KEY POINTS:
Veteran broadcaster Keith Quinn has hit back at savage criticism of TV One's Olympics coverage.
Armchair critics have used internet messageboards and blog sites to slam the 20-strong team of reporters and commentators - with Quinn and John McBeth copping heavy flak.
After dismissing the duo's commentary of the opening ceremony as "garbage", posters on the Tumeke blog claimed McBeth was "ruining the swimming coverage".
Blogger Adrian Porter said he respected Quinn in "his heyday" but he "really did sound like a guy that had not called anything for four years. I'm sorry Keith you need to stick to advertising funeral plans," he continued, referring to Quinn's role as frontman for Cigna's TV commercials.
A blogger wrote on the Mike's View website that TVNZ was "living in the past", having sent a similar team of reporters and commentators to those used in the 1980s, including "has-beens" such as Quinn and McBeth.
Blogger Karl du Fresne said the duo's performance on the opening night was "leaden" and for a country obsessed with sport, New Zealand was often poorly served by sports broadcasters, such as those at the Olympics.
"At best they are journeymen - knowledgeable enough, and likeable, but quite incapable of reaching beyond the traditional jockstrap audience, or of communicating the magic and sublimity of sport at its finest."
Yachting commentator Peter Montgomery did not escape viewers' wrath, with the creator of Mike's Blog accusing him of inaccuracy.
Quinn responded to criticism of his and McBeth's opening ceremony efforts via his blog on the TVNZ website. "This blog today I hope will not be seen as the utterances of two blokes trying to fight back because some criticism of our work has since appeared on several websites back home," he wrote last Sunday.
"Rather it is an explanation of how an Olympic opening ceremony commentary is put together."
He went on to provide a lengthy account of how the coverage was compiled and said he was proud to do the job and gave it his best shot.
With no let-up in the criticism, Quinn defended the entire broadcasting team - led by Peter Williams, a late replacement for Tony Veitch - later in the week. "The fact is whatever you say about the coverage - be it too much, too little, the commentators talk too much or not enough - the fact is it is being sent to you by as committed a bunch of people as I have ever worked with."
Many bloggers and messageboard users said they were looking forward to Sky and Prime taking over the Olympics coverage in four years. One, called Oly-Whites Fan, said they "will be anticipating Sky's coverage of London 2012 and, hopefully, beyond".
TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said the public's emotional investment in the Olympics meant a "huge amount of criticism" was part of the territory.
The broadcaster has tried to respond to the viewer feedback, such as starting the Olympics coverage two hours earlier today to replay more of last night's action.
