the big wheels in tv don't want to hear it. They can say they broadcast the shooting events, but they do it in such a manner as to make it worthless, as you described.
It is still up to the IOC and ISSF powers to force the tv people to do their jobs, but apparently, the money coming in from the tv rights outweighs the viewers interests. Oh well.

[sparky]

HBP, you've provided a very detailed account of what was wrong with the coverage here. But have you emailed NBC a copy? Sounds like they really need to know it. Here, it's more like preaching to the choir.

[Bill]

For those on the east coast who were awake at 0400 on Saturday to see the Women's 10m Air final, it was pretty well done. I did not see the pistol events on TV, so I cannot compare.

Notwithstanding the fact that NBC had a few errors (I believe one commentator announced the US rifle coach as David Jackson), it was the most positive thing I've seen in some time. In fact, it was the ONLY coverage I've seen in some time.

Yes, the announcers don't understand the sport. But they did an excellent job of trying to create excitement in what otherwise REALLY IS a boring sport to watch. They made frequent comment on the (small) size of the ten ring, and explained how the final score is added to the prelim.

They also made note that the women were completely composed, which (in effect) added to the boredom. But the fact that they showed the rankings after each shot made it superior, and the viewers could indeed see the scores of the top-two shooters in real-time.

Note for the record: Not once did they show shooting pants, at least the best I recall. Hence, the "duck walk" was never an issue. For those thinking that pants somehow impact the public, forget it.

Also, 95% of the camera shots were directly on the face. Hence, it appears that the side-blinder issue really isn't.

All of that said, congrats to all the shooters and to the tough women from China and Russia who did so well in this event, as well as men's pistol.

Maybe I'll take a trip to China to learn their ways of shooting. :)

Bill

[TWP]

I agree with bill,

I thought the Womens Air Rifle finals were done quite well.

I didn't bother getting up at 4:00, I set the VCR and watched it at 6:30.

[RobStubbs]

You guys seem to have done pretty well with the coverage, in the UK we've had less than a minutes coverage in total; no finals, etc. I'm still looking for anything online that shows live feeds or even recorded but I've not had any luck so far :(

Rob.

[pilkguns]

anbody that has tape of any of the coverage, please contact us, I would like to see it as well. We don't have cable or sattelite here.

thanks
Scott

[HBP]

I've just finished watching the Mens 10m Air Rifle Final . . . slight improvement in the filming over the air pistol, but still only a shadow of what it could have been. Came across as being pedestrian, boring, and confusing. Only a true enthusiast could have extracted any degree of interest out of it.

Again, 70 minutes of viewing, but only 20 minutes of shooting, the balance of competitors milling about and the medals ceremony.

Individual scores shown this time, but only in isolation, so one didn't know how one shooter was doing relative to the others.

They made use of little targets in the bottom corner of the screen, but very small and indistinct.

All filming done from the front, so the blinders issue wasn't an issue. The competitors faces are obscured by the sights, shooting glasses, single eye blinder, caps, etc anyway.

No filming of the equipment, no commentary about the different rifles, or stances, or jackets, or grips, or anything.

I hear the comment about forwarding comments to NBC, but I'm a non-US viewer. What I cannot understand is that sitting in front of similar tv's around the world must be dozens of ISSF officials. Don't THEY see how poorly THEIR sport is being portrayed?

Just before the shooting I was watching the women's softball (Japan -vs- USA). I know absolutely nothing about softball, but I watched it for 45 minutes because the commentary, although technical, was informative and interesting. Judging from the way in which it was filmed (camera angles, etc) someone was in there who knew the sport. In the shooting I couldn't help but feel that the director / camera crew / producer / etc had no experience of filming such an event. I'm sure the softball officials would not allow an amateur film crew to film their sport, so why do the shooting officials allow their sport to be so amateurishly filmed?

[Bill Poole]

Somebody on rec.sports.olympics posted:

> I had been watching Olympic games for 25 years. I have seen thousands of
> medal competition, but the Women 10 meters Air Pistol final that just
ended
> at the Markopoulos center is simply the most breathtaking, suspence-full
> Olympic shooting event I have ever seen.


we're getting their attention


Poole

[89gted]

I got to watch the 50 meter prone this morning on Bravo channel, and I thought they handled it pretty well. They had a good sized target shown with the shooters and kept you updated on the overall scores. I was happy with it except for the 4 shots pre-empted by commercials. USA won GOLD. YES......