Bonsoir & A Bientot
By Michael Weadock, August 2024
In the fullness of time, I will write and record my full reflections of the work experience of a lifetime – covering Paris 2024 for talkSPORT as an official Olympic broadcaster.
You can hear some of our thoughts on the experience in the latest episode of the podcast here:
For context, this was my fourth Summer Olympic Games but the first time I have been on site able to access venues to record interviews and broadcast play-by-play commentary. Previously we have had to report and interview away from the action which has always been a great thrill, but always left us feeling slightly like outsiders despite the warm welcome and hospitality at places like Team GB House.
I did want to get some thoughts on paper quickly whilst the emotion is still high. I use the word emotion deliberately here because it is a word I put to many of our Olympians when interviewing them. I asked them for their emotions. For the past ten years I have covered athletics extensively for talkSPORT. This has included numerous British Championships, Diamond League events, Indoor Grand Prix events, Anniversary Games, European Championships and World Championships – indoor and outdoor. And so, it made sense that one of my key roles for talkSPORT was to be the trackside reporter for all the athletics finals and evening sessions. Whilst it meant I maybe didn’t see the breadth of sports and disciplines like my colleague John, it did put me in the position I had dreamt about for a long time.
So, here I want to reflect on ten key moments as talkSPORT’s trackside reporter.
1. Georgia Bell – I first met Georgia early this year as we were building up to the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. She told me how she was working full time in cyber security and had re-discovered her love of athletics after walking away from the sport for about a decade. She finished fourth in Glasgow and in an interview after her event, she told me she had a decision to make on her future as she believed she might make the Olympic team if she focused on athletics. Interview completed, we said we would keep in touch, posed for a quick selfie and she was away because she had a zoom meeting at work early the next morning. We spoke many more times over the next few months – in person at events and virtually on zoom – and eventually she made the decision to take a break from cyber security with the blessing of her employer and focus on athletics. Not only did she make the Olympic team, she made the Olympic Final, she broke the National Record and she won a brilliant bronze medal. I was very pleased when a colleague from Spanish radio approached me after I had finished interviewing Georgia, following her race, to share with me a photograph she had taken of us having a hug. It was nice to have been there to witness Georgia realising her dreams.
2. Daley & Desiree – In 2012, Daley Thompson selected Desiree Henry to help light the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games. 12 years later, Daley was one of our colleagues on talkSPORT and Desiree won a silver medal as part of the sprint relay team. The following morning, I went to meet Desiree to interview her about the medal and to surprise her as we had recorded a special video message from Daley for Desiree in which he told her how proud he was of her achievements. Desiree was desperate for a copy of the video so thank goodness for Airdrop and thanks as well to her relay colleague Amy Hunt who held the microphone as I played in the big reveal.
3. Kelly & Keely – In 2004, Kelly Holmes won Olympic gold in the 800m and 20 years later Keely Hodgkinson emulated that triumph in Paris. Now, my role was to capture those immediate post-race interviews but, on this occasion, I was more than happy to concede the position to Kelly who had a unique insight into what Keely had just achieved. Kelly and Keely had also become close over the past couple of years, and it made for some great radio listening that everyone was asking me about the next day.
4. Adam & Katarina – Adam Gemili was part of our talkSPORT commentary team and when he does decide to hang up the spikes, there’s a job in broadcasting waiting for him as he was a revelation in that role. Back in 2012, he made his Olympic debut as a youngster alongside another teenager – Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Adam was keen to explore all the broadcasting opportunities open to him in Paris and it seemed right to reunite Adam and Katarina in the moments after she won her Olympic silver medal in the interview area. And, only Adam Gemili interviewing KJT would have found out the secret to her success involved playing Mario Kart!
5. Lina & Laviai – The Nielsen twins are two other athletes who I have spent time getting to know this year. Both have been diagnosed with MS and I wanted to record a piece with them ahead of the Games about what this meant. I was keen to get this bit of radio right as I knew the pair felt some coverage that they had previously received was not entirely accurate or reflected their own actual experiences. In fact, we spent longer planning the piece and talking about it than we did with the actual recording. So, I was very sad for Lina when, in her individual event, she hit the last hurdle denying herself the opportunity to qualify for the final. She sat sobbing on the steps in front of me before eventually stopping at our interview position. To be honest, I did give her the option of not doing the interview, but she wanted to carry on and spoke emotionally about how she had to learn to walk again and to recognise her achievement in making the semi-final. Lina’s identical twin Laviai won two bronze medals in Paris. Lina ended up with a bronze in the 4x400m relay final and left the Olympics smiling.
