The Olympics

[charliechaplinfan]

Here I am back from vacation after having watched most of the Olympics in Austria, I'm really curious about how it played out in other countries. I'm so proud of our sportsmen and women and our ability to put on a good show but I am biased. I've never had myself pegged as a sports fan but I do love the Olympics whatever country holds them because we are able to watch so many sports that don't usually get airtime.

[movieman1957]

The sad part is that the closing ceremonies have pretty much been blasted by what I've read. The opening ceremonies were not that popular either. (I'm not a fan of either event.)

In the USA we pretty much got whatever was going on based on the involvement of US athletes. If they were done the coverage was done. It was on all the time though. NBC did do a nice piece about London during the blitz. I'm not sure if it was connected to some particular part of the games as I came to it after it started. It may have just been some history.

I didn't watch a lot of it. Not a lot of sports interested me.

36 different sports. From Badminton to Synchronized Swimming one can make an argument that there are too many events. I'd start by eliminating those two.

[charliechaplinfan]

I was too tired to watch the closing ceremony and missed the opening one due to the scheduling of our flights. I'm completely the opposite with sports I love the minority sports and I'm not keen on the popular sports like football, I love all the athletics. I was pleased to see Joe getting really into the coverage, even if what he was seeing on the TV was all in German, he cheered like a true Englishman and kept a tally going on the medal table, to finish third is a great achievement for us.

[moira finnie]

Like Chris, I found that the America-centric coverage of the Olympics discouraging, and not in the true Olympic spirit. It was heartening to see so many people participate, seeing Gabrielle Douglas winning as the first African-American female gymnast to get the gold, seeing the South African runner Oscar Pistorius with prosthetic legs participating against non-handicapped runners, and female athletes from Arabic states participating and even winning some medals.

I know I'm in the minority, but I love the dressage. I think it's the beauty of the sport, but it's also the idea of the beautiful horses and the relationship they have with their riders (who can range in age from teens to their seventies) and the skill involved in working together so gracefully (one hopes).

I did enjoy seeing some of the background on competitors who did not win but who clearly relished just being there. One of them, gymnast John Orozco from the Bronx, publicly and eloquently praised his parents for their caring efforts to give him the Olympic experience.

Seeing the venues in and around London was definitely part of the enjoyment, though I'm not big on spectacle in any form, so I skipped the opening & closing of the games, but got a few chuckles out of the weirder highlights, such as the National Health Service tribute with hospital beds on wheels with prancing patients and cavorting doctors & nurses. (I liked the fact that the Queen did not smile and really looked bored out of her skull during the opening ceremonies, and was even seen cleaning her fingernails at one point. Atta girl!).

Three other quibbles:

1.) How many kinds of volleyball are there? It seems as though there were at least twelve different versions?

2.) NBC, which here in the US has the exclusive broadcast rights to the Games, really did a poor job of describing the basics of the way that some of the games work. Couldn't you explain the time, the scoring, the penalties, etc. of stuff for just a minute, in between Ryan Seacrest ( ) interviewing some athlete's family in an inane way; which brings me to...

3.) Michael Phelps: great swimmer, more medals than anyone...got it. But if one more clown in the media believes that it is worthwhile interviewing this 26-year-old kid who has never done anything but swim beautifully and get caught taking a toke from a bong, think again. Let that guy go off and start to have other experiences, will ya? He's a great swimmer, but he just doesn't have anything interesting to say. Face it.

[JackFavell]

I enjoyed everything except basketball, and I have to say that even though I like our women's vollyeballers, I am heartily sick of them.

I too bemoan the insistence on ONLY showing the U.S. teams and their part of the events. It didn't used to be so bad, years ago. Not only is it embarrassing, it becomes SO anti-climactic when all you see is your team and a couple of others for a few minutes after all the work put in. Build up some suspense, and see what other countries are doing. They need to totally rethink the coverage.

What I did like was seeing London, and the history stories they did, and some of the other athletes involved.... favorite non Americans included:

the Chinese women gymnasts who worked floor exercises with rings and balls.. some of those moves just looked impossible!

The Ugandan runner Stephen Kiprotich who won the marathon, what a sweetie!

Mo Farah - UK running

Oscar Pistorius - South African runner with prosthetic legs

Chris Hoy - UK cycling

All the Jamaican runners

the Russian women gymnasts, who still have more poise and balletic delicacy in their routines, and appeal more to me than all the sporty spice of our teams

Tom Daley - UK diving - bronze

Qiu Bo - Chinese diver who just barely lost to Boudia

[JackFavell]

Ha! I posted while you were posting Moira, I couldn't agree more about Michael Phelps. And quit asking Olympic swimmers about their love lives! Sheesh.

[moira finnie]

Wendy, I'm so glad that you mentioned the wonderful Jamaican runners, and especially the Ugandan marathoner Stephen Kiprotich, who brought home something to be very proud of --the first gold medal ever for his country. He seemed genuinely overjoyed.

