Analysis: the post-event interview captures the essence of the Olympic Games in all its triumph and despair

One of the great joys of the Olympics is getting to tune into sports that would otherwise never cross our paths and, truth be told, we probably won't pay attention to again for four more years. You don't have to be an expert in fencing, beach volleyball or rhythmic gymnastics to appreciate the skill, precision and determination of the Olympians on display battling one another for medals at the highest level.

Sitting back and taking in the plethora of unique sports and gasping at the determination of athletes pushing their bodies to their absolute limits, under immense pressure, against the best in the world is what the Games are all about for viewers.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, Olympic gold medalist Kellie Harrington speaks to Dearbhail McDonald

Sure, expertise helps when it comes to understanding the rules and appreciating the intricacies of the scoring systems. Everybody has their favourite sports that they know inside out. But nobody is a bodafide expert in every sport, which is exactly what makes the Games so enjoyable as a spectacle. TV stations cut from weightlifting to athletics to martial arts and audiences suddenly become armchair experts engrossed for a few fleeting hours.

However, one element of the Olympics you don't need any expert knowledge to appreciate is the post-event interview. While it is an essential part of every sporting event, the Olympic interview perfectly captures the electric joy and crushing despair experienced by the athletes across all sports.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, interview with Katie Taylor after her quarter-final loss at the Rio Olymics in 2016

In the case of Ireland, there have been countless iconic moments at the Olympics, highs and lows, which have been captured in the post-event interview down through the years. Sometimes interviews become more famous than the sporting events themselves. Contrast the joy of Katie Taylor's tears after winning gold at London 2012, a life's dream realised for the Bray boxer, with the haunting devastation etched across her face four years later speaking to RTÉ after losing her quarter-final in Rio.

In fact, interviews with Irish athletes at the last Olympics in 2016 captured a complete spectrum of emotions: from Taylor’s sorrow, to the hilarious humour and down-to-earth honesty of Paul and Gary O'Donovan after winning rowing silver. The O’Donovan brothers’ interview became a YouTube sensation (currently at 2.5 million views) and catapulted the Skibbereen rowers into worldwide fame almost overnight. Bizarrely, as the pair did the rounds of TV chat shows from The Late Late Show to The Graham Norton Show, they received more questions about their viral interviews than the actual silver medals they had worked their entire careers for.

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From RTÉ Sport, interview with the O'Donovan brothers at Rio 2016

This is why the post-event interview remains such a crucial element of each and every Olympics: the vast majority of the general public are not experts in rowing, or fencing, or the modern pentathlon. But being able to connect with athletes via their interviews — seeing what winning and losing means to them, hearing about communities they represent, sharing in the joy of their success, or sympathising when they fall short — is something everybody can do, regardless of their knowledge of the sport itself.

Via the medium of television which puts a face to the athlete’s name, and seeing and hearing their personality through their own words, it humanises the entire sporting experience and puts the people behind the medals and the sport they represent into context.

Irish interviews at the 2016 Games kept the nation gripped. While the O’Donovans’ humour charmed audiences and Katie Taylor’s interview broke hearts as we sympathised with her pain in Rio, boxer Michael Conlan's interview also caused a stir. The Belfast bantamweight, who controversially lost at the quarter-final stage, accused the International Boxing Association (AIBA) in his post-fight interview of being cheats, raising allegations of corruption against the sport's governing body.

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From RTÉ Sport, Michael Conlan's post-fight interview at Rio 2016

"AIBA are cheats. F***ing cheats. As simple as that," Conlan famously told RTÉ. "I was here to win Olympic gold. My dream’s been shattered now. They’ve always been cheats. Amateur boxing stinks. From the core right to the top." It was a jaw-dropping piece of television that stunned boxing fans and casual observers alike, with Conlan’s words making headlines across the planet, showing just how significant the post-fight interview is and the power it wields.

Over the next fortnight in Tokyo, Irish athletes will compete at the highest level, vying for gold, silver and bronze medals, aiming to set new personal bests while representing their nation at the biggest sporting event of all. With no spectators allowed due to the pandemic, this year’s Olympics has become a television spectacle and never before has TV wielded so much significance in the history of the Games.

Whether watching on RTÉ, BBC, EuroSport or NBC, these channels have a huge responsibility to cover the Games accurately and convey the emotion and significance of each event to viewers (and athletes’ own families) who have no choice but to watch from their sofas back home. Nobody is — or claims to be — an expert on all 33 different sports on display in Tokyo, but nations always get behind their athletes regardless of their knowledge of the sport they are watching.

Cynics would call it the bandwagon effect, but collectively sharing in the joy of someone representing their country and achieving their life’s ambition at the Olympics is an essential part of what makes the Games so special. This is why the post-event interview is one of the most fundamental and important parts of the events. It allows experts, novices and bandwagons alike to connect with their fellow countryman or woman, understand what winning and losing means to them, and make an emotional connection with their achievements.

It must be noted that interviews are not always joyous celebrations. For every Olympian who succeeds in winning a medal, there are many more who have come up short. Full credit must be given to any athlete who fronts up in front of a camera, after what may have been the most painful moment of their sporting career, dutifully answering reporters’ questions about how they didn’t achieve their dream.

Speaking about a defeat in front of a television audience of millions across the world must rank as one of the most staggeringly difficult things any athlete can go through. Often, the teary, emotional interviews with athletes who have been defeated are the hardest and most upsetting to watch. Nothing captures the cruelty of top level sport like it.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Des Cahill is joined live in Tokyo by Irish bronze medal winning rowers Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty with two of the girls mothers also on the line

Katie Taylor’s glorious victory in London nine years ago is one of the greatest moments in Irish sporting history and hearing her speak afterwards, expressing how much that gold medal meant to her, was a joyous scene for the entire nation of Ireland. Not because we as viewers had played any part. But because she had gone out and achieved her life’s ambition and the nation was proud of her for it.

Seeing an athlete’s dreams come true in real time, or sadly, watching that dream crumble away, is why the post-match interview perfectly captures the joy and cruelty that is elite level sport at the Olympic Games. In the space of 2-3 minutes of screen time, it highlights the importance of the media in how we consume and enjoy sport and the crucial role good reporters play asking questions behind the camera too.

With the 2020 Tokyo Games solely a television event this year, we will be relying on those interviews more than ever to convey the spirit of the Olympics in all its triumph and despair, tears of joy and tears of sorrow beamed across the world for all to see.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