DOMINICA’S Olympic triple jump champion Thea LaFond and Trinidadian journalist Dennis Allen say media houses face a delicate balancing act when filming female athletes, as new European guidelines designed to prevent objectification clash with social media engagement and athletes’ earning potential.

“There are two parts to it. As a female, especially a female in the sport, of course there are going to be times you’re going to be sexualised,” LaFond said during a discussion on the topic on the Good Morning Jojo sports show on Antigua Observer Radio on Friday. “There’s no getting away from it. Oftentimes, it even works in your favour.”

LaFond’s remarks address a wider push to reform live athletics coverage. The European Broadcasting Union ( EBU) and European Athletics recently published “Raising the Bar”, a 23-page directive establishing firm production standards across major athletic meets.

The initiative follows advocacy from competitors like British pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw, who spoke out against broadcast feeds being clipped out of context and circulated inappropriately online. Because live feeds are distributed globally to networks like the British Broadcasting Corporation, Germany-based Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, and France Télévisions, host broadcasters established uniform principles aimed at prioritising athletic performance over sexualised framing.

Dennis Allen

Under the framework, camera operators are instructed to avoid extreme low angles or tight rear-view shots during athlete preparations, particularly in field events like the triple jump, long jump, pole vault, and high jump. Production teams are directed to use wider shots that capture complete technical execution, from approach to landing, and restrict slow-motion replays of athletes in vulnerable positions or crouched in starting blocks. Directors are also advised to cut away from competitors experiencing physical exhaustion or making wardrobe adjustments at the finish line.

While the standards aim to protect athletes, LaFond says high-engagement broadcast clips directly influence commercial opportunities.

“I know that I get more likes on social media when I’m in uniform than when I’m in regular t-shirt and shorts training clothes,” she said. “And likes and views mean more money in contracts. So, you could argue it works in your favour sometimes, the sexualising of an athlete.”

However, LaFond says production crews often push past reasonable bounds into what she considers unnecessary voyeurism.

“There’s also a point where maybe you don’t need to do five slow motion videos of my ‘bumsy’ coming out the pit covered in sand,” she said. “There are just moments where we can have a little bit more couth, cleaner streamlining. There’s no taking away from the athletic ability. You could still do a wide shot and show how far the jump is. You don’t have to be this close to certain regions of my body.”

She suggested directors focus on upper-body close-ups during coach interactions rather than filming lower- body shots from behind.

Allen, founder of the web-based sports media platform TTGameplan, addressed the economic reality of viral social media engagement versus editorial guidelines.

“If you look at some of the more risqué athletes’ profiles – like, [American sprint hurdler] Alaysha Johnson got over US$100,000 worth of views on TikTok from a video that was five seconds long of her stooping to get into her blocks in a race that she didn’t even win,” he said. “Now, I can’t post that on TTGameplan – I’ll lose half of my followers. But if you create the content and the athlete chooses to put it on, I think it’s a different story altogether.”

But Allen said sarcastically that strict technical angles rarely capture audience attention online.

“There’s also one where they show recommended shots where the foot hits the board. That’s definitely going to give me 40 million views on TTGameplan,” he joked.

LaFond says, ultimately, media houses must offer coverage options that account for differing athlete perspectives.

“It’s nice to have those options,” she said. “It might be nice to have more sexy shots of an athlete, but also you do want to have some wholesome shots too.

“There are athletes that I know that have said, ‘I don’t care. I just want to get paid.’ That’s their mentality, and it’s respected. And there are also athletes that have been appalled after seeing a certain photo used for a newspaper. I feel like there’s no real way that everyone is happy. Let’s just put a little bit of both out there and see how the public feels, and we move forward from that.”

LaFond, with a jump of 15.02m, claimed Dominica’s first Olympic medal (gold) at the Paris Games in 2024. She shared the podium with her friend, Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts, who claimed silver with a mark of 14.87m. LaFond has since improved that personal best to 15.25m in Croatia in June.