Channel Seven have been the broadcaster for most Olympics this century, other than a brief period when Channel Ten had the broadcasting rights.
With the Winter Olympics having recently commenced in Beijing, let’s have a look at how Seven have brought the games to the Australian public.
Where Channel Seven has done well
The main commentators have all been very good. Dave Culbert has the ability to commentate anything and make it fascinating, Matt Hill is showing that he’s not just a great race caller but also with other sports, and Alister Nicholson is fast becoming one of Australia’s best commentators.
Mitchell Tomlinson is a great commentator in the action sports world, from skateboarding to the snowboard halfpipe, and Scott McGrory is valuable as the lead voice of the long track speed skating, like he is at the velodrome.
They also were all very good commentators at the Tokyo Olympics – Culbert with the field events and canoeing, Hill with rowing, Nicholson at the hockey, Tomlinson with the skateboarding, and McGrory at the track cycling.
The co-commentators have also been excellent with their expertise. Dirk Nannes, Steven Bradbury, Ryan Tiene, Steve Hewitt, Jono Brauer and Mia Rennie have all given valuable expertise, which is important considering the lead commentators generally don’t have a high level of knowledge in these winter sports.
One example of the commentators working well together was in the moguls. Nicholson let Nannes do most of the commentating during each run, with Nicholson tying everything together afterwards and between runs. That is one of the many commentating partnerships that worked well.
Andy Maher has been criticised by some for his commentary on the curling, but I think it’s important to remember that curling is possibly the most foreign of sports for Australians. He was thrown into the deep end being asked to commentate the unfamiliar sport, and he was helped out well by Steve Hewitt, who was commentating his own son.
The reporters at the games have been fantastic too. I’ve quite enjoyed the interviews by Jason Richardson, Lydia Lassila and Mel McLaughlin at the Games, and they can be quite happy with how they’ve performed.
Lastly, we all understand that ad breaks are needed during the coverage of anything on television, and I am pleasantly surprised that they haven’t gone to commercials every couple of minutes. I did presume that they would overdo the commercials, but thankfully they haven’t been too regular.
Where Channel Seven has not done well
I’m not a fan of most sports being buried into the 7 Plus app. After seeing Foxtel’s coverage of London 2012, I think the alternative of having a number of pop-up channels in addition to one main channel is the better way to go.
That’s not to say that everything needs to be on television. There only needs to be an additional two or three channels during the Winter Olympics coverage and have the remainder on the 7Plus app. This is something similar to what Seven should do during the Summer Olympics, where there should be somewhere from five to ten pop-up channels, with the remainder on the app.
This gives viewers a better opportunity to watch sports that have been getting minimal coverage.
Additionally, Seven has been showing sports on replay multiple times rather than showing live events. Snowboarding replays have been regular throughout the afternoon and early evening, while other events have been taking place.
Just because there are no Australians competing in these events, doesn’t mean that they can’t be shown. There is yet to be any biathlon, ice hockey or Nordic combined coverage, with only minimal coverage of cross-country skiing, luge, figure skating and ski jumping. I understand that these don’t need to be shown in front of events involving Australians, but they shouldn’t be shunted to the side to show continual repeats.
If they were given more airtime, maybe they would have a bigger following.
On Sunday, Channel Seven were planning on showing the downhill alpine skiing, but it was postponed due to high winds. That’s unfortunate, and obviously they have no control over the winds in China. So they showed the only other event live at the time, which was the team event in figure skating.
That’s good – we get to see more live action.
However, Seven decided to show the women’s skating from earlier in the day on repeat, rather than the pairs skating that had just started. That’s frustrating for people who had already watched the women’s skating.
Also, I haven’t been a big fan of some of those back at the studio in Australia. I’ve quite liked Jo Griggs, Matt Shirvington and Emma Freedman for the first half of the day, but it’s after that where there’s problems.
And it’s their two most high profile broadcasters in Hamish McLachlan and Basil Zempilas.
Hamish McLachlan gets talking a bit too much. I think he’s trying too hard to become the next Bruce McAvaney and trying to turn everything into an Olympics history lesson.
Also, there’s a bit too much talking by him back in the studio and making it about ‘me’. The games are about those competing, not those working in the media. The others generally seem to understand this, but he’s wanting too much camera time. He also goes overboard in making it look like he knows everything about every sport.
For some reason, Zempilas has been talking as though Steven Bradbury’s gold medal was about his call and not Bradbury. You didn’t win the gold, Basil. He also is quite monotone and doesn’t bring out enough enthusiasm throughout the coverage, making it somewhat bland.
He’s been making a number of mistakes, too. He mentioned that short track speed skater Arianna Fontana was “from the Italian nation”. Let’s just say that she’s from Italy, or is Italian.
There’s been some other small errors by Seven, including once going to an ad break mentioning that short track speed skating will be shown soon, while showing a montage of long track speed skating.
