mark b wrote:
As someone who was hopelessly wrong about Farah's marathon debut (I thought he would win in about 2hr 5min and said so on this site!)I hesitate to say anything ever again but ... . The BBC's coverage of athletics is awful. Any idea of being impartial observers/commentators has been abandoned and they see themselves as cheerleaders for "Team GB" (shouldn't that be Team UK in any case?). It gets worse when the athlete concerned - Farah - is a personal friend of one of the commentators , Steve Cram - something Cram has admitted in past broadcasts.
But you have to remember that athletics is one of the very few sports where the BBC is the main broadcaster in the UK - no cricket , very little football or rugby of either code etc. , etc. They cannot afford to lose their athletics coverage so they feel obliged to adopt this uncritical , fawning attitude all the time. It is pretty unpleasant to listen to if you are a fan of the sport and not some tub thumping jingoist!
On Farah's run ; to me he never looked comfortable , he looked heavy and seemed to be working very hard very early in the race. I wouldn't be suprised if it emerges in the next week or so that he was medically less than 100% when he started the race - something linked to his collapse in New York , perhaps?
Each to their own. Cram is my favourite commentator on TV at the moment. I probably watch too much sport, if I'm being honest about it. Foster is just like his favourite Cram's uncle that he has a cheeky dig every now and again.
I went to watch the race. I had a few people with supporting somebody from my family. They also wanted to see Mo. They couldn't have named anybody else at the front of the race. They didn't know Geb was pace making, they may no t even who he is. They don't know who Kipsang or Dibaba are.
The majority watching by the side of the road, or home on TV aren't watching to see the same athletes the majority of people on this message board want to see. London is the biggest annual fundraiser of the year. Mo is by far the biggest celebrity in distance running in the UK. More people (who don't have friends or family watching) are wanting to see the feel good stories of the people running for a worthy cause that means something to them, and they want to see famous TV chef and whatever running and being interviewed. When it comes to the front end it was all about whether Mo could win. Again, the majority watching the coverage wouldn't have known who Steve Jones was, what the British record was. The BBC coverage gives the majority what they want. Letsrun should probably be greatful for Cram, Foster and Radcliffe. The general public would be just as happy with 'Celebrity I'm a runner get me out of here'.