Covering an Olympic Games is as challenging as sports journalism gets

There’s an enormous amount to cover – not helped by the eight-hour time difference – but it’s been a brilliant games to report on, writes Ben Burrows – one full of human stories and sporting triumph

(Getty)

Covering an Olympic Games is as challenging as sports journalism gets. If a world championships is the pinnacle of a given sport, then imagine covering 33 world championships simultaneously – and then imagine doing that over just a 17-day period.

The Tokyo Olympics brings with it the added complication of an eight-hour time difference back to the UK – and even further to the US. It all adds up to a hugely difficult fortnight or so for a sports desk to handle.

First of all it takes much more than just a sports desk, with the US, news, culture, lifestyle and comment departments all doing their bit with the eyes of the world transfixed on Japan.