Olympics show wealth of options for sports media graduates
Sports Journalism lecturer David Easson will be encouraging his students about the wealth of opportunities available and the importance of being flexible at unexpected moments after helping to cover the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The recent summer games was the seventh Olympiad that David has covered, and for him they contained “the best sporting moment I have ever witnessed” in Tom Pidcock’s dramatic gold in the men’s mountain bike race.
David’s work for the Olympic Information Service saw him interviewing medallists soon after the end of cycling events, including the road races, BMX and mountain biking, and the triathlon which also featured another British triumph for Alex Yee.
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The breadth of events and the importance of teamwork in a pressurised environment, gathering content for use around the word, show the possibilities for students who will work with David on the Sports Journalism course at the University.
“I think Paris was the best games since London,” David asserts. “The French government went absolutely full throttle to make it work and to look as incredible as it did. First of all, it’s a sporting attraction, but also as a cultural event, it's like a city dropping itself on another city - it's that big. And I think Paris was pretty much perfectly ready for it.
David has now covered seven Olympiads“Tom Pidcock’s performance in Paris was probably the most incredible moment in sport that I’ve seen myself. He was great in Tokyo, but to make up the time he did after a puncture in the time left was amazing. The French crowd assumed their guy was about to appear in first place, so when Pidcock came around the corner – there was no big screen – and won, it was a great moment.”
The art of getting tough subjects to open up
David’s role involves him working with camera crews and content gatherers to grab a few moments with medal winners while the moment is still fresh. Some medallists are better at explaining their feelings than others, and Tom Pidcock’s reaction provided an ideal example of trying to get a reluctant interviewee to open up.
“Tom is a very difficult interview, he's not ‘difficult’ but that is just the way he is. He's very guarded.
“These moments do have an effect even on the toughest Olympian, and he was in pieces. He was in bits, and although he had his shades and his visor on, he was crying and he didn't want to do any more because he didn't want to break on camera. He went off and composed himself, but he had been broken by what he'd just done.
“In those intense moments, you're waiting for the interview, you've got your cameraperson with you, an assistant who's logging stuff so you have this little team you're working with. It's a quite a tight unit but you have to be ready to go.”
David says that teamwork and flexibility are vital in the pressure-cooker moments when content has to be gatheredCovering a variety of events, and the many moments within them, underlines for David how students looking to work in sports media need to put preconceptions about sports or the big names to one side focus on the stories regardless of the profile.
"It reaffirms that the possibilities are still there. I'm very lucky that I'm supported by the University to go to both summer and winter games, and I hope to infuse the students as to those kind of possibilities that are out there.
"It is all about the people, it's all about those stories. You will get people who are delighted with the bronze, you'll get people who are devastated by a bronze but that's all part of what comes at you.
"The Olympics showcases what may be considered as niche sports, but they have world tours, world championships and opportunities for work. And not just interviewing like I do, there is making films, there is social media. It's being across everything and being open to the sheer possibilities of sporting events around the world - they need people to produce all of this content."
Audiences wanting more detail than ever
One slight difference in covering this year’s Olympics was a new emphasis on audiences wanting to know detailed information as well as how athletes feel.
“The subtle change this time was that as well asking 'how do you feel?', people want to know what went wrong, where and how and what was going on in that moment, 'Tell me what happened on that corner?',” David adds. “At previous games it was about the emotions. Now, there is a clamour for information.
“It's those moments when you're going to be really in the zone yourself as you've to be on with the right question at the right time. Those moments can be a battle, but it’s also about teamwork with those people with you, who you might not know that well.”