By the way, athletes are NOT obliged to speak to media in the Olympic mixed zones

According to the International Olympic Committee rules, anyway.

Jeanette Tan | August 12, 2016, 11:30 AM

There's been quite a storm over two commentaries (here, and here) by Leonard Thomas, one of The New Paper's editors in Rio de Janiero covering the ongoing Olympic Games.

His beef? With the way 19-year-old national swimmer Quah Zheng Wen handled the media in two mixed-zone encounters following two races he took part in — the 100m backstroke heats, and the 200m freestyle semifinals.

Now the first thing we want to say about this entire debacle is this: athletes are not required or obliged, in any way, to speak to media in the mixed zones, even if they are required to walk through it.

We checked the International Olympic Committee rules on mixed zones in the Rio Games just to be confident enough to say this:

Screenshot from here Screenshot from here

Check out the last two bullet points in this screenshot. They read:

"All athletes must pass through the Mixed Zone when leaving the field of play. They are encouraged to participate in interviews, however they are not obliged to answer questions or participate in interviews if they do not wish to do so"

Also:

"Mixed Zones will be operational during all open training sessions held in competition venues and will operate under the same rules as during competition i.e. athletes must leave the field of play through the Mixed Zone but are not obliged to talk with the media"

 

This point is stressed twice. This is elaborated further in the second point, to show just how important this issue is:

"... the media are expected to exercise courtesy towards the athletes who may be experiencing extremes of emotion or fatigue so soon after their competitions, while the athletes are expected to respect that the media have an important role to play in publicising their exploits and their sport"

The challenge facing the journalists in Rio

The above touches on another important point — the job of covering the Olympics is more complex than most members of the public, or indeed, non-sports journalists, might understand.

Without boring you with the technicalities, a reporter who wants to be sensitive to an athlete's need to rest and find time to prepare without disturbance for their competition might be hard-pressed to seek opportunities to obtain quotes or reactions during the period of the Games.

Access to the Games Village is restricted, and often, a journalist's only access to an athlete — barring having his or her direct mobile phone number, perhaps — is through his or her sports association, or the Singapore National Olympic Committee officials. Badgering them aside, with no guarantee of a response, these circumstances leave the most "legitimate" opportunity for media to speak directly to athletes to be when they pass through the Mixed Zone immediately after an event.

So one could perhaps blame the system for setting it up in this manner, one which gives no mercy to an athlete struggling to deal with the pain of losing or getting eliminated from the next round, and having to face public scrutiny almost immediately after the realisation of the setback hits.

There are certainly other ways to get quotes from an athlete — build good relationships with him or her, his or her sports association officials, and they'll do their best to help a journalist do his or her job in telling their story.

But ultimately, the most direct way for a journalist to immediately report result, reaction and highlights is right there in the Mixed Zone; the public also wants to hear from the athlete, they know all too well, and so the ideal is to speak to, and hear from, the athlete there.

Accountability, maturity?

There was also talk of athletes like Quah having received government resources, funding and support to train for the Olympics, and how he should therefore account for his performance to a public eager to hear from him, good or bad.

It's a fair point that maybe wasn't brought up by Thomas clearly enough in his opinion pieces. There is, therefore, some kind of moral need for Quah to share his swimming journey with the public — closely followed by fans and Singaporean supporters, of whom number in the thousands — with its ups and downs. Him being honest might work in his favour too — Singaporeans are pretty understanding, being aware of Quah's still-young age, likely nerves and more.

More importantly, perhaps, the ability to face the media right after a disappointing showing and explain his performance humbly and honestly shows a facet of his maturity and well-roundedness as an athlete playing the big leagues — and well, it doesn't get much bigger than the Olympics, does it?

As Thomas pointed out, sports observers would know that Rio is a stepping stone for Quah in his Olympic journey, which it is hoped will peak in Tokyo in 2020. Sure, the teen in all likelihood expects far more of himself — we don't know what his personal goals were, but making a new personal best timing could certainly be among them — but all that said, he can still try to collect himself and account for what happened, or didn't.

Storm in a teacup

At the end of the day, this all feels a bit like a storm in a teacup.

Indeed, covering the Olympics, or any international sports meet abroad or at home, is a challenge for sports journalists. Indeed, Quah's still early in his Olympic journey and has many years ahead of him in his swimming career.

But he shouldn't be flamed for not speaking to the media in the mixed zone — especially because firstly, he's not required to, and secondly, because this does happen sometimes, and that's just something reporters will have to deal with in their own creative ways.

 

Top image: screenshot from Channel NewsAsia video

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