The Paris Olympics are done, and it is time to go home. While the Indian campaign has been modest, team RevSportz has done its absolute best here at the Games. As a young organisation less than three years old, we had made an ambitious plan for Paris. To get a team of seven to the Olympics was considered crazy. How could we spend so much money? How would we generate so much revenue? Is this model of getting seven journalists to a Games sustainable?
Honestly, as founder and editor-in-chief, I did not have answers to these questions. All I knew was that it was essential the Olympics were covered in the best way possible, and one or two people could never do justice to a spectacle like this. I had seen bigger crews like the NBC or the BBC cover the Games, and the learning was that we needed reporters at as many venues as possible, and also have someone intellectually strong enough to report on the cultural Olympiad and the society hosting the Games. That’s how the plan was made.
Get more people out there with a knowledge of Olympic sport, and make sure that all Indian events are covered real time on ground. It was a clear case of disruption in sports media coverage, and not many believed in the plan. However, once in Paris, it worked like magic. On days when Indian action was on simultaneously, we were the only team that had people everywhere. The shooting events were held three hours away from Paris, and we had a dedicated team stationed in Chateauroux for all the action. It meant they weren’t exhausted with the commute, and could report in real time.
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Sharmistha Gooptu was dedicatedly bringing the culture stories to our viewers, and the overwhelming reaction to our coverage said it all. It was important we asked the hard questions. Be constructively critical when needed. The idea was always to be as objective as possible, and yet not compromise on asking the tough questions when needed.
We questioned the incompetence of the support staff in the case of both Vinesh Phogat and Antim Panghal, and asked why our athletes lacked mental strength, as in the case of Lakshya Sen, and why the entire team wouldn’t take responsibility. We also queried why such things happen to India time and again after the Nishant Dev verdict in the boxing.
We did videos real time, broke news, did exclusives and scaled new heights in coverage. It has given us the confidence to take things further going ahead, and we will apply our learnings in our Paralympics coverage two weeks from now.
To everyone who watched with us, read our pieces, commented on our work and engaged with us, a very sincere thank you. It was wonderful doing the Olympics yet again and, as I said, setting a new benchmark for ourselves. We now turn to the Paralympics, with the promise that we will report with the same passion and commitment as we did for the Olympics. Expecting the same support from you all.
Also Read: Instead of scapegoats, the support teams need to take responsibility for Vinesh and Antim fiascos