oyceter | Brief Olympic notes

The little bit I saw of the opening ceremonies had the commentors talking about every bit of civil unrest in all sorts of countries where I'm like, "Is this fucking relevant?"

Arrrrgh. I mean, I am dling them to watch anyway because the visuals looked amazing and I love the parade of nations, no matter how cheesy it is (I like cheering on the countries that are there for the first time and the athletes who look so amazed just to be there), but yeah.

Also, aside from the political and racial argh-ness of the focus on the US athletes, it's also just REALLY BORING!

I totally have a weak spot for the parade of nations too, ha! (Though my favorite bit during the last Winter Olympics did involve Americans: John Zimmerman holding up Kyoko Ina in a pairs lift for a while as they walked, hee.)

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4334674/2008_Beijing_Olympics_Opening_Ceremony_Full_(HD_version_)

Hongkong Chinese Version, although in the second file there's a repetition of roughly 30 minutes. And you don't have to listen to the English speakers ^^

DivX and around 4 GB big. They also have a HDTV one with US commentary, but although I understand no Chinese, I thought this one was quite okay.

Thanks!

I did think it was relevant once, where there'd been a coup, what, the day before? But for the most part the parade was just shallow and dullsville.

I know, the American-centeredness is frustrating. I was surprised they didn't even show the Chinese male gymnasts in the qualifying. (I saw a bit of British coverage last time around, and it was mostly weight-lifting and horses, so it isn't only Americans that do the biased-coverage thing.)

They didn't show the Chinese guys in the qualifying? That's so weird! Esp. with them being the favorites and all!

Didn't they? I'm sure I saw the Chinese men on... Saturday night, I think... because they were amazing. I can't be sure that they showed all of their qualifier, though.

The thing that horrified me about the gymnastics coverage was Elfie Schlagel and whoever the guy is essentially complaining that Romanian gymnastics has gone to hell ever since the girls stopped being terrorized. "It used to be that every time you'd see them, they'd be utterly focused on reviewing their routine. Now, they smile and talk to each other." "Look at that - she gets a hug from the coach after falling off the beam. That would have never happened in the old days."

I was surprised last night to see that they showed a medal ceremony with no Americans in it. I've never seen that before. It was one of the swimming events.

(Also, I understand that everyone is sick of Michael Phelps... but being from Baltimore, I think it's so nice to have national news coming out of our city that doesn't focus on the murder rate. So I am thrilled.)

Maybe they were on in the half-hour I was out of the room, then. My impression was of a bit of chatter about the Chinese/Japanese rivalry and only seeing the American men in action.

Last night's team final coverage did show the Chinese, and they were amazing, but the dwelling on the Japanese slips was a little odd.

The thing that horrified me about the gymnastics coverage was Elfie Schlagel and whoever the guy is essentially complaining that Romanian gymnastics has gone to hell ever since the girls stopped being terrorized.

OMG. Were those the same commentators who were complaining that the Japanese men's team wasn't "taking the Olympics seriously enough" because they were talking about video games and laughing? Because yes, either you're a machine produced by your Communist country's prison-like training system or a machine because you're Asian, or you're not taking it seriously enough!

I've been watching as much on Telemundo as on NBC, and avoiding the prime-time coverage because, well, it sucks.

I like watching the volleyball players. Especially beach volleyball. Volleyballers get good bodies, both men and women.

---L.

I need to catch the women's volleyball because I went to Cal State Long Beach, where that's our only good sport. Tayyiba Haneef-Park, their big scorer, lived in our dorms and I used to give her mail at the hall office and basically stare at her knees from my desk because she was so tall. The girls always wore their tiny shorts everywhere, and no one complained. ;)

(Misty May is also a famous CSULB alum. No football team, but we do have hot muscular women.)

I caught the USA-Japan game, and Haneef-Park looked pretty good. As did most of the women on the court.

Haven't caught Misty May yet, though I did watch the other USA women's beach team, as well as the favored men's beach team as they lost to Latvians.

---L.

I like the US women's beach volleyball team but I'm sick of hearing about them. Like, incredibly sick of it. Isn't there any other sport on between 8 and 9 am?

You are SOOOO not the only one! I swear, HOW many broadcasts can they do on bloody Micheal Phelps? Oh his mother! Oh, his hard lifestyle! Oh his 8 gold medals! Once, fine, twice, okay but before his every race!!!!ENOUGH already.

OMG I know I am so sick of Michael Phelps! I mean, yay for him, but it's so boring now!

