Obscure Olympic question?

Question

In Australia we are seeing an extraordinary slow motion shot of a male athlete lying on his back (after presumably just finishing a race) and tossing water into his mouth. What is extraordinary is that it appears that a butterfly has flown right in front of the camera lens at this auspicious occasion. Butterflies are not uncommon in places like Australia but for all the years I lived in cities in China I can’t remember seeing ANY butterflies, especially not one this big or beautiful. So was it just a co-incidence or was it a computer simulation (like some of the fireworks). I would do a google search but I don’t even know the name of the athlete on his back.

Can anyone help?

Answer 1

yes i saw that too. But i doubt that channel 7 would add a butterfly in. (If you watch the Olympics in Australia) Chinese might, but i dont think we would.

Answer 2

Wow - fair eye for detail!

My children spent some time in China last year and commented on the butterflies in a collection somewhere (they were dead - so do they count?)

Sorry cant help other than that.

Answer 3

I've seen butterflies and bees last time i visited southern china.  And I haven't been to Beijing myself but in the Guangdong province, the sky is blue very often and there's little smog or pollution, unless youre in the city center with a thousand cars.  There are some areas in China where there's lots of trees and bushes, in the city not the suburbs, and i got chased by a giant bee once.  I thought it was a beetle but it turned out to be a bumblebee, it took off when i got closer and buzzed angrily, and i was like "oh sh**" and ran.  So of course there are butterflies there.

Answer 4

The butterfly in the scenes was overlaid over the slow motion image of the athlete splashing water into his mouth. The athlete was Predrag Filipovic from Serbia, Bib number: 2897 from the Men's 20km Walk event.

In the AU Channel 7 coverage, multiple montage scenes were used; originally this scene was used accompanied to "Dream Catch Me" by Newton Faulkner - this featured the clip in a 'faster' slow motion shot without the butterfly. Subsequent clips featuring "Best Thing" by Boom Crash Opera and "Canto Della Terra" by Sarah Brightman (duet with Andrea Bocelli) included the butterfly. There are more that were used.

Noted, another montage featuring dramatic Chinese music used a shot  of *another* butterfly, this time crossing the bar as a female high jumper flips over the bar.

So, no, it's unlikely the camera captured a one in a million shot of a butterfly at the precise moment of an athlete drinking water  - the purpose was for dramatic effect and to show case the slow motion HD videography of the Olympics.

As for whether Channel 7 were responsible for this artistic move, I am not certain. Channel 7 had access to feeds from the IBC, so it may have come from there, but as I have not seen any reports of any other broadcasters (besides SBS) having shown the exact montage clips, it may well have originated from the video library/technical team at Channel 7. In any case, it was a very good job and they deserve credit.

Butterflies do exists in China, but the exact butterfly I am not able to name for you - it is best answered by a butterfly enthusiast.