Finally, Channel Seven, let’s not over-do the megawall. It’s been good when showing a replay of the event with one of the expert commentators analysing what has happened, but it doesn’t need Hamish getting in the way and pointing at the screen like a weatherman. He did it a lot with Ian Thorpe in the Summer Olympics, and it has continued into the Beijing games.
Overall, there is a lot that Seven are doing right with their Olympics coverage, and they’ve nailed their commentator selection. But they could still improve how they deliver the games to the viewer.
Paul Mitchell
Guest
To Deb Noonan, How can we ever thank you enough for your magnificent commentary during the games. Your passion and experience shines through like gold. You help us not just understand the technical aspects, but much more than this; the heart, the beauty, the struggle, the triumph. You are one of Channel 7s greatest gifts. It is you that has brought the humanity of these Olympics to its greatest heights. With deep gratitude and respect for showing us what the world can be. Paul “ Mitch” Mitchell 20 Feb 2022.
Wayne Thompson
Guest
Equal opportunity doesn't manifest in good commentary. It doesn't improve the coverage either. But yeah good on them for being inclusive.
Ros
Guest
OK, I get that it’s free to air, but Channel 7 got broadcasting rights, with three available channels (not counting 7 Flix). So, why do they only use one channel at a time? It’s so frustrating to be watching an event only to have them switch to a different event and tell you to switch to 7 Plus. And don’t start me on how user unfriendly the app is. As others have said, there are lots of sports on offer, which we don’t get to see partly because there are endless reruns of events simply because an Australian was taking part. Cutting the mindless studio commentaries and concentrating on the actual sport would also help. I also agree about Belinda Noonan’s commentaries. She completely spoils any sport she’s commentating because she never shuts up during the performance. The highlights of most performances are shown while awaiting the scores and, Belinda, that’s the time to give your expert commentary, not while the music’s playing and the audience is trying to enjoy the performance. Most people don't really want to know if it's a Lutz or an Axel. No doubt Channel 7 will be patting themselves on the back and congratulating themselves over the Olympic coverage, but if you’re not going to show an event from start to finish, without chopping and changing either events or channels, then maybe you should think about relinquishing broadcast rights. Oh, I forgot – it’s all about the dollar bottom line.
Tim
Guest
Absolutely atrocious. The watermark "live and free" is a farce as (a) it's not 'live' after you've replayed it 20 times and (b) it's not 'free' from having to bear the collective creation of the most annoying ensemble of TV presenters ever seen. Abbey, Richo, Shirvo, Edwina, Hamish, Jo, Basil and more, an immensely painful gaggle of 6yo demeanor. Strutting around the studio, waving their arms around at screens with mindless, incessant, immature dribble with every single sentence filled with an absurd level of positive adjectives in a failed attempt to create fake hype on a subject 2 weeks ago they had no knowledge of. Everything's fantastic, amazing, unbelievable, incredible, next level, I'm soooo excited, everyone's an absolute superstar, this is gonna be a remember where you were when you saw it moment, and I'm like, like, like super stoked guys, seriously, turn it up! Just shut up already and show us the athletes. Instead, it gave the impression there was very little action going on at all as the same, very selective footage is relentlessly played on repeat and even after the 20th time the childish presenters still pretend to act as overly excited as if it's the first time..."ooh I wonder what will happen, I can't wait, it's going to be unbelievable, we're all on the edge of our seats to see what unfolds, you won't want to miss it", for something that occurred yesterday and been played over and over already, it's utterly nonsensical. Do they think viewers are complete imbeciles? When they do finally start showing some 'live' sport, never at the start but at some completely random point in the competition, you start getting into it and literally after a few minutes, even smack bang in the middle of a speed skating race for example, they cut to adverts, I mean wtf? You get sucked in, sit through the ads thinking surely they'll cross back to the action but no, that coverage has simply ended because the rambling idiots in the studio are obviously far more important. The coverage is just so irregular it is impossible to follow an event or who is competing. The tech guys behind the scenes also crave their 5-10 minutes of fame replaying their little movie-maker creations incorporating a cool bass kicking song they found online with a conglomeration of ultra slo-mo clips of footage we haven't seen. I'll call out two people. Firstly, the only positive note I can give, is to Steven Bradbury, thumbs up mate, outstanding, honest, blunt expert commentary without the BS. On the other hand, Gazey, you and the Hammer are my favs when calling the NBL, but "deary me", what is the garbage you and Maher are trying to create? It was unsuccessful during Tokyo, it's even more unwatchable now. What is the premise, completely allow your inner childhood to escape and act as infantile as possible? Where has professionalism gone CH7? To conclude, in my subjective opinion, the No.1 worst show on free-to-air TV is 'Sunrise', however somehow, they seem to get the ratings from the unenlightened. I assume CH7 think they can transfer such a heinous example of presenting the news to a major sporting event. It does not work at all. I don't care about how gregarious your over-enthusiastic personalities can be, only the performances of the athletically talented, gathering from all around the world (not just Aus), that have trained their hearts out for the last 4 years is important.
