Going for the Olympic-watching gold

I don't think I'm even going to qualify at this rate

Published on August 24, 2004 By C H Wood In Sports & Leisure

Watching the Olympics in Korea is different experience. Here are some of the pros and cons that I see:

Pro: You get to see lots of sports that never make it on American TV. Archery, Table Tennis, Badminton, Handball, Field Hockey, Water Polo, Shooting (Skeet, trap and target) and lots of Judo are all very cool. Some of these sports I didn’t even know existed in the Olympics. Synchronized Diving, Trap Shooting and Trampoline for example. We’ve seen some swimming and a little gymnastics, which could be a con if you’re really interested in those things. I haven’t seen any kayaking, rowing, sailing, boxing so far. Of course, they might be on and I just missed them. Overall, I like the mix, although I wouldn’t mind seeing some rowing or kayaking.

Con: The have some very erratic hours to show the games. Athens is 6 hours behind us, so you would think that would be great timing, right? Primetime in Korea is early afternoon. Plus you have all the morning activities we can catch in the afternoon. Well, the trouble is that the Korean TV seems to show the games at random times. Here’s an example:

Say I get home around 7:30pm (a reasonably early night). One station is showing one sport, which wraps up around 8pm. Then it’s about a 50/50 chance that they won’t show any more Olympics until maybe 10ish. Otherwise, maybe one channel might have something. Then around 10ish, between 3 and 4 stations start showing stuff, going until 3ish am. Just in time for me to go to bed.

This is especially bad on the weekends. Both Saturdays they seem to show things, but both Sundays have been an Olympic wasteland with nothing coming on until 10pm at the earliest. That drives me crazy. Are they trying to say that I should be getting out on a Sunday rather then watching fencing?

They also don’t believe in tape-delay for the most part. Which is ok with me, but that just means if they decide not to show something, you’re not going to see it at all. Bummer.

Pro: The announcers are only in Korean. Some might consider that a con, but after watching American coverage for years, I have to assume it’s a pro if the Korean announcers are as annoying as the American ones.

Con: They are only focused on the Korean players. Well, that’s not really too much of a surprise, I think that’s pretty much the same wherever you go. At least since the CBC (Canada) gave up the ghost in the last Olympics and went all ‘All Canada, all the time’. Before that, they were the only ones who would actually show sports without their home guys playing. (Or worse, the home guys winning)

So anyway, I’m ok with the fact they only show Korean players. What kinda bugs me is the fact that if it’s an important match (i.e. the Korean are likely to win a medal) then all 4 stations will switch and watch the exact same game. You can flip from channel to channel and all you get is different announcers. This is especially weird since I think two of the channels are run by the government. You think they could at least coordinate to show two different events. But no, not so much.

By the way, the interesting titbit is the North Korea counts as far as the Korean focus goes. So really any Korean (North or South) is go to go as far as coverage goes.

Obviously as well, the big story here is also the gymnastics controversy between the US and Korea in the Men’s all-around. While I didn’t see that event to make any opinion on it, it is interesting to see that no news story on it goes without showing clips from Salt Lake City Winter of speed skating, the last time Korea felt they got unfairly screwed out of a medal by the US. I see they haven’t forgotten about that one yet. But the important thing is that they're not bitter about it. J

Overall, I have to say I’m enjoying it. Although I wonder what I missing from the NBC Olympic-a-thon that seems to be going on at home. But somehow I doubt that I would have seen the table tennis gold medal match last night, which was worth it just for that.

Comments

JillUser

on Aug 24, 2004

Pro: The announcers are only in Korean. Some might consider that a con, but after watching American coverage for years, I have to assume it’s a pro if the Korean announcers are as annoying as the American ones

I'd have to agree with you there!

the interesting titbit is

I hope you meant "tidbit"

Just teasin' ya

My opportunites to tease have been greatly reduced since you moved half way around the world!

jlc20me

on Aug 25, 2004

Gee, Chris - you know you can't put out an Olympic item and expect me not to comment on it, so here goes:

So this year, I may have eclipsed my 110-hour record from Barcelona. With Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, USA and of course NBC the Olympics have been on, literally, 24/7. Much of the cable stuff is live, while NBC is the classic plausibly-live they've always done. And in my official capicity as viewer-in-chief, I think they've done a good job, so far. NBC has loaded up with swimming, gymnastics and track, but they're always going to do that, which is fine. Unfortunately beach volleyball seems to overtaken indoor volleyball, much to my chagrin as the prime NBC late night. CNBC has been almost exclusively boxing, so off with that, while Bravo and MSNBC have been free-for-alls. I have watched plenty of rowing, kayaking, sailing, badminton, table tennis (and yes the gold medal match was on), judo, etc.

As for the announcers. Better than usual (John Tesh was mercifully retired). Although Al Trautwig, who is normally an decent broadcaster, took over for him in gymnastics and has gone deeper down the well of crap each night.