I know. I really want to admire someone who is likely to leave these games with a record of gold medal wins that will establish him as the premier swimmer of the modern age so far, and one of the most accomplished athletes in his sport ever - but I get so mad at the endless commentary that I find it had just to appreciate his amazing ability and skill at what he does.

And that's from watching Canadian coverage most of the time - and they are less hysterical about it than the American commentators (I sometimes catch the US broadcast coverage when they're covering something that the CBC isn't).

Oof yeah. Also, I get annoyed because they keep going back to him after the group relays and I feel so bad for the other three people on the relay with him, because their win ends up being "for Michael Phelps" and it so isn't.

Oh, yes - I get tired of hearing about how the team doesn't want to let Phelps down. Well, maybe they don't but maybe they also want to do their best, win a medal for themselves and their country, and all that other stuff. Phelps' performances are about him and what he wants to do, why can't we think that theirs might be about them and what they want to do?

Arrgghh. I love watching high-level competition in lots of the Olympic sports, but the silliness that goes along with the sheer wonder of seeing all those gifted, determined and highly trained athletes giving all their passion to being the best they can be gets really annoying...

And there are So many snide comments about the other competitors, synchronized diving made me want to scream!

Argh, really? I didn't catch the synchronized diving!

It was MARVELOUS. If the freaking commentators would have SHUT UP it would been perfect.

if you watch the events online, there is no commentary, and they show everything. (and everyone.) i've really been enjoying it for the equestrian events, because the commentators are more stupid in that area than most (which is saying a lot) and you see all the horses and riders, with no bias. which is great, because i love the germans and the dutch and the australians. i mean, i still want to be karen o'connor when i grow up, and phillip dutton is amazing, but there are some incredible horses in other countries. especially the germans. they make me swoon. and i know more than the commentators (who kept saying that amy tryon was thrown from her horse - she wasn't. she fell off when her horse stumbled over a jump. there is a big difference.). SO ANNOYING.

(this only really works in sports that you know a lot about, because otherwise the scoring makes no sense sometimes. at least, for me. i mean, i appreciate commentary and slow-mo on diving, because i don't see anything half the time.)

i admit i'd didn't see bias towards the americans in synchro diving - but perhaps because i know nothing about the sport, and the chinese were clearly so much better than everyone - and to me, the commentators really seemed to respect them. and it was the first time the women had ever competed in the event.

i've also been watching a lot of the heats in swimming, which means that not every heat has an american in it, and that makes things more interesting. i'll totally admit i am SICK of the michael phelps coverage though. (but the 4x100 relay was super impressive.) they showed all of the women's prelim gymnastics for the chinese and us, but like, no one else. except for oskana from germany. but maybe that's because the americans were awful and still came in second with no problem. weird.

the only commentator i like is elfi schneigl in women's gymnastics.

it will be interesting to see how the track and field coverage turns out.

i am really surprised though - usually nbc does a bunch of those "here's the first person from this country trying to medal" stories, complete with interviews and profiles, and i haven't seen a single one yet.

::goes back to the online coverage::

(i am actually way more interested in the fact mccain is runnind a negative ad and obama's not, and i want to know which is doing better/what effect they are having. it's the same one over and over too, which is annoying. but. sports and politics, my stupid brain won't turn off.)

Ooooo! I did not know you could watch them online! Is it just live or can you watch stuff you missed too?

I mean, I really don't know enough about pretty much everything to grasp stuff, but still, it is nice to have the option.

I've been wondering about the "first person from so-and-so" to medal as well! I wanted a bit on the first Korean swimmer to medal and stuff. I know they are cheesy, but I like those stories! It makes me happy! Plus, I wanted to know if they had one last time for Taiwan getting its first Olympic gold ever in 2004.

Is it just live or can you watch stuff you missed too?

With the equestrian, there's the "rewind" option, so you can watch things that have already aired. Which is great, because they air at the weirdest hours. And I know softball also has the rewind option, and it looks like they are putting up almost all the games, which is awesome, because I want to track the Australians as well.

The cool thing too is that you can hear the crowd and the horses breathing and everything because no one is talking over them. I love it. And if you just want to watch the pretty, or don't really need to know a lot (say, basketball, soccer, etc.) then it's pretty cool. Plus, you can have three different events going at once!

And I love the cheesy stories! I look forward to the Olympics to give me reasons to cry in sappy ways! I wanted an interview with Park! He fell into the pool and was eliminated in Athens before he even swam! Stupid Olympics. I don't want to try to decipher what Bela Karolyi is talking about with regards to the minimum age in gymnastics. I want the SAD AND UPLIFTING stories! I definitely did not need to see 30 minutes or so with Bush having nothing of substance to say. This is about sports, not politics.

