NBC and token social media integration

Broadcast networks have taken Twitter integration to different levels. For Fox, it involved invasive "live tweets" from show stars. For NBC, it's apparently a token integration to appease both their audience and the athletes taking part in this year's Winter Olympics.

Leading up to the games, there was some confusion with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) about whether or not athletes could even tweet during the Games. It was finally decided that they could tweet - about their personal experiences, and with some severe limitations on what kind of photos and videos they could share.

Those regulations, combined with NBC's apparent reluctance to integrate user-generated content or social media sites, has severely limited the potential richness of their broadcasts. In an ideal world:

• Athletes could tweet and share whenever they wanted. There's already live coverage, instantaneous news distribution and people constantly. tweeting. about. the. Olympics. It's not like athletes are going to break a story before Bob Costas can get his hands on it. Odds are, their insight and tweets about nerves, conditions and competition will add to the viewers' experience. Imagine a glimpse of a tweet from Bode Miller before his bronze-medal winning run - a TwitPic right on NBC, describing the emotions before a big race.
• NBC would share athletes' and coaches' tweets with information or context. Right now, on NBC's Olympic Pulse page, they're posting tweets from athletes - without timestamps, geotagging or even specifying what country the athlete represents.
• Share athlete's videos and photos from the opening and closing ceremonies. Grab a couple of athletes before the Games, recruit them as content creators and give them the tools. Let them lose at the Olympic Village and collect their content as they go. Post the stories, photos and videos as the games go on to show the story behind the competition. NBC makes a darn good dramatic mini-documentary, but that content could be so much richer if gathered by the participants themselves.

What do you think? How would you make the Olympics a richer viewing experience?