The real SC
Roar Rookie
I watched Seven’s coverage and their coverage hasn’t been any good than this. Seven’s coverage has gone downhill where they show constant repeats and not enough live action. Hamish McLachlan has been insufferably annoying and he lacks a lot of knowledge. And the Summer Chill segment — cringeworthy. Some segments don’t appeal to me at all. They focus on other channel 7 shows like DwTS, the voice, SAS Australia.
Roly P
Roar Rookie
I’ve just watched the most inane commentary of the last end of the men’s curling gold medal by Andy Maher, Andrew Gaze and Jacqui Cooper. Completely clueless. Nothing but embarrassing from Channel 7, especially when they could just have played the OBS expert commentary.
Dean Cunningham
Guest
How ignorant is the Australian Olympic commentary. Can't pronounce Nico Porteous's first name. Thinks Australia should adopt this Kiwi.( No Kiwi ever gives a thought to being adopted by Australia) And by the way we just took over the medal count from you. Maybe the kiwis should adopt some Australians and teach them how to pronounce correctly.
Scott
Guest
Don't get me started on biathlon. Female commentator chunters on and on reading word for word from media releases about athletes but knows nothing about the sport. Dear, I don't know who you are but you don't have to talk every second.
krystyn Varrass
Guest
Far too much coverage of skiing and not much of anything else. Absolutely disgraceful. No Ice skating or pairs . As if it doesnt exist. Very bad channel seven. Anytime you turn on. Yep skiing again
Rick Skater
Guest
Pretty much stopped watching figure skating due to the constant interruption by commentator Belinda Noonan. So many inane and unnecessary statements interfer with the flow and enjoyment. Best leave all comments to the recap after each skate. Olly does it very well. Better luck in 2026
Mack
Guest
I've given up watching...non existent coverage of skiing even though each race is a gold medal event. Instead we get endless preliminaries, quarter finals, semi final, and finally final of various combinations of ice track, luge and snowboarding all doing the same thing. Twenty minutes of 'live' women's super G cutting away to more snowboarding after the first 14 competitors had run because seven knew the top 3 were decided was the last straw for me. Oh and yes they missed the first competitor because of their mindless studio rubbish talk about Mikaela Shiffrin....and it wasn't even live. So amateur.
Val James
Guest
I turn the T V on to watch the Winter Olympics not a talk feast from presenters - disappointing coverage
Rupreck
Guest
Applaud Channel 7 for have a trans host alongside Hamish, well done! Equal opportunity!
Robert Long
Guest
Are there any events on at Beijing or is this just commentators and past Australian winter olympians engaging in a BLAH BLAH BLAH fest?
Susan Ward
Guest
Agree that Hamish and Basil are aren’t good. Basil is very self absorbed and Hamish isnt good enough to be a main presenter. But Andrew Gaze is on now and he is truly horrible. Never shuts up, makes a joke about everything and constantly rambles on and on rather than letting others speak.
Joe
Guest
I think the Aussie commentators need glasses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTAcDybeHo
Monorchid
Roar Rookie
I agree Torchbearer. I know what I said in my previous post. But I'm watching the ice dancing (never got used to that term) now, and Shirvington's introduction was cringeworthy. His properly socially distanced partner (never saw her before) warbled something about decimation, and off we went. I've followed your advice about 7+. You're right. It's a different world.
Monorchid
Roar Rookie
I think McLachlan got quite a bit of adverse criticism during the last Olympics too. I think the Australian studio segments are a waste of time. The commentators aren't present, and they have to gabble on with meaningless air headed waffley comments as a result. And those endless replays really upset me. In fact, I've stopped watching much of these Olympics solely because of Channel 7's telecast strategy, and because I don't think many of their commentators are much good.
Torchbearer
Roar Rookie
If you are in any way serious about sports, you watch the international feed on the livestream (Seven Plus)....thats where the expert international, unbiased commentators are. That went for the Summer Games as well. The overhyping, over enthusiastic hosts on 7 drive me to distraction.
Gil
Guest
Worst, worst, worst, ever! Too many ill informed talking heads. Not enough beginning to end coverage of events. Meaningless montages and clips used as time fillers. Not enough coverage of major events with no Australian competitor. Cut away to adds at crucial moments. No forewarning of upcoming events. Waffle replaces video of events. Repeat, repeat, repeat is the guiding idea. Informed commentary from Stephen Bradbury and Lydia Lassila et al are exceptions and more of this standard would fix the talking head rubbish typified by Basil from Perth and his cohort mouthing meaningless platitudes to studio camera. I would rather watch random shots from around the sites without commentary than the studio coverage from 7.