The Tokyo Olympics scheduled the most intense finals of swimming events in the morning to match the viewing needs of North American audiences who could watch the finals in local prime time, and this long-rumored news finally waited for confirmation by the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee.
Unlike the swimming finals of the previous Rio Olympics, which took place late at night, this time swimmers had to get up at 5 a.m. to prepare for the semi-finals and finals at 10:30 a.m. The same thing is that the setting of the final time always looks a bit strange.
On September 12, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organizing Committee announced the swimming schedule for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which lasted for nine days from July 25 to August 2, 2020, with the most controversial preliminaries being held in the evening and the semi-finals and finals scheduled in the morning.
This means that swimmers who are accustomed to the morning finals and the semi-finals and finals in the evening have to adjust the "jet lag" for the bizarre schedule.
The game between the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and the broadcasters
The Olympic Games have gradually entered Tokyo time, but the schedule of the Olympic Games is not entirely decided by the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.
A year ago, the news that the swimming final of the Tokyo Olympics would be played in the morning was already out. In July this year, Tsuyoshi Aoki, president of the Japan Swimming Association, also publicly stated, "We hope that we can stage the swimming final for japanese audiences in prime time, unfortunately, this is the end of the matter." ”
This basically announced that the swimming final was finally unsuccessful in the evening prime time in Japan, and the athletes also had to break the biological clock and re-adjust their preparations.
Swimming has always been a traditional advantage of the United States in the Olympic Games, and as an Olympic event loved by European and American audiences, the ratings ranked among the top in the entire Olympic Games and Europe and the United States.
NBC paid a hefty $12.05 billion in broadcast fees for the broadcast rights of the 2014-2032 Olympic Games, including the Winter Olympics, and the London Olympics barely made ends meet, and the $1.2 billion in advertising revenue at the Rio Olympics was just 20 percent higher than it was four years ago. Therefore, NBC urgently needs swimming, which can attract North American advertisers to pay for gold events, to stay in the golden file live.
Even the host audience wanted to enjoy the most intense swimming final in the golden hour of the night, but it was finally a concession to finamu and the Olympic Organizing Committee, which was under commercial pressure.
Such an arrangement, FINA Executive Director Marcooles is obviously reluctant to talk more in an interview, "This decision made by the IOC is justified, and our only choice is to agree." ”
Adapting to the game time becomes the biggest problem for athletes
This is not the first time since sports entered the commercial era that international sports organizations have compromised with broadcasters.
At the Rio Olympics, in order to adapt to the broadcast time of the European Broadcasting Union, the athletics final was scheduled to be held in the morning. French pole vaulter Laville-Legne once said that such an arrangement would cause inconvenience to athletes, "I have to get up at four or five o'clock in the morning, do preparatory activities, and eat breakfast, because it takes time to get excited." ”
The final of the swimming event of the Beijing Olympic Games was also scheduled to be held in the morning due to NBC's live broadcast requirements, and adjusting the biological clock became a problem for athletes to prepare for the competition.
In order to adapt to the schedule of the morning final, athletes need to start re-adjusting their biological clock two years in advance, according to the law, people get up 4 hours later to reach the state of excitement.
When preparing for the swimming competition of the Beijing Olympic Games that year, the Chinese swimming team got up at 5:30 every day to start the first round of training on an empty stomach, and after more than three hours of swimming for 6000 or 7000 meters, the team members began to eat breakfast; after the end of the day's training, at 9:30 pm, the athletes had to go to bed early. It is a completely different schedule from before, and athletes must gradually adapt.
Of course, such a schedule is fair for all swimmers, but the targeted "jet lag" adjustment will not be achieved overnight, after all, before the Tokyo Olympic Games, the finals of various swimming competitions will still be scheduled in the evening.
According to the surging news reporter, the Current Chinese swimming team has begun to try to train with a large amount of exercise in the morning, which is also helping athletes adapt in advance.
Chinese swimmers: Come on, duel!
Adjusting the body clock to fit the finals, athletes also have to adapt to the intensive schedule of swimming at the Tokyo Winter Olympics.
Due to the addition of the men's 800m freestyle, the women's 1500m freestyle and the mixed relay, athletes in many sports such as Sun Yang will face a lot of tests.
Fu Yuanhui, the "Flood Maiden", thinks that this is fair to all athletes, although it may be relatively difficult to move when they wake up in the morning, "but everyone has not woken up, come on, duel!" ”
The Asian Games women's 50m backstroke champion and world record holder Liu Xiang is also looking forward to the Olympic final in the morning, "I have not tried the morning final, I believe I will be able to adapt to it when the time comes." ”
In fact, FINA is not worried that the final arrangement will affect the performance of the athletes in the morning, after all, during the Beijing Olympic Games, "Flying Fish" Phelps became an unprecedented eight gold kings in the Water Cube.
Xu Jiayu, the runner-up in the men's 100m backstroke at the Rio Olympics and the hardware winner of the Asian Games in Jakarta, is also optimistic, "The morning final will be very exciting, and I don't think it will affect me." ”
Similarly, chris Spice, the British Swimming Association's training director, also called the morning final a "thrilling challenge" in an interview with the BBC, "We believe that with training and adjustment, our competitors have the ability to swim at their best anywhere, at any time." ”
Of course, the swimming schedule of the Tokyo Olympics will also trouble athletes who aspire to attack the Golden King.
According to the schedule, the women's 200m freestyle and the 1500m freestyle will be held on the morning of July 29. Rio Olympics won 4 gold and 1 silver "nuclear girl" Ledecky is facing a morning two-event final. Especially since 1500 Zizhong, she will be challenged by Chinese teenagers Li Bingjie and Wang Jian Jiahe.