After the objections from female athletes, images from cameras built into the starting blocks at the World Athletics Championships in Doha will be censored.
According to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the cameras which were in use for the first time and promised to “provide innovative angles on the competition,” showed the images of athletes’ intimate areas, provoking criticism from German sprinters Tatjana Pinto and Gina Lückenkemper.
Luckenkemper said that standing on top of the cameras wearing short running shorts was “really not comfortable.”
“I as a woman find that quite stupid,” she said in a statement released by her spokesman.
“And I have said I would doubt that a woman was part of the development of that (the cameras).”
German Athletics Association has taken the complaints of Luckenkemper and Pinto to IAAF. IAAF director of broadcast James Lord said traditional camera shots “only showed the top or side of their heads as they took their marks”, and “the new cameras within the blocks will capture that intense moment just before a race.”
Speaking at the time, James Lord said: “Athletics is an extraordinary sport where our athletes do amazing things. There is exceptional life, color and movement not only in but around the competition and we wanted to showcase all of this to the world in new and exciting ways.”
Mr. Lord added: “Traditional camera positions only showed the top or side of their heads as they took their marks.”
“The new cameras within the blocks will capture that intense moment just before a race. Seiko has done a brilliant job of bringing this to life.”
The IAAF is now going to restrict the use of images from the cameras, according to a statement from the DLV.
A German sportswoman, Amélie Ebert, backed the sprinters’ complaint, saying: “I was a synchronized swimmer, in a tight costume, often with just my legs above water.”
“I often wondered why we athletes had no right to be consulted over which pictures would be used,” she told the German daily Rheinische Post. The shots included “close-ups of us doing the splits”, she added.
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