Paris 2024: ISB’s Ursula Romero on how OBS’ quality control teams made the Olympics picture perfect
ISB’s team was out in the field producing the modern pentathlon and prior to that, the shooting, at Paris 2024
International Sports Broadcasting (ISB) had a spectacularly busy Olympics, covering both the shooting and the modern pentathlon back to back on behalf of the host broadcaster, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS). However, while ISB’s team was out in the field producing, managing director at ISB, Ursula Romero, was working for OBS as part of one of its production teams based at the Paris 2024 IBC.
Romero had to deal with the pressures of her work at Paris 2024, as well as the sad knowledge that this was the first Olympics she has worked on since her father, Manolo Romero, the 2017 winner of the SVG Europe Outstanding Contribution to the European Sports Production Community, had passed away.
She says: “I was in the IBC for most of the time in quality control, and it was actually pretty hard for me to be there, to be quite honest, because it was the first Olympics without my dad being present somehow. So it was very difficult. A lot of people were coming and saying their condolences. I hadn’t seen a lot of people since he passed away, so it was quite emotional in that sense. It was good to be in production quality control (PQC) because I could just hide away and concentrate on the job.
“It was difficult, but it was really cool at the same time, because I was with Helen Borobokas, who’s one of the broadcast coordinating producers at OBS, and she’s been a friend since 2002,” Romero continues. “The sports that she was looking after were equestrian, shooting, modern pentathlon, rugby sevens, hockey, breaking, basketball 3X3, and of course surfing, which was really special.”
Team spirit for ISB’s crew in Paris was high! After working directly with OBS at the Parisian IBC, ISB’s MD, Ursula Romero [front and centre in this selfie] was able to join her team at the modern pentathlon. The director for the event, Oliver Valente, is top centre and ISB’s head of production, David Taunton and team leader for the shooting and modern pentathlon, right of centre
Borobokas was one of six broadcast coordinating producers, including a separate producer for the Paralympics, with each producer and their teams tasked with looking after specific allocated sports over the course of the Olympics.
Notes Romero on the job: “Their responsibility is to coordinate not only the production plan that they have come up with together with the federations, which is a long process of negotiation for ideal camera positions and platforms – where they are, do they impede spectators, do they impede the sport, how close can we get? – so that’s the coordinating producer’s job, to come up with those production plans, [but also then to,] together with the chosen production teams that will actually execute those plans, make sure that everybody’s on the same page and coordinate with the rights holders, so that the best pictures can be produced and ultimately shared with the world.
“It’s a very intense job, which includes a lot of venue surveys, a lot of CAD sessions, making sure that all the plans are executed correctly with the organising committee. It’s a lot of hours that are being put in, so it’s very proud moment when you’re sitting in quality control and you finally get to see all the pictures that you’ve been working on for so long.”
ISB crew [L to R] at Paris 2024, assistant director Sonia Krajcova, team leader David Taunton, managing director Ursula Romero, director Oliver Valente, and vision mixer Celia Benitez
Together with Borobokas and Grant Coleman who was also working on QC in the team, Romero oversaw the quality of specific sports to ensure the rights holding broadcasters, federations and OBS were happy with what was being delivered.
She says: “In quality control there are different stations with different producers that have been overlooking different sports over the past four years in preparation, and they’re the ones that created the production plan [for those sports]; camera drawings, narratives, and they’re in direct liaison with the organising committee regarding broadcast, and also with the federation. They’re the ones who decide where the cameras go and how they get used.
“Then once the production teams have been chosen – ISB was chosen to do the shooting and the modern pentathlon, which was also very cool – I also got to quality control [those sports] so I had to be on OBS’ side rather than on our side,” says Romero.
“But QC is basically at the heart of the operation and where we have to watch all the sports and be the behind the scenes producer that helps them out if anything happens from a technical perspective or from a human perspective, or if we don’t like the way they’re covering it, and we have to make sure that they follow the run ups and the run outs properly, that the graphics are working; if there’s a problem with the graphics, we have a graphics backup in the IBC so through quality control, all of that gets managed.
“Then of course, Mark Wallace is there, who’s the chief content officer for OBS, and he oversees the whole production department,” she continues. “There’s a daily briefing where all the rights holders go and he has to attend that briefing, and if there’s any issues with the broadcast from a production point of view, including graphics, he has to be the one answering for it. So we need to make sure that he’s informed of all the mishaps and happenings that went on behind the scenes, and we have to make sure that to the outside world, all those problems get solved without them being noticed or becoming an issue.”
On how she feels about being in the QC team, Romero states: “It’s cool, you know? Because you’re actually watching the sport and you get to be critical as well, making sure that the overall quality is kept in mind and that the IOC protocol is followed, and things like that.”
Romero was at the IBC with OBS from 23 July to 6 August, when she moved to the modern pentathlon venue at Versailles with her team, until going home on 12 August to take a quick breather before moving onto the Paralympics, where her team are set to cover the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the para athletics, para track cycling, equestrian, para shooting, para archery, wheel chair rugby, and judo.