The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: NBC’s Coverage of Olympic Distance Events

By Alex Fox

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If you’re currently reading this piece, it is safe to assume 1) you’re from the United States and 2) you followed distance running, and watched or tracked the Olympics (I just know our audience here at Etrain). Based on these two premises, you’re probably pretty happy with how things turned out in Rio. Why wouldn’t you be? The US Men’s and Women’s distance runners consistently turned in outstanding results and proved that we are in fact one of the best countries in the world for distance runners; in fact, after the results in Rio, one could make a pretty compelling argument for the US Men's distance team being the best at the Games. Despite the excitement within the running community for the team’s performance, that feeling is not shared with the general public; once again, coverage of distance events was mediocre at best. This is nothing new, so why am I once again picking a fight? Well, plain and simple, this was our chance to put distance running on the country’s radar and make the athletes who represented us so well household names. And NBC unequivocally blew it. 

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Over the past three Olympics, athletes like Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte, Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, and Aly Raisman have all become household names among nearly all Americans. While all these athletes are incredible and exciting to watch, their rise in popularity didn’t come about as result of swimming and gymnastics having a large fan base; rather, their sports garnered significant coverage at the Olympics in 2008, 2012, and 2016. NBC spent a significant amount of airtime not just covering their actual competitions, but also giving the athlete’s backstory and giving in depth analysis to their events. NBC, through their Olympic Games coverage, has the power to shape a sport’s or athlete’s popularity. With how well our distance runners ran and some of the compelling backgrounds of the events or runners involved, NBC could’ve done the same thing for distance running as they did for the aforementioned sports. There are several examples I’d like to rant on, but there are three prime examples of where I think NBC failed the most spectacularly: the men’s 1500, 5k, and 800.  

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I’ll start with the most obvious example of NBC’s colossal failure to make any sort of fuss about a distance event: the men’s 1500. Before I go into the big miss, let’s start with the semi-finals, where Robby Andrews was disqualified. This storyline created quite the buzz amongst the running community, as the decision was close and controversial. Instead of examining and explaining the rationale of why or why not Andrews should be disqualified, Bob Costas reported the DQ and moved on. This was an American athlete’s chance to compete in an Olympic final, and Andrews might as well have been trying to set the pacer test record for his high school based on NBC’s coverage. Why not call Alan Webb and have him explain his and Andrew’s argument on air so a normal viewer can understand the sport they’re watching? Beyond this, NBC’s coverage of the final was a disgrace. There was no race preview whatsoever, and barely a peep was made on Matt Centrowitz winning gold. They mentioned the fact that this was America’s first gold in the men’s 1500 since 1908, and then moved back to their never ending obsession with “Lochtegate.” This isn’t to say that what happened with Lochte wasn’t newsworthy, but here are some facts about 1908 to give you some perspective on Centro’s accomplishment:

• Theodore Roosevelt was President at the time

• New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii were not yet states

• The Chicago Cubs were World Series Champions 

• Women did not have the right to vote

So yeah, Centro’s victory was pretty important. Not only that, he beat a field that included former gold medalists Asbel Kiprop and Tauofik Makhloufi. I’ve written before that Centro is the perfect poster boy for US Distance running. He’s confident, he’s got swagger, and now he’s an Olympic Champion. NBC could’ve put him in the ranks of Simone Biles or Katie Ledecky, but if you stop someone on the street today, I can almost certainly guarantee they’ll know those other two names and not Centrowitz. 

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Less than an hour after blowing their 1500m coverage, NBC did it again in the men’s 5k final. There’s a lot they messed up here, so let’s start with the guy at the top: Mo Farah. After recovering from a fall to win the 10k, Farah was toeing the line trying to become the first runner to ever complete the 5k/10k double gold for a second time. Given this monumental accomplishment and Farah’s career dominance, a victory gave Farah a pretty compelling argument for best male distance runner ever (which we discussed on the Roundhouse, self-pat on the back). NBC did not even come close to this discussion or even compare Farah’s career to Kenenisa Bekele’s. Meanwhile, the number of hours spent droning on about Usian Bolt’s dominance seemed infinite. I get it, he’s the best sprinter ever and maybe the most dominant athlete in any sport, but this isn’t news. Everyone knows this from 2008 and 2012, when he was at the pinnacle of his dominance. Why not share the love and show some appreciation for just how great Mo Farah is? We know how hugely popular Farah is in the UK, so why not give him some of the love Bolt gets here in the US? The discrepancy in coverage despite the parallels in dominance and historical significance is disheartening and upsetting as a distance running fan. 

