Olympic Reflections #10: Rosangela’s Tattoo
by Ross Fletcher, Director
Herd Freed Hartz – Executive Search
Olympic Reflections and lessons learned for recruiting
I was fortunate to work at seven Olympic Games (and a few Youth Olympics) during my time in broadcasting. For the duration of Paris 2024 I’m sharing a reflection a day.
I hadn’t set out to stare at somebody’s thigh just five minutes after meeting them – let alone direct a TV camera there – but natural curiosity took us on an unexpected path.
Any guesses what we were all so transfixed by here? Feel free to guess in the comments then read on…
How an Olympic athlete’s thigh became the centerpiece of a globally distributed TV feature
It started out as so many of my Olympic Games TV features did. Start researching a good story to tell. Find your angle. Interview the subject/s. Turn your material into compelling TV.
On the face of it, a feature about veteran 100 meter sprinter Rosangela Santos was obvious enough. Here was one of Brazil’s biggest track and field hopes, about to compete in her home Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – the pinnacle of her career. Yet I knew that alone wasn’t going to be enough to hold the viewer’s attention.
So as we arrived at the Team Brazil training center in a steamy Rio suburb, I made a mental plan to dig deeper. To be as curious as possible about what the occasion meant and the mark it would leave on Rosangela’s storied career.
The thing about interviewing people at such a gigantic event is that you don’t get much time with them to build trust or rapport. A few hurried minutes of conversation while the camera is setting up is typically the norm. Before the tape rolled I asked Rosangela the standard “how are you doing?” question and she revealed she was slightly sore, not because of her training routine but because of a tattoo she had just got in time for the Olympics. My natural curiosity kicked in as I asked her to explain and she talked about how she got a tattoo on her thigh at her first Games in Beijing in 2008 to commemorate her achievement of becoming an Olympian. She was determined to add to it as her career progressed and inked London artwork four years later and so a Rio 2016 addition was a must-have.
I knew this would be a great piece of visual storytelling but was faced with an awkward dilemma. With her legs completely covered by her training gear I toyed with the uncomfortable question of asking Rosangela to peel back her clothing for us to film the tattoo. I politely found a way to ask and luckily she was all too willing. We got the visuals we needed for our story as she explained the indelible legacy of her tattoo and how she would proudly carry the memory of her home Olympics everywhere she went.
It was a solid reminder for me to be curious during every interview and to allow the conversation to branch in an unexpected direction. Also to be prepared to ask something out of your comfort zone – like if it’s ok for us to focus a close-up camera shot on your thigh for a full minute as we get every last detail – because you never know where it might lead. It could just be the breakthrough you are looking for.
#olympics #storytelling
If you liked this, you can also check out:
Olympic Reflections #1: The People
Olympic Reflections #2: Interviewing
Olympic Reflections #3: Across Sectors
Olympic Reflections #4: Resilience
Olympic Reflections #5: Fun
Olympic Reflections #6: Meeting Matthew
Olympic Reflections #7: Transport
Olympic Reflections #8: Bolt
Olympic Reflections #9: Communications