Cycling confusion blamed on Twitter fans: Officials say BBC's shambolic coverage of road race was because spectators used site as riders passed



Commentators repeatedly made mistakes during coverage of road race contested by British cycling stars Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins

Fans slammed BBC coverage as commentators struggled with a lack of timing information during the race

Gymnastics coverage criticised for ignoring impressive displays by British competitors

BBC insists problems are beyond its control as it relies on pictures provided by the Olympics' own broadcasting company

The BBC’s shambolic television coverage of the men’s road cycle race was yesterday blamed on spectators using Twitter as the athletes passed.

Olympic officials said this had jammed the network used to provide crucial race timing and positional updates to broadcasters from the athletes’ bikes.

One million spectators turned out to watch the race on Saturday, one of the few unticketed events in the Games.



Scroll down for video

Problems: The BBC has apologised for its coverage of the men's road cycling race, in which Mark Cavendish (left) was riding for Great Britain

Celebration: Kazakhstan rider Alexandr Vinokourov holds his arms aloft as he crosses the finish line to win gold. BBC commentators seemed unsure about which cyclists had won medals

But viewers at home were left baffled, with many criticising the BBC for confusing and ill-informed commentary by a team including British cycling greats Hugh Porter and Chris Boardman, as well as presenter Jill Douglas.

Fans were left clueless about timings and positions on the course, and even for a while after the race ended, it was unclear who had won the bronze medal.

One viewer complained on Twitter: ‘Horrible BBC coverage of the Olympic cycling road race. Erratic time splits, wrong names and inaccurate position calls. Frustrating.’

Another posted: 'The #olympics2012 cycling road race coverage contained literally the worst commentary I have ever heard. Embarrassingly bad coverage.'

Colin Lynch, an Irish Paralympic cycling world champion, tweeted: ‘If you’re watching cycling for the first time today on TV, I promise – it usually has much better coverage and commentary. Don’t be put off.’

Not our fault: Presenters Gary Lineker (left) and Jake Humphrey (right) defended the BBC, tweeting that the problems were beyond the broadcaster's control



Defence: Jake Humphrey took to Twitter to respond to complaints by viewers

Apology: Cycling commentator Chris Boardman, who won gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, said he was 'gutted' about the technical problems affecting the BBC's coverage

Former Olympic gold-medal cyclist Boardman took to the social media site to apologise to fans, writing: ‘Folks, got to apologise for issues today, gutted. Tomorrow we aim to have stuff like information and a monitor we can see for commentary.’

Frustrated: Chris Boardman, a member of the BBC commentary team, apologised for the disappointing coverage

The BBC yesterday said the problems were beyond its control, as the coverage was via the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS) supplies footage and data to all the TV networks.

BBC presenter Gary Lineker wrote on Twitter: ‘This is the Olympics. The coverage is from a pool of broadcasters from across the world. I’m afraid that’s how it is regardless of who hosts.’

Jake Humphrey also used the site, writing: ‘'For those asking about more on-screen stats, graphics and info. None of it in the BBC control, we just take pictures provided to whole world'.

The International Olympic Committee yesterday said the sending of race information from tiny GPS transmitters in competitors’ bikes had been jammed by spectators using their mobile phones to access social media sites.

Before yesterday’s women’s road race, IOC communications director Mark Adams even urged spectators to refrain from using their phones when the riders passed.

Mr Adams said: ‘From my understanding, one network was oversubscribed, and OBS are trying to spread the load to other providers. We don’t want to stop people engaging in this by social media and sending updates, but perhaps they might consider only sending urgent updates.’

The plea was partially successful, with better race information during the women’s event – although Boardman yesterday told viewers the split times shown on their screens were inaccurate, forcing him to keep a record.

A BBC spokesman said last night: ‘The pictures are provided by the host broadcaster OBS to all global rights holders, these are not BBC-produced pictures. We have raised our concerns with OBS who have explained that there were GPS problems with ... the timing graphics, which resulted in a lack of information for the commentary teams.’

Elsewhere, at the North Greenwich arena, the BBC’s coverage of the gymnastics prompted complaints as the British men’s team qualified for the final for the first time since 1924.

But viewers saidthat they missed much of the action because the broadcasting team showed pictures of other country's athletes.

Star performer: Kristian Thomas of Great Britain competes in the gymnastics event. Viewers described the BBC's coverage of the competition as 'shocking'

'Listen up': BBC sports reporter Ollie Williams sought to explain why more performances by British gymnasts were not shown

The BBC's own commentators appeared frustrated as pictures of foreign competitors were shown while British gymnasts' displays elsewhere in the arena were drawing loud cheers from the home crowd.

One viewer tweeted: 'Shocking coverage from the BBC for the GBR boys in the artistic gymnastics. After 1 hour of qualifications we've seen 2 performances.'

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Very disappointed with bbc coverage of the gymnastics so far-not seen a peep of GB&watching same person on floor twice!'

BBC sports reporter Ollie Williams, who was covering the event, tweeted: 'Listen up. This applies to all sports and to the gymnastics now.

'The BBC is NOT the host broadcaster. We do not decide the pictures shown.

'So if wondering why you can't see GB gymnasts, it's because the BBC is not in charge.