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Mo Farah was not the only runner in the 5k to fall victim to NBC’s ignorance in covering distance running; Paul Chelimo, the shocking silver medalist, received maybe the worst treatment of any Olympian I’ve ever seen. Here’s some things NBC should’ve covered when Chelimo won an Olympic Silver Medal: Chelimo wasn’t expected to make the US Olympic team, Chelimo wasn’t supposed to make the finals of the 5k but ran a PR to win his qualifying heat, Chelimo was the least known runner among the 3 Americans in the final but ran a 13 second personal best to finish second overall and first among US runners, or the fact that Chelimo was representing the US Army and is in fact a soldier. Instead of highlighting any of these attributes about Chelimo, NBC embarrassed him on live TV. Chelimo was unaware of his initial disqualification, and was informed of it by an NBC field reporter…while they were streaming the interview. Chelimo went from ecstatic to devastated, as any underdog who just won an Olympic Silver Medal would. Chelimo was unable to form full sentences, and the interviewer offered no sympathy. If this wasn’t bad enough, NBC decided not to wait for more of an explanation, and mistakenly showed Chelimo and viewers at home some mid race jostling as the reason for the DQ when Chelimo and two other athletes had in fact been disqualified for stepping on the line of the track. When the DQ was overruled and Chelimo was rightly granted his silver medal, NBC failed to even apologize for their oblivious and unprofessional treatment of Chelimo. This was no way to cover an incredible performance, and an absolutely disgraceful way to treat a man representing the US so well. 

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Last but not least of NBC’s debacles was the men’s 800 final. To their credit, NBC did quite a bit of buildup for this race, however, their coverage, both pre and post-race was centered on David Rudisha. I know that Rudisha won gold in Rio and is the World Record holder for the distance, but he was nowhere near the form he was in leading up to London; NBC’s coverage would lead the casual observer to believe another World Record was on the docket for Rudisha, when in fact he ran more than a second slower this time around. That’s not to take anything away from his gold in Rio, but he was the favorite and NBC’s analysis of the 800 was solely on Rudisha. What was surprising about the 800 final was Clayton Murphy. Over the course of the Olympic Games, NBC did quite a bit of storytelling, a method of having viewers get invested into an athlete’s outcome. For some reason, Clayton Murphy’s remarkable ascension was left untold. Murphy came from a town of just 2,000 in the middle of Ohio, and entered college at the University of Akron without many taking notice. Over his first two years at Akron, Murphy went from an unspectacular 1:54 half miler to All American and shock world team qualifier. He was still not an Olympic medal contender in the eyes of most…and by most, I mean everyone. Over the next calendar year, Murphy continued to improve tremendously, winning NCAA titles in the 800 and 1500, winning the US title, and making the Olympic final. Still, in the stacked 800 final, he was not a favorite to medal. But he ran 1:42.93 and snagged the bronze. Here’s some perspective: over a little more than 12 months, Murphy went from 3rd best in the NCAA to third best in the world and third fastest American of all time. Oh yeah, did I mentioned that this kid just turned 21 in February??? NBC devoted their post-race discussion to Rudisha, meanwhile Clayton Murphy put himself on course to be in the discussion of best middle distance runner in American history. For an American network, that sorta seems noteworthy.

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While these are the three biggest misses in my eyes, NBC failed at nearly every event I watched: Emma Coburn won the first medal for a woman steeple chaser in US History. Evan Jager won silver for the first medal since 1984 and ran under the old Olympic Record in brutal heat. Jenny Simpson and Shannon Rowbury finished 3-4, closing hard on two of the greats in women’s middle distance running history. Molly Huddle set an American record in arguably the greatest distance race of all time, the woman’s 10k, where 4 of the 5 fastest times ever were ran. Finally, Bob Costas and his NBC buddies did discuss Genzebe Dibaba and her connection to coach Jama Aden, who was arrested for possession of performance enhancing substances. However, NBC failed to even mention that TauofikMakhloufi was formerly coached by the same man; Makhloufi raced 6 times in Rio, won two silvers, and is the gold medalist from London. If that wasn’t ample incentive to discuss Makhloufi’s connection to Aden, how about the fact that should a positive test come up from 2012, Leo Manzano, an American, would be awarded the gold, and the bronze would go to Centro. Once again, seems like it’s important. 

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So, how can NBC correct this obvious error in their distance running coverage for the future? There’s one obvious answer to me. Recruit a former distance runner to announce the races. They took this approach with sprinting and the multi-events, as Sonya Richards Ross and Trey Hardee were welcome additions to the NBC booth. Why wasn’t there a distance runner for the distance events? How about Nick Symmonds? Symmonds has the charm to be in the booth, and he sure knows the athletes and storylines, and I’d bet a significant amount that he'd be thrilled to announce the Olympic Games. I’m a college senior and I don’t study TV Production or Communication; I find it hard to believe that no one at NBC had a similar or the exact same idea. We all know middle and long distance running has the potential to garner a wider viewership. We all follow it because of how exciting it can be! If this sport is ever going to grow into its potential, the coverage in the United States is going to have to drastically improve. If not, the general public will continue to miss out on something we all love.