Clearly NBC has shown mostly Americans, but in many sports, it's just not possible (like field hockey) so it's anything goes.

As for the gymnastics controversy. Where to begin. 1) This is just like gymnastics/figure skating/diving. "Sports" that are judged, are apt to be incorrectly judged. What makes this really bad is that, of course, the fools in these sports have only a once-in-four-year window to shine, and inevitably, there's a snafu. 2) Yes, the Korean athlete got jobbed on the starting score. 3) There is no video replay in the Olympic gymnastics. 4) By utilizing the video replay to say the Korean athlete got jobbed, it would be fair to consider that another routine had mistakes which were not counted (which it did). 5) U.S. medalist Paul Hamm did nothing wrong. 6) But he should be willing to give up the gold for silver, just cause its tainted, or allow a second gold to be awarded. 7) Khorkina, the Russian woman, clearly should have beaten American Carly Patterson, who is no Mary Lou Retton. 8) No Patriots player is giving the Raiders a Super Bowl ring because of the Tom Brady tuck call in the snow.

As for the sporting goodwill between Korea-U.S. 1) Inevitably the short-track speed skating will come up (there, although not so much here). 2) That sport is crazy and could easily end up in the gymnastics/diving/figure skating category, so hey, whatever goes, goes. 3) In the 2002 World Cup game between the two countries, after a Korean goal, their players made skating motions, as if to say, "here's to you and your stinking country". 4) To which those Americans watching probably said, 'oh yeah, there was some controversy about that sport that we only cared about for that week. What does that have to do with soccer?' 5) The boxing event in the 1988 Seoul Olympics were universally regarded as the worst and most corrupt ever; not a statement to be made lightly regarding that sport. 6) No one there seemed to care when Roy Jones, Jr. was ripped off in a bad judgment of a gold medal.

Synchro Diving was new in Sydney, as was Trampoline. I was annoyed when I saw another gymnastics event added, but when you see the wipeouts on Trampoline, it's definitely entertaining.

I cannot imagine networks owned by two different companies showing the games in the U.S. Then I would have to miss the 392th advertisement for their fall line-up for quality shows like Joey or Las Vegas. How would I know how to plan my life?

Gene Nash

on Aug 25, 2004

boxing

Boxing? Holy crap! What happened to boxing?! I forgot all about that. Back in the day on ABC boxing was one of the staples. Heck ABC even used to show fencing. They were much better at covering as many different events as possible. NBC picks a couple and camps. (I don't have cable so I am screwed.)

What kinda bugs me is the fact that if it’s an important match (i.e. the Korean are likely to win a medal) then all 4 stations will switch and watch the exact same game. You can flip from channel to channel and all you get is different announcers.

C H Wood

on Aug 25, 2004

See, this is why I figured I didn't even qualify on the Olympic-watching gold. I knew who the real medalists are.....

I was hoping to see some fencing myself. I think they showed it here, but at crazy hours of the night again. Bummer.

matt t

on Aug 31, 2004

I happened to be on a business trip in England while the olympics played. It was interesting to see the similiarities and differences between coverage in the States. I got to watch some live events in the morning before work and their seemed to be more variety than the coverage on NBC (when I got home). Plus NBC showed snippets and jumped around when I'd rather have seen the full events covered.

I didn't know what was going on with the U.S. athletes for most of the games because GB focused of course on their own teams and athletes who didn't do very well overall.

The kayaking and rowing evens were heavily covered. Kayaking being very cool to watch. On the day I returned from England I saw that event live at Heathrow and then at night on NBC they played it again. It was funny to watch it with Lisa because I knew who would win or screw up. I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day watching Jeopardy and shouting out the answers before the questions.

One other thing... I was surprized to see the British press get right into the athletes faces after they just blew it and lose and ask them what went wrong or how they felt. I thought that was an American thing. But obviously bad media behaviour is everywhere.

C H Wood

on Aug 31, 2004

Yeah, bad manners is pretty universal.

Funny you mention that, however. I was in the UK for some former Olympics (Atlanta? I don't recall) and I was really bummed by the total lack of interest at the time. It seemed like you got the 20 minute round-up and that was it. Really poor. Maybe they got more into it since then; maybe I just couldn't find it on the channels. Interesting, though.

shadesofgrey

on Aug 31, 2004

I too was travelling during the Olympics...I was in the UK for part of it, and I noticed that in addition to getting in their faces after the athletes didn't do well, the commentators were also talking about how the athlete wasn't expected to do well during the event--that was bizarre to me. Though I have to say that the interview with Paula Radcliffe (the marathoner) after she dropped out of the race was very well done--the reporter for the BBC was kind and compassionate--I wouldn't have expected to see a similar interview on this side of the Atlantic.

I was also in Italy for part of the Olympics--I too enjoyed watching it with out the commentators and seeing sports and athletes that I wouldnt have watched otherwise. It was cool to watch the field hockey final match (that was while I was in the UK) since I've never seen Olympic field hockey in the US!

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