I wanted an interview with Park! He fell into the pool and was eliminated in Athens before he even swam!

Nooooo! OMG I totally did not realize that! I feel they so should have interviewed him and done the horrifically cheesy human-interest story on that.

Being Canadian, I am watching the coverage on CBC; it of course focuses on the Canadian athletes, but it does a pretty good job of covering other nations too. Right now they're focusing on the Chinese and Japanese men in the team gymnastics. The Chinese guys are amazing!

Yeah. I have the caveat that I know pretty much all nations focus on their own athletes, but given the US's dominance in so many of the popular Summer Olympics sports, the focus on USian athletes is so much more obvious and annoying! I mean, yay, but watching the US get its bazillionth gold is really not that exciting (though I cheered for the men's gymnasts in the end. Also, Indian-American and Asian-American gymnasts!).

Indian-American and Asian-American gymnasts!). YES!!

I was so excited to see them! And it made me wonder how Amy Chow's doing now. And I was really excited to see a Japanese-American diver and a multiracial Asian-Australian diver as well.

I have <3's for Raj and Kevin, even though they both screwed up on pommel horse, because yay diversity! Very much not a given in gymnastics.

For the longest time I thought I was just a killjoy for no longer enjoying the Olympics. But ever since Atlanta - which was my first time watching them in the US; I've felt completely burned out. I thought it was because they're a big production every 2 yrs now, instead of every 4. But then I began to realize it's because they didn't feel international to me anymore.

Sure you can watch a whole host of events. But it's always American Athlete profiles. American commercials. American commentators. The most international thing seemed to be the Opening and Closing ceremonies - and only if one watched with the sound off so as not to hear the American talking heads making fun of countries they deemed 'too small to be real countries' or 'I never even -heard- of blahblah'.

Someone on Twitter just told me that there'd been jailing of protesters in this case too - which just makes me think for all the discussion about the step back / lies concerning freedom of the press - it wouldn't have mattered for American journalists anyway, because if it doesn't have to do with their country or countrymen they probably wouldn't give a damn.'

Hmm, this is an odd bitterness.

Yeah.... Like you say, it's not just all the focus on the American athletes. It's that everyone there is wearing Nike or Adidas and that even if you're watching in another country, it's sort of hard missing how many medals the US gets every Olympics.

My family used to love ice skating. Love, love love it. And I remember in...god, it was probably 84, they had a great set of profiles on the men's medal contenders. "The battle of the Brians," Brian Orser (Canada) and Boitano (US). And I remember whatever network it was profiled them both, and it was great, because they both came off as genuinely decent guys. And then you cared about the final, and there was real suspense, and... I don't know what the hell happened.

The US decided its dominance of the Olympics was a forgone conclusion so why bother profiling anyone else. They don't have to worry about the Romanians in Gymnastics anymore and they apparently don't respect the Chinese team. And anything where they don't actually win, they -treat- as if they win.

So what if some small Caribbean or African nation comes in first in things in Track & Field. The announacers/networks will talk about the American who came in third or fourth. AND they'll talk about how the Caribbean or African or fromwhereever not US athlete TRAINED in the US - so it's STILL all about the US.

I have so much trouble watching gymnastics anyway. Especially the women. Ugh.

Of course, back when the profiled even the foreigners too, they had better ratings. Not that they'll remember or care.

1. The reason there are profiles and stuff is to bring in people who don't really like sports (ie, women) because the Olympics need to have really high ratings to payout for the network. On top of the money they spend just to cover the thing, the fee they have to pay to the IOC is insane. (This is why the coverage from other media outlets is blacked out, like, you can't watch BBC video from a US IP address.)

2. I know that most of the people on my flist are watching the US coverage, but I always feel like they get an unfair rap because everyone's coverage is about their own contenders and then whoever the gold medalists are.

3. You can stream a lot of things online; I know people who are only watching the games online.

4. The show that is going for the broadest audience possible is the prime time show. They juggle a lot of events, and pile the most popular stuff into that show. There's a lot of coverage during the day that will show entire games all the way through—tons of boxing on CNBC and I watched a lot of water polo today.

5. The other major complaint is always that not enough events are shown live (though I think with the 12 hour time difference they're trying to show stuff that happens in the morning Beijing time live here in prime time, like the men's gymnastics tonight) but I know folks in the UK who are annoyed that the BBC is showing everything live because they don't want to have to stay up until 3am to watch what they want to watch.