6. Noah Lyles – It was amazing how many volunteers were on duty for the night of the men’s 100m final. The interview area was packed. The race was won by Noah Lyles. When an athlete finishes their event, they all have to come through this media zone. I can tell you there were 57 different television interviewers and 19 different radio interviewers on three levels for each athlete to come past before they can exit the stadium. I was in radio position number 18. There are other media duties to fulfil too including a press conference. So, what was the strategy to get Noah Lyles to stop and talk to me when he had already spoken to everyone else. It was to stay close to a reporter from Noah’s home city. If Noah was going to stop and talk to anyone else, I thought it would be them. He did, and after my colleagues from the US had finished, it allowed me to ask a couple of follow up questions for talkSPORT.
7. Daryll Neita – Daryll Neita had an amazing Paris 2024. She was fourth in the 100m final, fifth in the 200m final and won silver in the 4x100m relay. I thought she was going to win the gold for Team GB as she collected the baton, but the US team won by 0.07 seconds. I’ve never hid the fact I‘ve always enjoyed interviewing Daryll. She’s fun, confident, honest and not particularly guarded. I think her achievements in athletics have been overlooked on occasions and I’ve tried to offer balanced support in my broadcasting. So, it was very nice on the following morning that I had the opportunity to speak to her for a few moments and for her to offer an appreciation of the coverage we had given her and her relay teammates of Dina Asher-Smith, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Amy Hunt, Bianca Williams and Desiree Henry. Of course, I agreed to her suggestion we took a selfie!
8. Seb, Daley & Tessa – It is 40 years since Seb Coe, Daley Thompson and Tessa Sanderson won Olympic gold in Los Angeles. They were Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s track and field gold medallists at those Games which we have often cited as inspiring us to want to be involved in the Olympics. Daley and Tessa were both part of the talkSPORT team, and I had long harboured an ambition to reunite them with Seb live on the radio. This was not going to be easy as Lord Coe, in his role as President of World Athletics, is a very busy man. But, Jamie Fox in his role as Communications Director at World Athletics was on side and we knew he would do what he could to make it happen. And, how special that it did happen on the 40 th anniversary of Daley’s decathlon gold. A few planned minutes on the radio together soon became 5, then 10, then 20… Three athletes with mutual respect and total friendship back together again and everyone got to hear it in full. Magical.
9. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake & Zharnel Hughes – Team GB’s men won a bronze in the 4x100m relay final. Zharnel had pulled out of his individual 200m event with injury and lined up in the relay final with many of us wondering how fit he actually was. He ran a brilliant but painful leg of the race and following some celebrations was keen to get receive treatment. He was hurting. However, I really hoped we would be able to hear from the whole team in the immediate aftermath of the final and it was Nethaneel who stepped in to sort this out. Nethaneel stopped next to me and told Zharnel that he should also stop for the interview as well because, in his words, ‘This is talkSPORT, UK radio and it’s huge!’ and together with Jeremiah Azu and Louie Hinchliffe we heard from the whole quartet. It was a lovely interview and Zharnel spoke brilliantly about what the medal meant to him.
10. Holly Bradshaw – Paris 2024 was always going to be Holly’s last major competition. Unfortunately, Holly, who won bronze in Tokyo, was eliminated in qualification. Holly is another athlete that I have been interviewing since she qualified as a youngster alongside Adam and Katarina in 2012. She was tearful in our interview knowing it was the end and disappointed that she hadn’t performed better. And, she also spoke movingly about the impact of losing her father recently. In radio, we have a golden rule – you speak to one person – and when I’m broadcasting, I always try to visualise who this one person might be. In Paris, I carried with me everywhere a photograph of the one person I was broadcasting to whether I was at the athletics, diving, triathlon, cycling or something else. The photograph was of my dad, and it was taken in 2012 when we went to see Team GB play hockey. My dad became ill early in 2020, and I remember him telling me that whatever happened I was to go to Tokyo and report on the Olympic Games. My dad passed away just a few days after what would have been the Closing Ceremony in 2020 and wasn’t around to hear me report on the delayed event in 2021. So, as I listened to Holly I knew I could tell her how her Dad would be very proud of what she did in Paris. Because I knew my Dad would be proud of what I did in Paris too.
