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2008 Olympics
2008 Olympics
UPDATED: July 30, 2007 NO.31 AUG.2, 2007
Veteran Broadcaster Leads Olympic Charge
With its leadership team and technological know-how, the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd. endeavors to bring the Olympics live to people around the globe
By TANG YUANKAI
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The first thing that Ma Guoli, Chief Operating Officer of the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (BOB) does every morning when he enters his office is turn on CCTV-5, the sports channel.

Before Ma was appointed COO of BOB in 2004, he had worked for the CCTV sports department for 16 years. "By the end of 2008 the span of my TV sports career will add up to 20 years," Ma said.

In good hands

Ma has witnessed the growth of CCTV's sports section over the years. In 1988, he became head of the sports news team under CCTV. The next year the team launched China's first special TV sports news program: The Sports News. In 1995, Ma created China's first sports channel with just a handful of staff members under him.

"I was the ninth person to work for the CCTV sports section after I graduated from the Beijing Broadcast Institute," Ma recalled. By the time he left his position to work for BOB, the sports news team had grown to 520 staffers. Ma was ranked among the top 50 most influential people in the sports world by the British newspaper The Guardian in 2005.

Ma's work experience with CCTV's sports section has helped forge a bond between himself and the Olympics. He has participated as a broadcaster in every Olympics since 1984. Besides this, he was the first person from mainland China to take part in the Olympic torch relay in 1992.

"I mostly contributed to the behind-the-scene work for the 2008 torch relay," said Ma. "But if there's a chance for me to be one of the torchbearers, I am of course willing to give it a try."

CCTV's Olympic reportage started in July 1984 when the country sent a large delegation to the Summer Olympics for the first time, after resuming its seat on the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"There were only four or five of us sent to Los Angeles that year," recalled Ma. For the Seoul Olympics in 1988, CCTV dispatched an 18-member team to the games, all reporters and commentators. By comparison, the number of workers attached to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) was 3,000.

"CCTV was already the largest TV station in China, though the Hong Kong stations were more advanced than us," said Ma. "We shared a room with them in Seoul and they produced the program, then we added our own commentary."

CCTV's sports news coverage improved in 1992, according to Ma. "Dozens of reporters were sent to Barcelona and our own coverage and production were increased," he said. Four years later at the Atlanta Olympics, the news crew from CCTV was 60 strong and this time had its own studio.

For the 2004 Athens Games, CCTV dispatched 160 staff to Europe while another 300 worked from the station back home. "We set a new Olympic reportage record with an unprecedented length of 1,200 hours broadcast," Ma noted.

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