Lack of olympic sports diversity on TV

[Aris Khandr]

Oh yeah, did anyone watch the girls gymnastics? USA won gold thanks to Russia crumbling at the end. My local paper (no surprise) is talking up how wonderful they are, but it seemed, when I watched, like Russia lost instead of USA won. Not saying the girls don't deserve it, but it seemed to me like Russia 'dropped the ball' so to speak.

Watching Russia break down like that was really heartbreaking. With the way that gymnastics goes these days, that was very likely their only chance to appear at the Olympics, and watching the pressure get to them and the crying really sucked some of the fun out of it.

Badminton has a fairly major scandal going on. Four teams have been disqualified for purposefully throwing their last group stage games to draw favorable slots in the elimination tournament.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I love it when they cover the US events, and the US loses that event.
I laugh pretty damned hard at that point.

Also, for the swimming finals or whatever when that guy from South Africa beat the USA's pride crown- They didn't show the winners family, coaches, friends, ect cheering him on-
No, it showed the USA guys, who at first thought they had won.

I can't watch the olypics, I don't like my country enough.
If only there was a way to look at every country, and watch the events that interest you, something online or whatever.

 

[Mistilteinn]

Oh yeah, did anyone watch the girls gymnastics? USA won gold thanks to Russia crumbling at the end. My local paper (no surprise) is talking up how wonderful they are, but it seemed, when I watched, like Russia lost instead of USA won. Not saying the girls don't deserve it, but it seemed to me like Russia 'dropped the ball' so to speak.

Watching Russia break down like that was really heartbreaking. With the way that gymnastics goes these days, that was very likely their only chance to appear at the Olympics, and watching the pressure get to them and the crying really sucked some of the fun out of it.

Badminton has a fairly major scandal going on. Four teams have been disqualified for purposefully throwing their last group stage games to draw favorable slots in the elimination tournament.

I didn't see the gymnastics portion, but I did manage to catch the bit about the teams being disqualified from badminton. Seriously, how did they think they could get away with that? I don't think it's breaking any rules to play poorly on purpose (unless it is), but to do so for your own personal advantage is just terrible sportsmanship and a disgrace to everyone competing in the Olympics.

OT: It really sucks here in America, as has been said. I was really excited to watch them this year, too, but NBC's coverage is just terrible. I'm not dissing the cyclists, but how interesting can it be to watch a bunch of athletes ride their bikes all day long, every day? Show me some of the pole vaulting, fencing (I was really wanting to catch this), long jumping, etc. Not every single water and cycling sport ad nauseum needs to be broadcasted.

 

[Aris Khandr]

OT: It really sucks here in America, as has been said. I was really excited to watch them this year, too, but NBC's coverage is just terrible. I'm not dissing the cyclists, but how interesting can it be to watch a bunch of athletes ride their bikes all day long, every day? Show me some of the pole vaulting, fencing (I was really wanting to catch this), long jumping, etc. Not every single water and cycling sport ad nauseum needs to be broadcasted.

The track and field events don't actually start until Friday. You can see the schedule here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#Calendar].

 

[Mistilteinn]

The track and field events don't actually start until Friday. You can see the schedule here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#Calendar].

Oh, well that's a relief. But I think up until Sunday NBC is still mostly sticking with the water and cycling events, so there's still that to deal with.

EDIT: Just checked and it looks like they do start broadcasting track and field alongside the water and cycling events by Friday, but in what capacity I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Darknacht]

I don't know what the TV coverage looks like but NBCs web site seems to have decent diversity.
Anyone else notice that China's women tend to place much better than China's men?

are they at least still acting like the US will end up with the most medals overall?
because i heard they did that in 08 and it was rather hilarious since everyone knew that from then on it will pretty much always be china.

You do know that overall the US did win the most in '08 and are currently tied for most this year? Do you mean gold medals?

i was referring to the official way of counting and there gold medals outweigh pretty much everything. and who really cares about silver and bronze medals?(unless you are from a smaller country and your whole country only wins like 5 medals)

What is the official way of counting medals? Also how is winning a silver or a bronze medal not an accomplishment?
I am kind of surprised its taken this long for china to start winning the most medals.

