Olympic broadcasting: More women in key broadcast roles at Paris 2024
Ensuring gender-balanced coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is one of the objectives of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS). As the permanent host broadcaster for the Games, producing the live television, radio and digital coverage of the event, OBS is committed to providing fair and balanced storytelling for all athletes. At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, this commitment will be taken one step further behind the scenes, with a large increase in the number of female staff in key broadcast roles.
“Recognising the gender gap found across various broadcast roles, OBS is determined to make a change and set an example for the industry at large,” said Yiannis Exarchos, Chief Executive Officer of OBS. “By empowering women with the skills and experiences needed to thrive in production, editorial or technical roles, we hope to contribute to a more inclusive and diverse broadcast environment in sport.”
Ahead of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, OBS will hire more female staff in both operational and managerial broadcast positions, including:
- Approximately 35 female commentators will be hired by Games time (out of roughly 92 total positions), raising the percentage of female commentators to nearly 40 per cent at Paris 2024. This represents a nearly 80 per cent increase compared to Tokyo 2020 and a more than 200 per cent increase from Rio 2016.
- Two-thirds of the 42 OBS Broadcast Venue Manager positions will be occupied by women.
- The number of senior staff running the Broadcast Operations Centre in the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) is set to be a 50/50 split between men and women (13 positions overall).