That was certainly the case in 1964, when the Games were first held in Tokyo.

New television technology enabled action to be seen across the globe and in Japan itself, viewers even watched in glorious living colour.

The 1960 Rome Olympics had been shown across Europe by Eurovision and film was freighted by air to other continents.

Technology developed so rapidly that the first active communications satellite Telstar was launched in July 1962, which enabled inter-continental broadcasts. As it turned out, Telstar’s orbit took it into the Southern Hemisphere in October 1964, which meant it could not be involved in the Olympic transmissions.

The satellite to transmit the Olympics was called Syncom III. It was developed by Hughes Aircraft, a company set up by the fabulously rich American businessman Howard Hughes, in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space administration, better known as NASA.

Syncom III blasted into space from Cape Canaveral in Florida (then officially known as Cape Kennedy). It soared 35,888 kilometres over the Pacific, before jets positioned it in an orbit to match the earth’s rotation.

An American TV guide magazine hailed "the first satellite to hang over the Pacific".

In early October 1964, American President Lyndon Baines Johnson made a broadcast beamed to viewers in the United States and Japan. He saluted "a great contribution towards international understanding, a vital stepping stone towards lasting peace".

Johnson said it was "most fitting" that it should come into operation in time to relay the Olympic Games, which he described as "a symbol of peaceful cooperation among nations".

The satellites made it possible for viewers in other continents to watch the Olympics as they happened on the same day, although not necessarily live.

This miracle was sufficient for the newspapers around the world to give breathless accounts of how the pictures would arrive, yet even days before the 1964 Olympics television executives held their collective breath until a spokesman announced with no little relief that "an unexpected stroke of luck has put the satellite in the right position at the right time."

The official International Olympic Committee (IOC) history records the broadcasting rights as amounting to $1.6million, a modest amount by today’s standards but the Games were seen in 40 countries.

In America, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) transmitted the Opening Ceremony live, though their programme began at one o’clock in the morning on the East Coast.

Nonetheless it caused a sensation.

"Tonight, see history made on your TV set. Not filmed but live sent by an amazing 83lb satellite parked over the Pacific," said an advertisement in the US.

The New York Times television critic Jack Gould wrote of "a triumph of electronic technology that was almost breathtaking in its implications for global communication."

The picture quality was "as good as is normally seen in the United States under studio conditions, possibly even better. The most impressive technical feature was the complete absence of any break up roll over or flutter."

The time difference with Japan was 13 hours, prompting NBC to go for a schedule of highlights because much of America would be asleep when the Games were taking place.

The programmes were put together in Tokyo using facilities provided by the Japanese broadcasters. These were sent by satellite or flown back to the US.

The NBC studio was decorated with Olympic imagery including a picture of  Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Commentators took great delight in a magnificent finish by Billy Mills to win the men’s 10,000 metres. "Look at Mills, look at Mills," they screamed as he surged past Australian Ron Clarke and Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia in one of the greatest finishes of the Games.

Rafer Johnson, gold medallist in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, was employed as a roving reporter and NBC also recruited four-time gold medallist Murray Rose to report on events in the Olympic pool, where Australia were the only nation to really challenge the dominant American swimmers.

Names such as Don Schollander became instant stars.

Even then, each broadcast opened with a word from the sponsors so NBC’s Olympic coverage was "brought to you by Schlitz, the one that gives you real gusto in a great light beer and Kent cigarettes with the micronite filter", which it later transpired was made of asbestos. Tobacco advertising was later banned.

Texaco, purveyors of gasoline, also sponsored broadcasts with the words: "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star!"

For those in Europe, the pictures arrived after a remarkable journey across three continents. By satellite to Point Mugu in California, then landline to Montreal, United States, across the North Pole to Hamburg by jet before distribution across Europe. In all it was a journey of over 25,700 kilometres.

The direction of travel made it possible for events to be seen the same day. Broadcasters became skilled at packaging the material to guarantee maximum immediacy.

In Switzerland, the broadcasts on Swiss Romand television began shortly after noon with the latest results but filmed action from the previous day.

In the city where the IOC had its headquarters, the Gazette de Lausanne declared "a gold medal for television" and stated approvingly that "for the most part the television pictures were of a very high quality".

Swiss TV schedules indicated the main round ups were at 7.15pm and then further broadcasts later in the evening before the close.

It was a similar story in other parts of the continent, linked through the European Broadcasting Union. In Eastern Europe, the parallel organisation Intervision was responsible for distributing the signal, though it was reported that the Soviet Union did not take the broadcasts.

In Great Britain, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) devoted a number of hours of coverage to the competitions.

Their television team in Tokyo included commentator David Coleman, many years later to be awarded the Olympic Order, and Peter West, destined to form an agency which transformed sports sponsorship with Patrick Nally. 

A popular story of the time was that the BBC had made reservations at a hotel which normally offered a special kind of "room service". This was happily suspended for the duration of the Games.

The BBC’s Olympic coverage typically included a report at 5.55pm each evening to catch the audience of those returning from work.

The team had a fierce rivalry with their competitors.

Coverage on the commercial channel was provided by the Independent Television Authority (ITA), beginning at noon each day.

It was presented from London by Kent Walton, who became better known as a commentator on professional wrestling which became a regular and popular feature of the ITA network. On some days during the Games he did both.

Only the pictures were beamed by satellite. The sound was transmitted through telephone cables which had been laid deep in the Pacific ocean.

Not deep enough it seemed, because a ship cut through the lines, severing the link. Broadcasters were forced to scramble commentators into their studios to describe the action "off tube". They included twins Ross and Norris McWhirter, athletics historians and founders of the Guinness Book of Records.

The cable was eventually repaired, restoring the voices of the commentators on site. Not that it was a problem which affected the host nation where some events were even shown in colour.

Naturally, the Olympics dominated the schedules of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). In all they produced 167 hours of coverage, and they began each morning at 7 o’clock with Olympics Today.

The Opening Ceremony was broadcast across Japan in colour and many took the chance to watch in bars around Tokyo, a practice which will be discouraged if not forbidden altogether in 2021.

A number of other events were also in colour including wrestling, boxing, judo, hockey and gymnastics and even some football. The IOC calculated that 30 percent of the coverage was available in colour. Some eighty cameras were used.

Japanese viewers watched gymnast Yukio Endo win four gold medals, Takahide Nakatani, who became the  first  Olympic champion in judo, and the women’s volleyball team which fulfilled the dreams of a nation by winning gold as the sport made its Olympic debut.

In Japan there was a spike in sales of colour receiving sets and also a huge demand for large-size televisions.

Manufacturers in the country were turning out 6,000 colour sets a month but even this wasn’t enough.

Incidentally, those first Tokyo Games were in a manner of speaking where it all started for your humble correspondent. I was only three years old at the time so recollections are a little hazy, but I was there in front of the television every day. My enthusiastic and supportive father David made sure of that.

The flickering pictures came with the accompaniment of Tokyo Melody, the BBC theme music for the Games, which had been composed by German musician Helmut Zacharias. Singer Tsai Chin later made a recording of the tune with the lyrics "Good Morning Tokyo." For me, those three words will forever be associated with the 1964 Olympic Games.