The awe of the Olympics
I don’t watch sports. I didn’t see the Super Bowl last year or
the NBA playoffs. I’ve never watched the World Series. Okay, so I
watched two March madness games, but only because I had some money
riding on them.
The awe of the Olympics
I don’t watch sports. I didn’t see the Super Bowl last year or the NBA playoffs. I’ve never watched the World Series. Okay, so I watched two March madness games, but only because I had some money riding on them.
But for some reason every couple years I can’t help but get drawn into watching hours and hours of the Olympics. From the opening ceremonies to the last track and field event, I can’t stop watching. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been so completely not athletic myself. It amazes me the way the swimmers can skim across the edge of the water; how divers jump off the high board with no sense of fear; the muscles that bulge in the male gymnasts as they turn and pivot on the rings. I get tired out just watching it.
In my lifetime I’ve had two opportunities to see the Olympic torch pass by. The first time, in 1984, I was 6 years old and I had no idea why my mom had us standing out on the corner of Monterey and First streets in Gilroy. A bunch of people ran by and then they were gone. At the time the significance was lost on me, but those runners carried the torch to Los Angeles.
Twenty years later and more than 10,000 miles away, I had my second chance to see the torch. I took a summer internship in South Africa while in graduate school, and the “Cape Argus” editor sent me out to cover a Relay rally. I was in the know this time about the importance of the event to come, but many of the school children gathered were much like me when I was 6. In 2004, the torch relay touched down on all six continents and visited Africa, India and South America for the first time.
Call me sentimental, but there is something about the Olympics that makes me hopeful. I always take time to watch the parade of nations at the end of the opening ceremonies because it is a reminder of how diverse the world really is, and that even countries I’ve never heard of have something to offer. Maybe most people involved don’t have a chance at taking home a medal, but it’s the fact that they are willing to travel hundreds of miles to try that makes me tune in.
So far this Olympic season, I’ve recorded about 60 hours of broadcast from Beijing. It’s a lot easier to do with technology such as Tivo or a Direct TV dvr. I haven’t watched all of that 60 hours – like I said I fast forward through the cycling and volleyball and any other events I don’t want to watch – but already there have been some highs and lows.
High: Though the opening ceremonies always seem to go on for a way too long – four hours is too long for almost anything – the conclusion of the torch relay made it worth watching to the end. Li Ning, a former gymnastics golden boy for China, was lifted into the air, where he graceful “ran” the length of the stadium that has been dubbed the bird’s nest. As he made it 360 degrees around the stadium, images of the international relay lit up behind him. At the end, he touched the torch to a fuse that lit up the 2008 cauldron.
High: American Michael Phelps stands 6-foot-4-inches tall, and he has a body more like a dolphin’s than a man’s. In his first qualifying heat, he came out with his guns blazing to remind the world what kind of swimmer he is. He broke the individual medley world record in his qualifying heat. Needless to say, he took home his first gold medal in the final for that race.
High: When the U.S. basketball team took on China, it became clear in the second half of the game that the Chinese team was probably not going to make a comeback. But even as the Chinese team fell as far behind as 35 points, NBA player Yao Ming continued to cheer for each basket his teammates made, and kept a smile on his face. Talk about good sportsmanship.
Low: Yang Wei, the leader of the Chinese men’s gymnastics team, hoped 2008 would be a year of redemption. In Athens in 2004, the team lost their cool and members fell from multiple apparatuses. In the opening day of competition, Wei took to the parallel bars, one of his best events. But midway through his routine, he sagged and sat down on the bar. The commentators said it was a rookie mistake and Wei would likely be out of the individual medal running for parallel bars. But with plenty of other events and strong marks from his teammates, the Chinese are still in the running.
Low: After some of the competitions, especially swimming events, NBC broadcaster Andrea Kremer has to stop athletes when they are dripping wet and out of breath and ask about their strategy. The result is that all the swimmers sound really, really dumb because they are being asked the same questions over and over again after exerting immense amounts of energy. Isn’t it obvious what their strategy is? Go faster than the other guys.
High/low: The French men’s 400-meter relay team saying they would smash the American men in the Sunday night/Monday morning final. For most of the race, it looked like the French just may make good on their promise as Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones couldn’t keep up with their speed. When anchor Jason Lezak jumped into the pool, the Americans were 0.6 second behind the French, hours in the world of swimming. But after the last turn, Lezak powered up and just outtouched Alain Bernard for the gold.
