NBC’s Olympics coverage has attracted viewers in record numbers, but the network hasn’t done a good job using technology to explain obscure sports to all the new fans.
Take the men’s gymnastics competition: analyst Tim Daggett repeatedly stated that the Chinese gymnasts performed far harder routines on almost each piece of equipment than their counterparts from other countries.
Given today’s high definition video and powerful video editing programs, it would have been simple for Tim and his producers to put together comparisons that illustrated how Chinese routines differed from, say, American routines and why they were more difficult.
It would’ve also been easy to show split-screen photos of different people attempting the same moves and using those two photos to illustrate which was superior and why.
But NBC didn’t do that, so we just have to take Tim’s word for it that the Chinese did harder routines and did them superior than the competition.
The same problem has occurred again and again during the games.
I don’t even really know why Michael Phelps swims faster than other people.
I’ve heard he has big feet and is double-jointed, but NBC has never superimposed his strokes against the competitors so I could see how his flexibility leads to more powerful strokes.
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