
International Sports Broadcasting brings 2023 World Para Athletics and Swimming Championships to the world stage in run up to Paris 2024 By Heather McLean
Thursday, July 27, 2023 - 09:00
Print This Story
International Sports Broadcasting (ISB) was the host broadcaster on behalf of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, which took place from 8 to 17 July in Paris Florent Pervill
Madrid-based International Sports Broadcasting (ISB) was the host broadcaster on behalf of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, which took place from 8 to 17 July in Paris. This is set to be swiftly followed by the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester which will begin with a splash on 31 July, running to 6 August, with ISB at the helm once again.
For the athletes, the Athletics and Swimming Championships represent a final hurdle to the Paralympics in Paris next year. ISB produced around eight hours of live coverage per day over the course of the World Para Athletics Championships, with ENG teams also producing additional content for the IPC's use. There was also a daily 26 minute highlights show.
A similar output is expected for the upcoming Para Swimming World Championships, both of which have and will be produced in the same ethos from ISB; to showcase the events, tell the stories of the athletes, and increase viewership of the vast array of para sports.
Greg Breakell, director at ISB, notes that in his role he finds it important to not focus the cameras on the disabilities of the competitors, but on the way they are overcoming challenges on the track or pool in order to engage viewers at home and enable them to relate to what they are seeing on screen Florent Pervill
Complex directing process
Para sport lends itself to a far more complex process for directors, according to Greg Breakell, director at ISB and for both these two events. On growing the viewership for para sports, Breakell says: We've all spent a great deal of time in our careers working various para and disabled events and they're special in themselves, but with the IPC, we've had discussions many times on many evenings, at many events, about how do we reach the world and let everybody see how special these athletes are and the stories that each individual has? And it's always been a challenge.
The goal has always been how do we bring the world's eyeballs outside of the families and friends of these athletes, to be able to watch these compelling competitions and stories, but also identify with the athletes? One point is, they don't want to be special. They're humans, like any of the rest of us, but that happen to have a disability, whatever that may be. So it's a real challenge in telling the story and getting that message across.
So it's not just pictures, it's not just sound, it's not just compassion telling the stories, all the things we normally try to do, but it's being very aware of the type of humans, individuals that we're dealing with
He notes that as a director, he finds it important to not focus the cameras on the disabilities of the competitors, but on the way they are overcoming challenges on the track or pool in order to engage viewers at home and enable them to relate to what they are seeing on screen.
Breakell explains: In the back of my mind when I'm cutting pictures, I'm trying to make sure that the viewer is not uncomfortable with what they're seeing. It's no different than the philosophy in able-bodied sports when there's an injury, how tight do you get? How much blood do you need to see? There's that same uncomfortable level to it. For my job as a director, it's not only about covering the competition, but to tell the stories.
The ISB crew for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, which took place from 8 to 17 July in Paris
Getting the right angles
Breakell says this telling of stories in a para competition means he has to consider the equipment being used to capture the images more closely than for an able-bodied event. He says: When it comes to equipment, even, what angles do we shoot this at? Our Agito buggy is low because we want to look into [the athletes'] faces. We all know the emotion is on the face, so we don't want to be shooting everything from up high. So the buggy is low, our steadicams, the equipment is rigged to the low position. Most steadicam operators you'll see in able-bodied sports, the lens is somewhere [up high]. We rig our lens down low so that we are looking into the eyes [of athletes in wheelchairs and the like]. It's about respect for these people. We're not looking down on them. We want to be on the same level. The philosophy of television is the same you want to look into your eyes, we don't want to look on top of your head so that doesn't change, but it does challenge us in some ways.
He continues: There's no question that not only are you meeting the broadcast expectations of normal sports coverage, but there's much more to be taken into consideration. You really need to be aware, with even things as simple as your camera operators being aware of prosthetics on the field of play; a steadicam operator normally, in able-bodied sports, pretty much moves within the guidelines of whatever you've discussed with the league or the committee or whatever. They know not only are they free to move, but the athlete will step out of the way if necessary. That's not always the case in para sports.
And then you have to take into consideration on top of that all the different classifications, continues Breakell, on the overall complexities of working on a para production. Some of the classifications for the hearing im
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
25/04/2026
Mediagenix Sweeps 2026 NAB Awards With Wins for Product of the Year and Best of ...
25/04/2026
SCHOEPS Microphones Announces Desert Island Boom Set for NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 24, 2026
0 Comments
Compact modular set ideal for location sound ...
