Olympics: Part I (of possibly II, if I'm not too lazy about writing another post)

I love the Olympics!

I hear people who talk about the Olympics and how cool it is to see obscure sports, like handball, badminton, or synchronized diving. Those are okay, I guess, but I like races. Maybe it's because I was a decent sprinter in high school, and I like that feeling of thinking 'I'm going to beat you' as I pass the guy on the outside of a turn (I did that quite a few times and it was the best feeling).

So I've been watchig a lot of swimming. Being a fellow Towson High Alum, I have to root for Michael Phelps, and I do, but what I've really enjoyed is watching the way the BBC covers the races and swimmers in it, as compared to how I remember NBC covering races and swimmers in 2008.

In 2008, Michal Phelps had the most amazing swimming race I've ever seen. I remember screaming at the TV and jumping up and down, watching the race on tape delay (NBC will have it no other way, of course). What I don't remember, and I could be wrong, is the commentators openly rooting for Phelps on the American broadcast. That kind of thing doesn't seem to happen on the BBC.

The other day, I was watching a race with a British woman in it. She had the potential to medal in the race. The commentators were openly sayig 'Common Rebecca. You can do it!'. It was great to hear the commentors show a rooting interest in one of the racers. I understand being impartial, but it's the Olympics! You have to root for your country. I feel (and again, maybe I'm wrong) that American commentators are told not to openly cheer for Americans. This is a case where I think you have every right to be as patriotic as you want to be. Cheering for your country (while not booing other countries, of course) is what the Olypmics are all about. A chance to see your country-folk against other countries-folk.

I just feel like sports commentators in the US don't show feeling for one athlete/team over another, and when they do, they're called a homer. In the Olympics, I want you to be a homer, if you're broadcasting your country's best.

Another thing I've enjoyed in watching the BBC broadcast is the post-race interviews.

In the US three types of athletes are interviewed after a race: the person who is expected to do well and does; the person who is expected do well and doesn't (those are always fun interviews) and the person who isn't expected to do well, but does. You never see the interview of a person who lives up to not-so-great expectations.

I saw a number of British swimmers interviewed by the BBC, who didn't win a medal, and weren't in tears. They loved the experience and loved being cheered on by the mostly British crowd. I really liked these interviews. It was good to see a person come in 6th, or 7th, or 8th, and be happy about it - they showed that the games are more than medals or being number 1. They are about competition, and competition is not just who wins, it's also being a good sport when you don't.

I was on a 4 x 400 relay team that made it to the state championships (I was also on a 4 x 200 relay team that qualified, but my coach didn't want me running that event even though I was a much better 200m runner than 400m runner - as you can probably tell I'm still bitter about that). Anyhow, our 4 x 400 team was placed in the fastest group - we didn't have semi-finals and heats in the Maryland state championships in 1994 - you ran one race that you were placed in on based on qualifying times, and the fastest time at the state meet was declared the winner. We were in the fastest heat.

I knew we had no chance of winning, I would have been happy with 6th. We came in 9th - one team from the second fastest heat was faster than us, the slowest team in the fast heat. To this day, that track meet is the one I remember most. Not because we were beaten by a team that was not even in our race, but because it was the state championships. If there were camera crews there interviewing people, I would have been one of those people who don't get interviewed - the person who isn't expected to do well, and doesn't. But I was very happy to be there.