 

[teebeeohh]

I don't know what the TV coverage looks like but NBCs web site seems to have decent diversity.
Anyone else notice that China's women tend to place much better than China's men?

are they at least still acting like the US will end up with the most medals overall?
because i heard they did that in 08 and it was rather hilarious since everyone knew that from then on it will pretty much always be china.

You do know that overall the US did win the most in '08 and are currently tied for most this year? Do you mean gold medals?

i was referring to the official way of counting and there gold medals outweigh pretty much everything. and who really cares about silver and bronze medals?(unless you are from a smaller country and your whole country only wins like 5 medals)

What is the official way of counting medals? Also how is winning a silver or a bronze medal not an accomplishment?
I am kind of surprised its taken this long for china to start winning the most medals.

the official way is gold>silver>bronze so if you have one gold medal you rank higher than if a nation won every silver and bronze medal. they are kinda tie-breakers and if two or more nations have the exact number of medals they are ranked the same, ordered alphabetically.
and of course winning silver and bronze medals is a big accomplishment but so is participating and nobody send their athletes to the games to win silver medals, you are either trying to participate at all or you try for gold.

china only had enough money to run a serious athletics program for about 20 years and it does take some time to get running. they were second in 2004 and third in 2000 so they didn't exactly come out of nowhere.

 

[Irishanime]

Here is Australia we get a lot of swimming, rowing and cycling. Other events are seen when Australia is competing in them. Personally I think they should show more of the women's beach volleyball.

That is kind of surprising since I heard that the volleyball players are going to be wearing long sleeves to keep themselves warmer...

Each team has two uniforms. Tight fitting stretch pants and a tight fitting long sleeve top, and the traditional bikkinis. I've caught 2 matches so far. In one match both teams were in bikkinis, in the other game one was in bikkinis and the other was wearing bikkini tops with the long stretch pants. The sport has apparently been a runaway favorite at the games and one of the few sports where you can't see rows of empty seats.

Sorry...I didn't mean to offend anyone that actually watches the sport. I saw an article about the teams wanting to wear warmer clothes because of the weather and a bunch of guys were complaining about it.

 

[doggy go 7]

I feel that emphasising just how brilliant the BBC coverage is is worth repeating. 24 seperate channels is something else.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Here is Australia we get a lot of swimming, rowing and cycling. Other events are seen when Australia is competing in them. Personally I think they should show more of the women's beach volleyball.

That is kind of surprising since I heard that the volleyball players are going to be wearing long sleeves to keep themselves warmer...

Each team has two uniforms. Tight fitting stretch pants and a tight fitting long sleeve top, and the traditional bikkinis. I've caught 2 matches so far. In one match both teams were in bikkinis, in the other game one was in bikkinis and the other was wearing bikkini tops with the long stretch pants. The sport has apparently been a runaway favorite at the games and one of the few sports where you can't see rows of empty seats.

Sorry...I didn't mean to offend anyone that actually watches the sport. I saw an article about the teams wanting to wear warmer clothes because of the weather and a bunch of guys were complaining about it.

I think that was due to some matches going on after midnight, by which time it had gotten a bit nippy. Keeping muscles warm is more important than being visually appealing, after all =P

But yeah, the slightly pervy aspect of beach volleyball is kinda annoying. I went to see it on Saturday, and it was fantastic. Really great atmosphere, completely fun and irreverent (playing Benny Hill whenever the rakers came on, getting us all clapping along to We Will Rock You, dancers coming onto the court between sets), and I got to see the British men play Canada (sadly, they lost).

But unless I mentioned the bikini-clad women while recounting the experience, people would look at me funny and say "I think you missed the point." No, idiot, I did not just go there to ogle bikini clad women from afar. The women's Brazil vs. Mauritius match was really good, but that was more down to cheering on the underdogs (Mauritius got absolutely steamrollered 21-5 21-10). A wild card entry vs. the world's No.1 team, and in true British spirit, the Mauritians had the support of pretty much the entirety of the stadium. That was the great bit, not ogling some Brazilian women's sandy arse from 100 metres away.

 

[w9496]

That is odd, the only sports I catch are things like fencing and water polo, and I didn't even know those were olympic sports.