This is taken from The Guardian:

Martin Webster
He changed the face of televised athletics
by Bob Chaundy
Wednesday 27 April 2011 18.26 BST

Martin Webster possessed an instinctive ability to tell a story with clever camera use and a keen knowledge of sport
As BBC Television's executive producer of athletics until last year, Martin Webster, who has died from motor neurone disease aged 56, changed the face of track and field coverage. Innovations under his leadership included the gyro-stabilised ball camera that enabled close-up shots of athletes on the move, the graphics showing the flags and captions of the competitors in their running lanes and the multi-frame illustrations of the trajectory of athletes such as long and triple jumpers.

He worked on six Olympic Games and 10 world championships. Such was his worldwide reputation that he was appointed host director of athletics for many major events, most notably the 2000 Sydney Olympics, providing television pictures for the world. The close-up of Cathy Freeman in her hooded green jumpsuit, accelerating off the final bend to victory in the 400m against a backdrop of camera flashes from her enthralled home crowd, remains one of athletics' outstanding TV moments.

Martin possessed an instinctive ability to tell a story with pictures by clever use of camera positions and angles, together with a keen knowledge of the sport itself. He took as much pleasure covering the amateur runner crawling across the finishing line at the London marathon as he did elite athletes in full flight. He would sometimes lead outside broadcast teams numbering in the hundreds, demanding high standards yet commanding great loyalty. He could be strong-willed and intolerant of management decisions, identifying closely with his team members, and often gave young producers their first opportunity to direct broadcasts.

Martin was born in Sheffield. He attended Dinnington high school on the outskirts of Sheffield, where his father worked in the coalmine. In 1976 he gained a geography degree at Swansea University, as well as a postgraduate certificate in education the following year. However, he decided against teaching, instead joining BBC Wales in Cardiff as a researcher in 1978.

Martin came to BBC TV Sport in London in 1981, and within six years had become a producer. He made his mark in football, and in 1994 was invited to be a host director of the World Cup in the US, where he instructed American cameramen on the finer points of a game with which they were unfamiliar. A passionate Sheffield Wednesday fan, he was often based at the club's Hillsborough ground during the Euro 96 tournament, and enjoyed organising kickabouts in a nearby park with the members of his team during breaks. Back in the control room, he was responsible for the memorable footage of Stuart Pearce's emotional reaction to his successful penalty kick in the quarter-final against Spain, redemption for his miss at Italia '90.

In 1998 he was appointed executive producer of athletics, and immediately made host athletics director of the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, followed by the 2000 Olympics and the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, for which he won a Bafta. He won a second Bafta for his coverage of the 2009 athletics world championships in Berlin.

By then, he was badly incapacitated by disease but continued to work with characteristic determination and dignity until April 2010. He is survived by his wife, Liz, and their children, Mark and Laura, and by two children, Sophie and Hannah, from his relationship with Alison Bartrop.

• Martin Webster, television sport producer, born 21 November 1954; died 28 March 2011