About World Championships in Athletics and TV Broadcast

This study examines changes in the nature of Japanese TV broadcasts of the World Athletics Championship from 1997-2013 using a qualitative methodology. Specifically, the study examines the changes in the Tokyo Broadcasting System coverage between the 1997 Athens event and the 2013 Moscow event. The results indicate that TV broadcasts became more professional from the point of the Berlin event in 2009. Up until the 2009 Berlin event, broadcasts featured much screaming-like behaviour from television commentators such as Yuji Oda. However, the screaming-like broadcasts decreased after the Berlin event and the screaming of Yuji Oda was not seen in Moscow in 2013. In addition, the nicknames of the players were not used in the Moscow TV broadcasts.  This may be due, in part, to the request of the Japan Association of Athletic Federations to the Tokyo Broadcasting System to eliminate the use of nicknames. The nature of live coverage of sports events varies according to different events. In addition, they are different depending on whether or not there are Japanese players involved, and depending on whether or not there are star “foreign” players. Based on the results the paper highlights implications for future track-and-field and other sport broadcasts.