“Family has always been a part of the coverage. You think of Michael Phelps’ mom in the stands, and eventually his wife and baby in the stands, or the Raismans doing every move with Aly Raisman in her gymnastics routine,” NBC Olympics coordinating producer Lee Ann Gschwind told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think we have captured that, but more, in a way, because we are more intimately in people’s homes.
”Many reaction videos come from the phones of local journalists, who immediately post them on social media — a modern update on a staple of local journalism: the hometown sports hero story.