When I was in the fifth grade, I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer. Clad in Barcelona T-shirt, my 9-year-old self watched Summer Sanders and Jenny Thompson win gold at the1992 Summer Olympic Games from the cool beige carpet of my parent’s suburban home.

My swimming and abilities reached their limits even before the Atlanta Games, though, petering out somewhere around flip-turns and the butterfly.

It turns out I have a far greater chance of making it to the Olympics as a reporter than an athlete. According to “A Reporter’s Guide to Sports and Olympic Reporting,” published by the Reuters Foundation, 10,500 athletes – and 21,000 journalists – cover the Summer Games.

This guide is an ideal introduction for any newbie to sports or Olympic reporting. It gives practical writing and logistical tips alike.

On reporting

My own instincts were confirmed on page six of the 47-page handbook: “… the skill is in writing about a dull and dreary event in a bright and entertaining way – which makes it one of the most effective means I know of developing your descriptive writing skills.”

Like so many American children, I played organised sports throughout my childhood. But I fell into sports writing by accident. The only summer job I could find after my freshmen year at the University of Missouri was as an intern at a regional golf magazine. I quickly realised the intense deadline pressure and creative requirements were a perfect place for an aspiring reporter/writer begin.

As the guidebook says, sportswriting is a balancing act between avoiding flamboyance and lively, original prose. The best way to achieve such balance is, of course – as with sport itself – practice.

This is in addition to reading good writing and mastering a few basic rules. My college editor, for example, drilled two rules into students’ heads: Ten is to be denoted as “10” unless it starts a sentence, and “Team is an It.” (This turns out not to be the case in the United Kingdom, but OK).

Sportswriters, from what I have observed, truly pride themselves on creative leads. The Reuters Guide provides pages of suggested types of leads.

At Reuters, writers are to try and get a name into the intro of game stories:

“A hat-trick by Wayne Rooney gave Manchester United a 3-0 lead over Real Madrid in the European Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday.”

Better, though, is to try and underline the importance of the result:

“Ian Thorpe powered Australia to a world record victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay and ended American Olympic domination of the event since it was first held 36 years ago in Tokyo.”

Particularly at the Olympics, sports figures lend themselves well to feature writing. The Reuters Guide gives examples of solid leads for feature stories. Their list, with examples:

• Straightforward
• Hard-hitting: “Ivan Ivanovich, known as the father of Russian golf, remembers a time when he was unable to even talk about his sport. ‘Forget about playing it, it was forbidden even to mention such a word.’”
• Delayed: “Alexi Nemov spent more than 20 years striving for perfection. Like all other top gymnasts, the muscular Russian spent day after day polishing his complex programmes in training. He hoped his hard work would earn him not only a gold medal but also a perfect 10. With his final routine on the international stage, however, the four-times Olympic champion sparked a chain of events at the 2004 Athens Games which led to the abolishment of the iconic 10 score….”
• Historical: “Deep in the days of apartheid, Italian yacht captain Salvatore Sarno started teaching a small group of black children to sail off the coast of South Africa and was laughed at for trying to cross the race barrier. Sixteen years later he is leading Shosholoza, Africa’s first America’s cup challenger, proudly presenting a multi-race team to show how far his adopted country has come.”
• Narrative: Similar to the delayed lead, but in chronological order.
• Humorous: Not easy. “In Raleigh, fans wear the hockey jerseys to games. In Edmonton they wear them to work, to bed and to weddings.”
• Anecdotal: The Reuters Guide says this is particularly useful when writing features about personalities.

Creative writing is particularly important during the Olympics because many people reading will already know the basic results. According to the International Olympic Committee, 3.9 billion people in 220 countries and territories watched the Athens Games.

As such, the guide points out, sportswriters must keep chronological play-by-play to a minimum. Focus instead on the highlights, tactics, outstanding players.

Quotes are particularly important, since many sports fans love to hear what their favourite players have to say. But so often, players and coaches speak in clichés. A good sports writer tries his damndest to overcome this tendency, though. If an important player simply isn’t particularly quotable, though, the guide suggests talking to coaches, rival players and trainers.

The guide gives examples of usable quotes.

“When I score goals I am great, when I don’t I am fat,” – Real Madrid striker Ronaldo.

“It was like an alien abduction out there. Someone invaded his body and turned him into the greatest volleyer in the universe.” – US tennis player Jim Courier, after being beated by Briton Tim Henman.

I strongly agreed with one particular tip on interviewing: Try to make contact with an athlete during training. They will be more relaxed during this time.

Also, watching a workout can give you a clue as to what athletes will be trying to do during a match – and help you ask good questions.

Gymnasts, for example, drill segments of their routine over and again. Watching them at practice gives a reporter get a preview of their routine and which elements might give them the most difficulty.

Which leads to another point: technical knowledge. I have written about some sports I didn’t have as much understanding about before I began sports writing – like gymnastics or baseball – and sports I have played and understand well – like soccer (football!) or golf. There’s no need to panic if you haven’t covered a particular sport before. Rather, channel nervous energy into preparations.

Often, what separates reporters is their ingenuity. The first time I had to cover a gymnastics meet, I read up on the scoring system. It was published in the back of the programme. Unlike the reporter seated next to me, I knew that while a floor routine looked good to my untrained eye, the gymnast had lost several tenths for stepping out of bounds.

The Reuters guidebook is correct in pointing out that an understanding of the technicalities of sport is necessary for good coverage, but not enough. Context is equally important.

To that end, it directs readers to various explanatory websites about obscure Olympic sports.

At the Games

Yesterday I was out on a recreational jog thinking about Derek Redmond, the British runner who suffered a snapped hamstring during the 400-meter dash in Barcelona. He finished the race in the arms of his father, who scurried from the sidelines to help his son cross the finish line.

Maybe it’s the sports I played, or maybe it’s the sports events I have reported. But when I have doubts – in any area of my life - it’s these kind of 15-yeard old stories that spring from the cobwebs to spur me onward.

These kind of big events, though, are covered en masse by wire services, like the Associated Press and Reuters. As such, it’s often the primary job of a journalist from a regional media outlet to cover athletes and events of concern to his readership.

The Reuters Guidebook advises having a clear game plan for your Games coverage. I can’t imagine going to such a massive event without a plan.

Good things to know as far as getting information while there:

The Mixed Zone: Athletes are obliged to pass through this zone, although they don’t have to talk to media. But it’s a good place for getting quotes.

Olympic News Service: A so-called lifeline for buys journalists. The ONS will provide data, results, scheduling, breaking news, administrative announcements, backgrounders, flash quotes, press conference highlights, general news stories, human interest stories, athlete bios, historical results, etc.

This information is available at terminals around competition venues as well as at the press centre.

Published: May 28, 2008