The Olympic Broadcasting Service has warned camera operators to be more careful in the way they film men and women during Paris 2024 to avoid “stereotypes and sexism."
All eyes in the sporting world are on Paris as more than 10,000 athletes will participate in the Games. However, the Games have apparently not satisfied in its aim of reaching gender parity. The head of the Olympic Broadcasting Service, Yiannis Exarchos, has warned camera operators about potential “sexist” filming.
Exarchos has expressed his desire to combat “unconscious biases” in TV coverage between male and female athletes. He continued to state that training was held last year for female camera operators in an effort to increase equality in the coverage. But he accepted that the majority of operators are male and has warned cameramen to consider how they are portraying different genders.
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The OBS chief executive told reporters in Paris that camera operators and TV editors need to address their coverage which features more close-up shots of women than men. “Unfortunately, in some events they (women) are still being filmed in a way that you can identify that stereotypes and sexism remains, even from the way in which some camera operators are framing differently men and women athletes,” Exarchos said.
“Women athletes are not there because they are more attractive or sexy or whatever. They are there because they are elite athletes. The same way with commentators, using a man as a reference to qualify how a female athlete is doing, it is absolutely the wrong way."
Exarchos has also attempted to address the contrast in spectator figures between the male and female events, including planning women’s events to take place after their male equivalents, such as hosting the women’s marathon as the last event of the Games.
"The schedules of sporting events have traditionally been biased towards highlighting men's events," Exarchos explained. "Traditionally, in team sports, you have first women's finals, and then the men's final ... In strength and combat sports, traditionally you have women's competitions in the morning and men's competitions in the afternoon.”
Paris organizers and the International Olympic Committee have advertised the 2024 showpiece as "The Equal Games," highlighting and celebrating that 50 per cent of participants are female. The IOC head of gender equality, Marie Sallois, described the Paris Games as "de facto the world's largest platform to promote gender equality in and through sport".
A pleasing factor for organizers was that nearly every nation had a female and male flagbearer during the opening ceremony last Friday.
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