25/04/2026
Berklee Africana Studies Hosts Gospel Extravaganza 2026 The Signature Series event will honor three new inductees to the Berklee Gospel Hall of Fame and celeb...
25/04/2026
Student Spotlight: Siva Maja Gierszewska, who performs under the artist name Siva, shares how she found her songwriting confidence at Berklee.
April 24, 2026...
25/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/04/2026
Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire the intellectual property of the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes from 1/...
24/04/2026
Daktronics has partnered with DCL (Design Communications, Ltd.) to design, manuf...
24/04/2026
Chyron has announced PRIME Translate, a workflow solution that produces live content simultaneously in multiple languages within the PRIME platform. The system ...
24/04/2026
Eutelsat has announced a new partnership with Co-op Cable, introducing an expand...
24/04/2026
Pitch Dublin, an indoor golf simulation and hospitality venue on Dawson Street i...
24/04/2026
G&D and VuWall have announced two senior leadership appointments, effective Apri...
24/04/2026
Victory , the free sports streaming service from A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC), has announced a multi-year agreement to become the exclusive local streaming ho...
24/04/2026
The former business major from Massachusetts has found his home in graphics and bug operation while contributing to live ESPN productions
In the live-sports-vi...
24/04/2026
The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) and Spectrum have announced a multiyear carriage agreement making MASN available to Spectrum customers in areas of southe...
24/04/2026
The NFL Draft is rebuilt from the ground up in a new city every year. The three-day fan festival is expected to draw 500,000 or more attendees, with millions fo...
24/04/2026
Diversified has continued expansion of its sports and media capabilities to supp...
24/04/2026
NAB reports that the 2026 NAB Show wrapped with more than 58,000 registered atte...
24/04/2026
Clear-Com has announced significant updates to its Arcadia Central Station and E...
24/04/2026
NAB reports that the 2026 NAB Show wrapped with more than 58,000 registered atte...
24/04/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
24/04/2026
B/R NFL Draft Live' refines the digital giant's productions around footb...
24/04/2026
Study highlights five pillars shaping modern fan engagement as broadcasters reth...
24/04/2026
The 2026 event, the first Draft with NFL Network under the ESPN umbrella, will b...
24/04/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
24/04/2026
Integral to the Draft production for three almost decades, the company tells the...
24/04/2026
Championing documentaries that illuminate and expand the artform is at the core ...
24/04/2026
The Peabody Awards spotlight excellent work that endures. This year's winner...
24/04/2026
Earth Day is a chance to reflect on our connection to the natural world. To mark the 57th Earth Day on April 22, Spotify's editors have pulled together a co...
24/04/2026
This past weekend, Spotify was at the heart of the largest literary event in the...
24/04/2026
All data tells a story, and in our case, that story is written by you. To celebrate 20 years of Spotify, we're sharing bite sized moments that capture how t...
24/04/2026
Over the past 20 years, Spotify's look and feel has evolved with the way people use our platform, while ensuring we preserve an intuitive, personal, and fam...
24/04/2026
It's been 20 years since Spotify began, but the real story is what the world chose to play. For the first time, we're unveiling the most streamed artist...
24/04/2026
Whether you're relaxing at home or on the go, Spotify is there across more than 2,000 devices, ready with your favorites or something new to discover. Now, ...
24/04/2026
Nintendo and Spotify are welcoming fans to the Super Mario Bros. 40th anniversary and the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie with new playlists and a speci...
24/04/2026
30 October - 1 November 2026
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) have announced that the AES Show 2026 will be held on Halloween weekend - Friday 30 October...
24/04/2026
New closed-back design promises honest' low end
Sennheiser have just announced the launch of a new pair of flagship closed-back headphones which they s...
24/04/2026
Powerful 12-channel hardware sequencer announced
Cre8audio are renowned for their innovative, and often visually striking designs, and although their latest...
24/04/2026
Room correction now supports full 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos setups
The software element of IK Multimedia's room-correction system has just received an update th...
24/04/2026
New content for BBO Tutti & BBO Riffs
VSL have recently introduced some new free content expansions for two of their most popular Big Bang Orchestra Packs: ...
24/04/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to highlight its R&S EVSD1000 UAV-based navigation analyzer at I...
24/04/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
24/04/2026
ITV's Director of Drama Polly Hill has commissioned six part propulsive, lun...
24/04/2026
The NASA 777 aircraft departs the L3Harris facility in Waco, Texas....
24/04/2026
WASHINGTON, April 23, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has closed a $1 b...