What is key point 1 about "How The Times Made Its Tiny, Animated Olympic Athletes"?

The Times created animated Olympic athletes to help visualize complex movements

What is key point 2 about "How The Times Made Its Tiny, Animated Olympic Athletes"?

The animations serve as an educational tool for non-experts

What is key point 3 about "How The Times Made Its Tiny, Animated Olympic Athletes"?

Visual trails help viewers understand rotations and flips in snowboarding

What is key point 4 about "How The Times Made Its Tiny, Animated Olympic Athletes"?

The animations help explain scoring systems in figure skating

2/20/2026 | USA | general | ✓ Verified - nytimes.com

How The Times Made Its Tiny, Animated Olympic Athletes

#animated athletes #Olympic sports #figure skating #snowboarding #The Times #sports visualization #technical analysis

📌 Key Takeaways

The Times created animated Olympic athletes to help visualize complex movements
The animations serve as an educational tool for non-experts
Visual trails help viewers understand rotations and flips in snowboarding
The animations help explain scoring systems in figure skating

📖 Full Retelling

The New York Times developed a series of tiny animated Olympic athletes that flip, spin and soar through the air to help readers visualize the complex movements in sports like figure skating and snowboarding. These animations serve as an educational tool for readers who may not be familiar with the technical aspects of Olympic events. In figure skating, where each jump receives points based on execution quality, the animations help viewers understand the precise movements that judges evaluate. For snowboard halfpipe, which doesn't have the same point breakdown for individual tricks, the animations make it easier to comprehend the difference between various rotations like 1260s and 1440s. By following each move with a visual trail, The Times has created an innovative way to bridge the gap between expert analysis and general audience understanding.

🏷️ Themes

Sports visualization, Educational media, Olympic coverage

📚 Related People & Topics

The Times

British daily national newspaper

The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821), are published by Times Media, since 1981 a subsidiary of News...

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Olympic sports

Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by an international governing...

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Deep Analysis

Why It Matters

This article matters because it demonstrates how The New York Times is innovating in data visualization to make complex Olympic sports more accessible to general audiences. The animations help bridge the knowledge gap for casual viewers by visually explaining technical scoring differences. This approach enhances sports journalism by making athletic performances more understandable and engaging.

Context & Background

The New York Times created animated visualizations of Olympic athletes
Different sports have varying scoring systems (e.g., detailed figure skating vs. overall snowboarding scores)
The animations use visual trails to show rotations and flips
Goal is to help viewers distinguish between complex moves like 1260 and 1440 rotations

What Happens Next

The Times will likely continue developing these visualization techniques for future Olympic coverage and other complex sports. Other news organizations may adopt similar animated explanations to improve audience understanding. These tools could become standard in sports journalism for technical events.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of the athlete animations?

To help viewers visualize and understand the technical differences between complex moves in Olympic sports like snowboarding and figure skating.

How do the animations show rotation differences?

They use visual trails that follow each move, making it easier to count rotations and flips.

Why are snowboarding scores harder to understand than figure skating?

Snowboarding gives only overall scores per run, while figure skating breaks down points for each jump execution.

Original Source

              We also wanted to show a level of analysis in our animations. With figure skating, every jump gets points based on how well it is executed. Snowboard halfpipe doesn’t have this breakdown, only an overall score given when the run is complete. For someone who doesn’t usually watch snowboarding, the difference between a 1260 and a 1440 can be difficult to differentiate. Our animations show a trail that follows each move, which helps readers visualize the number of rotations and flips of each trick.
            

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Source

nytimes.com