ABC overcomes TV hurdle with plastic Aussies
CREDIT where credit’s due. The BBC have produced superb coverage of the London 2012 Olympics – but then it helps to have live broadcast rights for nearly every sport.
Spare a thought for presenters at TV networks without that privilege, such as Australia’s ABC, who were forced to hit on a creative way of bringing Sally Pearson’s gold-medal winning performance in the 100m hurdles to life.
Frustrated at only being allowed to show stills of her moment of glory, the ABC News breakfast show attempted to recreate the drama – using pieces of Lego.
“Quite frankly, I am sick of running these still images,” began host Michael Rowland, who proceeded to move the plastic pieces over their plastic hurdles, along with running commentary.
“The pictures really don’t show how close it was,” he added, seemingly oblivious to the limitations of his reconstruction, before making the toys re-enact her squealing celebration.
“We look forward to that medal celebration tomorrow morning,” the host concluded, with more than a hint of resignation, “which we won’t be able to show you.”
Thankfully for the folks at ABC, they haven’t had cause to repeat the exercise too often. Though if the quandary presents itself again, might we suggest using cuddly Wenlock toys to recreate the action? It’s what Locog would want.