The loss of balletic grace in favor of strength and power among more Western female gymnasts seems to have been a conscious choice on the part of the trainers but a bit of ballet training can help many of us, no?

[Rita Hayworth]

From my perspective ... This is the first time in my life that I did not watch the Olympics because Turner Classic Movies is showing way too many great movies and I find the Olympics Television Coverage downright HORRIBLE and I just having a hard time following it.

So no Olympics for me this year ... and TCM is making it very easy for me.

[JackFavell]

kingme, I imagine it would be hard to follow since the NBC coverage jumped around so much.

Moira, I think you are right, we must have decided long ago that we couldn't possibly beat the Russians in ballet moves, so they consciously chose a less formal, more sporty approach to gymnastics, thinking to outmaneuver them by taking the sport in a totally new direction.

And speaking of which, how about some of those new moves that would have seemed impossible to Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci, or even Mary Lou Retton, all those flying somersaults and diving board twists that no one was even thinking of for balance beam just a few years back. (or it seems just a few years back...)

[Rita Hayworth]

kingme, I imagine it would be hard to follow since the NBC coverage jumped around so much.

You got that right Jack Favell!

[charliechaplinfan]

We got the coverage in Austria and despite not understanding the language we all enjoyed it, the coverage was good and even, we got to see lots of the finals and highlights. I know here the BBC have been criticised for having a British bias. There are some sportsmen who can't be ignored, Usain Bolt is one, I haven't caught Michael Phelps being interviewed but his achievement is awe inspiring, I take it a career in broadcasting will not be launched for him off the back of this.

I love the dressage Moira, I know some say it's not a proper sport but any communion between person and animal takes my breath away. Charlotte Dujardin hasn't got the money to afford her horse, he is on loan, she is wanting to raise the money to buy him.

I love the gymnastics, I hate the fact that football is an Olympic sport, they have the World Cup, why do they need the Olympics too?

[moira finnie]

We got the coverage in Austria and despite not understanding the language we all enjoyed it, the coverage was good and even, we got to see lots of the finals and highlights. I know here the BBC have been criticised for having a British bias. There are some sportsmen who can't be ignored, Usain Bolt is one, I haven't caught Michael Phelps being interviewed but his achievement is awe inspiring, I take it a career in broadcasting will not be launched for him off the back of this.

It's not really Phelps' fault that he hasn't anything to say. The press loves big winners, but when becoming one requires such laser-like focus, a person doesn't have time to be a well-rounded individual, to develop deep philosophical insights or have enough life experience to become a scintillating raconteur. Maybe in a decade or two things will be different.

Maybe great athletes might have a longer shelf life if they are admired from afar and are generally silent, but that's probably just me, I'm a throwback.

[charliechaplinfan]

Then you're not the only throwback Moira, I'm one too.

An irritation of mine is David Beckham been given such big coverage including his image projected on to the White Cliffs of Dover, I wish the Olympic committee had decided on an Olympic achiever to take the flame along the Thames in a powerboat, Beckhan hasn't acheived anything as a Olympic sportsman. He has nothing of importance to say either but the fault is as much the media's fault than anything, they can't get enough of him and he thinks very highly of himself. I much prefer the modesty of sportsmen like Daley Thompson, Seb Coe, Rebecca Adlington etc for me they are far more British in spirit.

Which leads me to Boris Johnson the Mayor of London, did he make it on to American screens, if he did he's once seen never forgotten, he acts like a public school buffoon but is incredibly popular and intelligent, a British eccentric.

[CineMaven]

I'm not exactly sure what even-handed broadcasting of the Olympics would look like. Each country focuses mostly on their own country's Olympians. I wish it were all on one channel, and more clearly laid out for what event is taking place. It's a lot to broadcast though. I hear you when you say Beckham didn't participate as an Olympian...but he's a big ticket item. Popular. Someone that will make folks watch the show. I don't think professional basketball players from the U.S.A. should be allowed to participate in the sport. What team of amateurs would stand a chance. Those millionaire players need a gold medal? Puhleeeze. Oh...and that includes tennis. I don't see why professionals should play with amateurs. This IS s'posed to be an amateur event, right? ( Yeah right! ) My big disappointment was that hurdler LoLo Jones did not even medal. Fourth. I see her endorsement deals go out the window. Gabby Douglas...fantastic. The Muslim girl with the head dress competing in the event...yay! Got flack from women in her country.
( UGH! ) Filmed clips of what is British, what is London were informative. ( I was there for a film festival years ago. ) The divers, elegant and beautiful to watch.

My favorite Olympian of all time though:


British two-time Olympic Decathlon winner, Daley Thompson

<< (( Sigh! )) >> << (( My oh my!! )) >>

[Rita Hayworth]

I'm not exactly sure what even-handed broadcasting of the Olympics would look like. Each country focuses mostly on their own country's Olympians. I wish it were all on one channel, and more clearly laid out for what event is taking place.

I like your thinking here!