NBC’s Cramps During Beijing Women’s Olympic Marathon

After watching a week of innovation during the Beijing Olympics swimming competition — hi-tech touch pads to underwater photography — NBC’s coverage of the women’s marathon Saturday night was a disaster.

As Romania’s Constantina Tomescu-Dita pulled away from the field after the halfway point and ran to 22-second solo victory, it was as if NBC lost all communication capabilities.

Constantina Tomescu-Dita

Race cameras showed impressive footage of the leader and the chasing pack. But with all the assistant producers, field reporters and course spotters available, how come viewers were never updated with time splits or mile pace times?

And why wasn’t there some information on the status of the three American runners, Deena Kastor (withdrew) Magda Lewy (withdrew), Blake Russell (27th, 2:33:13)?

And what about an interview any of the top finishers? It never happened.

Marathon running is certainly not the most popular event in the Olympics. But the National Stadium, the “Bird’s Nest” was packed and there was a great welcome for Tomescu-Dita and the other women when they entered the stadium for the final few hundred meters of the more than 2 1/2 hour race.

Clearly, NBC’s focus was on Michael Phelps’ pending eight gold medals. As a result, the women’s marathon coverage was the network at its Olympic worst.