Whether it be Shaun White practicing for the 2014 Winter Olympics or a New Yorker snowboarding in the streets, GoPro has revolutionized both the way we capture extreme sports and the way we experience video.
Interestingly, as for coverage of the 2014 Sochi games goes, NBC is not providing any GoPro content. That’s becauseRule 40 of the Olympic Charter has limited athlete sponsorships beginning with the Sochi Winter Games. GoPros sports marketing chief, Todd Ballard, predicted that NBC will be challenged not to use any GoPro footage during skiing and snowboarding events. “This Olympics will be interesting because of the free skiing element. A lot of athletes new to the Olympics are social media-savvy, and it’s a big part of their DNA. It will be interesting to see how they adapt to Rule 40.”
Nonetheless, some athletes are still taking GoPros along with them to Sochi, like American Matt Mortensen during his luge run. GoPro footage of different Olympic training events from skiing to skeleton to snowboard are providing perspectives that once would have seemed impossible to achieve otherwise. Spinning in circles at nearly 300 RPM with a go Pro above her head, U.S. Olympian Christina Gao provides some insane insight to world of figure skating.
Launched in 2004, and expected to go public this week, GoPro has only recently caught fire within the past few years. It is likely that 2016 in Rio de Janiero will see a change in Rule 40, allowing NBC to embrace the GoPro craze.
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