Olympics camera operators were issued a warning over the way they film female athletes as the Olympic Broadcasting Service boss admitted 'stereotypes and sexism remain'.
The 2024 Paris Games comes to a conclusion this weekend after several weeks of nail-biting sport, with people tuning in from across the globe to see their nation’s athletes battle it out for a medal.
‘Stereotypes and sexism’
For this year’s event, the head of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) called for an update in its guidelines for camera operators - who are reportedly mostly men - in the hopes of combatting 'stereotypes and sexism'.
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Chief executive, Yiannis Exarchos, told reporters in Paris: "Unfortunately, in some events, they [women] are still being filmed in a way that you can identify that stereotypes and sexism remain, even from the way in which some camera operators are framing differently men and women athletes.
"Women athletes are not there because they are more attractive or sexy or whatever. They are there because they are elite athletes."
Exarchos added that such issues, which sees camera operators and TV editors seeming to show more close-ups of women than men, are predominantly due to 'unconscious bias'.
Other changes
And that's not the only change as women's sports have also been given more prime-time broadcast spots for the 2024 Olympics.
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"The schedules of sporting events have traditionally been biased towards highlighting men's events," Exarchos continued.
"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."
Bob Ballard controversy
Towards the end of last month, Olympic broadcaster Eurosport made the decision to remove Bob Ballard from its commentary team after he made a sexist remark about Australia’s female swimming team.
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On Saturday (27 July), the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team - comprised of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris - won gold.
In a clip that later went viral on social media, the former BBC commentator could be heard saying: "Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like … hanging around, doing their makeup."
Ballard’s co-commentator, Lizzie Simmonds, called the remark 'outrageous' before adding: "Some of the men are doing that as well!"
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Olympic broadcaster Eurosport later confirmed it had removed Ballard from its commentary team over the remark, saying: "During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment.
"To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect."
Ballard apologised for his comments, saying he never intended to upset anyone.
He said in a statement: "The comments I made during the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have caused some offence.
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"It was never my intention to upset or belittle anyone and if I did, I apologies. I am a massive advocate of women's sport.
"I shall miss the Eurosport team dearly and wish them all the best for the rest of the Olympics."
Jess Hardiman