Amanda Shalala is the Deputy Editor of ABC Sport. She has oversight of ABC Sport's 50:50 Equality Project, which is focused on increasing the coverage and representation of women in sport, and those from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.
I was extremely privileged to cover the Paris Olympics for ABC News as our broadcast reporter, primarily providing coverage for ABC TV’s 7PM News bulletins, News Channel, ABC Sport social media accounts, and ABC Radio.
Just as athletes work their entire lives to make an Olympics, it’s much the same for sports journalists, and it was an absolute dream to be given the chance to cover my second Olympics, alongside five other exceptionally talented colleagues from the ABC.
Paris is one of the world’s most beautiful cities, and organisers did an incredible job incorporating the full majesty of the city throughout the Games venues.
Some of my personal highlights included seeing the Fox sisters claiming three golds between them, Saya Sakakibara’s emotional win in the BMX, Arisa Trew becoming Australia’s youngest ever gold medallist, and hometown hero Léon Marchand thrilling the locals with his stunning four golds in the pool.
It was especially pleasing to be able to celebrate the success of Australia’s sportswomen on the international stage and see them given the recognition they don’t always receive.
Paris 2024 was also the first Olympics to have an equal number of men and women competing, though there’s still a way to go before gender parity is reached in the media landscape.
More than 24,000 media representatives were accredited for the Games, including written press, photographers, non-rights holding broadcasters, press attachés, rights holders, and Olympic Broadcasting Services.
Of those, only 25 per cent were women – a slight improvement from Tokyo 2020 but I’m hopeful that, as an industry, we can push to accelerate this progress at a much faster rate for future Games.
From a logistical perspective, it was challenging covering the event as a non-rights holding broadcaster. While we were allowed to go inside venues to watch events, we couldn’t record anything inside.
So we had to bring the colour of the Games to life in a different way, including talking to families and fans outside the venues, conducting live crosses at the many stunning vantage points across the city, interviewing the athletes well after their competition had wrapped up, and finding unique stories to set us apart.
Despite the limitations, we made the most of our presence in Paris and were still able to convey the emotion, energy and excitement of the Olympics.
It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career, and I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be a part of Paris 2024.
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