I don't want to come off as an NBC apologist; I think Costas can get more than a little full of himself and isn't as gracious as Jim McKay was, and obviously they're taking a lot of sportscasters who are used to covering football and hauling them to China with little more than a briefing book and some DVDs. When I was a kid in the 70s, the Olympics were 100% about the cold war, about the medals race and how many did the Sovs have v the US, how many did the Eastern bloc have v the NATO countries. It was absurd. I'm actually impressed that there isn't a lot of weirdo jingoism being attached to the wins for China. So it could be a ton worse! It's just that I hear this complaint so many times and it's like, find me the country that isn't doing this and fine, you can knock NBC. There are plenty of reasons to knock the US and the media that's here; I'm just not sure this is a fair one.

Or is it just the entire set up of athletes in country-based teams?

Are you seriously saying that women don't like sports, or ironically mocking the ignorance of the TV executives who think that?

I'm not saying that women don't like sports, but I am willing to say that the American female television audience is not watching sports on television.

It's important to remember that we're talking about broadcast television here, not even cable, so the numbers we're looking at are in the tens of millions—if there aren't 8 million people doing something (and if they aren't younger than 55) then they aren't going to have the scale to hit the radar of a network television executive.

It is true that if you look at the viewership numbers for television sports the gender skew is overwhelmingly male, especially when television in general skews distinctly female (and that's not just true of daytime, but of primetime as well—that female skew is why programmers are always trying to attract men). One of the things we learned in the early days of the WNBA is that while women were going to the games and supporting the teams very strongly in other ways, the act of watching sports on television is still male. While usually primetime is about trying to find the men, for the Olympics NBC is desperately trying to find the women, especially the women who would not be attracted just by sport itself, which describes most American female television viewers.

So I would say, women do not watch sports on television in large numbers. Whether the athlete profiles and all the drama is really what can attract more women to the Olympics, I'm not sure; it's what the focus groups and other research are telling them, but that kind of research is highly subject to bias anyway.

I don't mind them sticking the most popular events in prime time, since it means I can watch them.

And while I know that all other countries focus on their own athletes as well, I think the US's focus on their own is particularly bad because the US has the population and the money to grow a really huge sports program wrt the Olympics, which means that yeah, there are going to be a lot more wins and medal contenders, which I think again reflects on US-centrism. So if you get Taiwan's coverage, frex, it's going to focus on Taiwan athletes, but since we don't have that many, we're going to end up seeing a lot of other people as well.

Plus, on a whole, I think the coverage re-emphasizes US-centrism and US patriotism. And while other countries' may emphasize their own centrism and patriotism, I feel it isn't as harmful as the US's, given the US's relative privilege in the global order, particularly in term of exported culture. I mean, yay not as much China-bashing as I expected, but on the other hand, I feel that's damning by faint praise.

As a Canadian who has the advantage of being able to watch both my own country's coverage of the Olympics and the US coverage, I can say that there are differences.

Generally speaking, Canadian commentators talk over the events less and make fewer awkward and unnecessary comments about issues unrelated to what the athletes are actually doing.

While of course there is a focus on the efforts of Canadian athletes, there is generally at least some coverage of all the leading competitors in any marquee event - usually more than I see on the American coverage. Finals of popular sports are shown whether or not there is a Canadian competing in them.

Also, there seems to be more of an assumption that the audience will be interested in the background and history of non-Canadian athletes - so we get a lot of quick profiles about training details or previous medals or whatever about leading competitors and other competitors of interest (the human interest stuff, about the person who may be the first one from her country to medal in an event, and so on.)

There is also a different tone, and I think one that is more respectful, less "jingoistic," from most of the Canadian commentators when discussing athletes who are not Canadian in comparison to the tone of many American commentators who are discussing athletes who are not American. It's almost as if American commentators sometimes present other athletes only as opponents whose natural role is to be defeated by the American competitors, and this can be very grating.

the horrible pronunciation of Chinese names

Oh yeah. Is it so hard to learn how to pronounce the names? They're only three syllables each! (And sometimes two.)

Not just the Chinese names too. Yesterday I was idly catching the badminton and was confused when the commentator kept saying something that sounded like "Lee Huu Nil". He meant Lee Hyun IL. Gah.

Yeeah! I mean, I do try to give leeway, but also... argh! Especially when US announcers seem to have an easier time getting Continental European names right out of familiarity.

They absolutely killed one of the Japanese swimmer's names yesterday. Ugh.

