Media prize

Telefonica Black's Gabriele Olivo picks up award for leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race

Gabriele Olivo, the media crew member aboard Telefonica Blue was presented with the Inmarsat Media Prize for the best broadcast material on the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town to Cochin, India.

Chris McLaughlin, Vice President External Affairs at Inmarsat, paid tribute to the pioneering role of the MCM on this race and revealed that ‘Gabriele Olivo consistently told a compelling story across a multi-media platform.”

Inmarsat is offering a €1,000 prize for the best overall media output on each of the 10 legs. When the race finishes in St Petersburg, Russia, in late June 09, an additional €10,000 prize will be awarded to the MCM judged to have made the best overall contribution to race coverage. Inmarsat is recognising the unique contribution the MCMs are contributing to a race that is the global showcase for Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband service.

“Using our new FleetBroadband satellite services, these media men are telling the story that brings alive the human endurance of ‘life at the extreme’ that is the Volvo Ocean Race," said McLaughlin. "On Leg 2 Gabriele Olivo gave the world an at times deeply touching account of conditions - devastation at the boat damage, frustration with the weather and strong crew morale. His filming brought home to the millions of us who follow the boats from the warmth of our dry offices, just how tough this race really is. FleetBroadband is keeping the race at the forefront of communications technology by enabling multi media channels and High Definition TV to bring the action of off the boats and to our screens.”

Telefonica Blue crew's daggerboard broke eight days into the leg when they were reaching in 15 knots of breeze. They also blew out two spinnakers and tore the mainsail.

Rick Deppe the media crew member on board Puma and Gustav Morin, on board Ericsson 3 were the other nominees for this award. Morin was singled out for the creativity and composition of his still photography, much of which was achieved in often impossible conditions, Deppe for the originality of his video filming.

Gabriele Olivo, 30, is the only Italian in the race and this is his first Volvo Ocean Race. He’s a world class sailor and has reached the podium in classes such as the TP52, Farr 40 and GP 42 classes.

Moscow-based yachting photographer Sergey Bogdanov is the new media crew member on Team Russia for the leg three sprint to Singapore. Having a Russian journalist reporting in Russian from a Russian boat will help create interest around the race which finishes in St Petersburg in June 09. He temporarily replaces England’s Mark Covell, who will return home for Christmas with his family.