CBC Earns Largest Audience Of Beijing Games Monday Night

Canadians Tune In To Watch Whitfield's Silver Medal-Winning Performance

JUMP AROUND: In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich writes yesterday was a "great day for the CBC," as the net "jumped seamlessly from event to event and, when conflicts occurred, made all the right calls." The CBC "wisely chose to stick with" the men's triathlon over the men's springboard diving semifinals. CBC later "faced another tough decision: the diving final collided with the trampoline final" involving Canada's Jason Burnett. The net again "made the right call," sticking with diving "until Burnett's turn came up and hopped over to the gym in time to catch his routine." But the women's 100m hurdles event was "one of the CBC's few bobbles on the day." The announcers focused on U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones, who tripped on the next-to-last hurdle, a "significant story," but "took too long to tell viewers that the silver and bronze medals were too close to call." But "despite that it was a masterful job of juggling events" (TORONTO STAR, 8/20).  The GLOBE & MAIL's William Houston wrote CBC track & field announcers Mark Lee and Michael Smith have been "excellent," but they "missed a big call" in the hurdles race. As the runners crossed the finish line in a photo finish, neither Lee nor Smith mentioned that Canada hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep "might be third or close to it." The announcers instead "focused their attention" on Jones. Houston: "It was a big miss, given that Lopes-Schliep may be Canada's only medal winner at the track." Meanwhile, Houston wrote it was "refreshing and entirely appropriate for NBC analyst Ato Boldon to rap Jamaica's Usain Bolt for not running out" the men's 100m race (GLOBEANDMAIL.com, 8/19).

BAD JUDGMENT: In Toronto, Steve Tilley notes Lopes-Schliep appeared to have "dropped an f-bomb" upon crossing the finish line, and CBC reporter Elliotte Friedman after the race said to her, "It looks like when you crossed the finish line, you said something I can't necessarily repeat on national television." Tilley: "I think Friedman generally does a decent job of keeping cool under the pressure of impromptu, live interviews with athletes right after their events. But why not a simple, 'How do you feel?' Why embarrass Lopes-Schliep by saying it looked like she swore, even if it's to lead into a question about whether she thought she might have missed the bronze? Why put a downer on such a positive moment?" (TORONTO SUN, 8/20). In Toronto, Alison Korn notes the CBC "invited injured Canadian hurdler Perdita Felicien to Beijing as a special analyst after it became clear she wasn't going to qualify," but on Monday Felicien "couldn't hide her anguish when asked to comment on Priscilla Lopes-Schliep's bronze in the same event she'd intended to race." Korn: "Using Felicien as an analyst -- when her stricken face told us far more than her words -- suddenly seemed more cruel than cool" (TORONTO SUN, 8/20).

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