We've been using the mute button, because the commentators are so annoying. It's very frustrating.

I am so tempted!

I haven't been watching a lot of the Olympics, but the Australian coverage and commentary seems to be okay from the little I have seen. (And no faux Chinese commercials!!) It usually covers Australia + [Other Country They Are Competing Against] though, and I would've liked to have seen how some of the other athletes had done in gymnastics, say. I think they covered a wide spread of countries in the diving, from what my fiance told me.

I don't speak fluent Mandarin, but is the "jing" of Beijing pronounced with a hard /j/ sound, as in Jack and Jill? I was convinced it was, but now I'm not so sure. Many commentators here pronounce it with a soft /j/ sound, as one would in French- to my ears it sounds wrong ("bay shhhing").

No, I think you're right about the "jing" in Mandarin. The softer /j/ sound isn't in Mandarin (I think?).

Maybe x, as in xing?

I guess? I always thought of that more as a "sh" sound or something.

It could be both, I guess. I've always thought of it as sh too, but it sort of fits with their pronunciation of Beijing.

Does any country's coverage of the Olympics *not* focus on that country's athletes? I'm watching it in Sweden, and of course the speakers are focusing on the Swedish athletes, all the time. I agree that this is boring, but I don't think it will ever be done any other way.

- Chris

Much like how I think everyone is generally self-focused, I do think most countries focus on their own athletes. BUT. Because the US has a lot of power in terms of visibility in sports (witness the reception of the US basketball team in China) and in terms of cultural and political power, I think the US-centrism in the broadcast is much different than, say, Swedish-centrism in Sweden's broadcast.

Also, because the US has the money to nurture a good athletics program for decades, proportionally, there are going to be a lot more US medalists, who are going to end up getting more coverage in other countries as well. So I think simply saying that all countries do it ignores assorted power differentials.

It's funny, I live in Paraguay, and even here there is somehow a focus on USA athletes. Not so casual, right.

I lost patience last night when the U.S. coverage was so obsessed with the U.S. women's gymnastics team (which already skeeves me out -- everyone but one is a blonde??), that there was endless footage of them taping their wrists or standing around staring into the middle distance, even while you could hear the crowd cheering actual competition that the cameras could have been showing. Argh.

I know! I mean, yeah, China and the US were the two big competitors, but I wanted to see some of the other countries as well. I also got really irked when they cut off the first Chinese gymnast's bar routine to go to swimming and didn't play a recap (I am a bit of a completist and it drove me crazy not to see it).

I am disgruntled and contrary and rooting for everyone else, and it feels like there is very little suspense in the broadcasts.

And this is exactly why I find you awesome. XDD I'm SO tired of USA-centrism.

Hee! Thank you ;). Usually I am more used to annoying people with my grousing and complaints.

I remember when "Pang" and "Peng" were shown (in swimming, I think) a few minutes apart, and the commentator pronounced them EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. Argh.

Also, during the men's gymnastics final when the camera showed a Japanese gymnast who'd just fallen, laughing and smiling. The commentator said, "I don't like that." ...And my mother doesn't like Michael Phelps screaming his head off "like an animal" after the U.S. won that 4x100 relay. There's nothing wrong with saving face.

The commentator said, "I don't like that."

That was such BS, and unprofessional to boot. I had to mute the commentary after that, but it really tainted my enjoyment.

OMG that comment about the Japanese gymnast pissed me off SO MUCH!

It's been extremely interesting watching bits of the Olympics in Korea. I see things I'd never, ever see in the US, like the semifinals of the women's badminton doubles between Korea and Japan. That was one TENSE match. And yes - it does throw into sharp relief how completely the US's agenda shapes how we are allowed to view the Olympics.

Though my Korean's not good enough to follow the commentators...

Badminton! Eeee! I'm sad I've been missing all the matches b/c they're televised in the morning; I used to play in high school, so I amazingly actually know the rules (though they've changed them now).

There's a real bias toward 'winners,' too. I hadn't noticed this quite so much until last night, when we had a whole profile on Michael Phelps again, and a whole thing about the two male medal contenders in the backstroke, and barely a word on (American!) Rebecca Soni and then, whoops, she won the gold medal. What happened to the cute little profiles of adorable longshots?

One of the unexpected perks of being in Maine over the past week was that our rental cabin picked up a French-language public access channel. My father was especially enamored with it -- amusing since he's the only one who doesn't speak a lick -- saying a) it showed other than US meets b) if the interviews were stupid, he couldn't tell and c) the commentators just sounded more excited overall.

Brief Olympic notes

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