On this day a year earlier, the Paris Olympics was done and it was time to go home. While the Indian campaign was modest, team RevSportz had done its absolute best at the Games. As a young organisation, less than three years old then, we had made an ambitious plan for Paris. To get a team of 7 to the Olympics was considered crazy. How could we spend so much money? How will we generate so much revenue? Is this model of getting 7 journalists to a Games sustainable?
Honestly, as Editor and Founder, I did not have answers to these questions. All I knew was it was essential the Olympics are covered the best way possible and one or two people can never do justice to a spectacle like this. I had seen bigger crews for organisations like NBC or the BBC cover the games and the learning was that we needed reporters in as many venues as possible, and also have someone intellectually strong enough to report on the cultural Olympiad or the culture surrounding the games.
That’s when the plan was made. Get more people out there with a knowledge of Olympic sports and make sure that all Indian events are covered real time from 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. Shooting was 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 travel and could report real time.
Sharmistha was dedicatedly bringing the culture stories to our viewers and the overwhelming reaction to our coverage said it all. It was important we ask the hard questions. Be constructively critical when needed. State the truth. The idea was always to be as objective as possible and yet not compromise on asking the tough questions when needed.
We questioned the support staff on Vinesh and Antim, questioned why our athletes lack mental strength in the case of Lakshya, and why the entire team wouldn’t take responsibility. We also asked why it happens to India time and again after the Nishant Dev verdict.
We did videos real time, broke news, did exclusives and scaled new grounds in coverage. It gave us the confidence to scale things further going ahead. Paris made England possible for us and now we know that we can do the same in cricket as well. We know what it takes to win on-ground coverage and we know that readers and viewers love it. We have a template and we will keep scaling. One year since Paris, we are stronger and more committed.
To everyone who watches and reads our stuff, a very sincere thank you. As we start planning for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games – they are a year from now, we will take a lot from the lessons we have learnt and will keep getting better. And in the process, create legacy and make a difference.
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