For most sports fans, major events are like sausages: you enjoy them but really don’t want to know how they are made.
The organizers of the Olympics, especially the tech teams doing the nuts and bolts of event delivery, probably feel they have done their best work when all fans talk about is the end result. If they are discussing the execution, and not the action, you have an issue.
The ways in which we are relishing the efforts of those athletes going ‘higher, faster, stronger’ are made possible by a many-faceted technology behemoth – most of which we take completely for granted.
Working apps? Of course. Seamless broadcasts? Why wouldn’t there be?
Accurate scoring? Well, durr…
Which brings me to last Monday and the eventing at Paris 2024. Going into the final day’s show jumping round, the contest for who would make the podium was very close. Eventing is quite a negative sport in that you don’t earn points for doing well, you just lose them for your mistakes. Points don’t make prizes.
The teams in contention faced two challenges – aside from sitting on top of animals perfectly capable of independent thought. Firstly, teams needed to jump clear – poles down mean points. Then they had to jump the course within 80 seconds. So, timing was a big thing….
And there was a timing issue. The course clock and the official clock didn’t align, meaning what the commentators were reporting was at odds with the official clock. In the grand scheme of things, this was simply a bit annoying. If it had been the other way round, however, it would have been a massive fail.
For those competing, accurate timing is a basic right.
A senior manager at the NBA once told me: ‘Do 95% of everything well, and fans and clients forgive mistakes because you were pushing boundaries in the right spirit.’ In other words, don’t even think about pushing boundaries if the basics aren’t right.
Too often, we rush too quickly to embrace the fun, showy things – whether in technology, business, events or even sport itself (how many of us focus on our drive when we can’t hole a putt?). But the foundations always matter.
It’s an old, dull but all too true adage – you can’t build your castle on quicksand and expect it not to sink.
Written by Rebecca Hopkins, CEO, The STA Group
Rebecca Hopkins
With 25 years in international sports and a 12-year track record pioneering innovative technology in the sector, Rebecca Hopkins is a serial entrepreneur, communications specialist, business enthusiast and remains perennially tech-curious.
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