Appeal Behind the Winter Olympics

Devoid of any strong storylines that fueled Beijing’s Summer Olympics, Vancouver 2010 has been a bit of a let down so far. We’ve seen controversy surrounding the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili but there hasn’t been much news about the games themselves. The question then presents itself: does anyone care about the Winter Olympics?

The hype was big for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The U.S. Men’s Basketball team was looking for redemption and Michael Phelps was using his lung capacity to win gold medals and not to clear bong rips. Ratings were great and I think everyone can agree that the Summer Games were a big success. Vancouver is a different story.

Much of the blame for the way these Olympics have been going falls on NBC. NBC has used the Olympics as a way to promote its own line-up. While commercials during the Olympics are nothing new, NBC has never used commercials for its own agenda quite like this. NBC may be in the cellar in the ratings department but, quite frankly, their new shows don’t look all that promising.

Additionally, the air times for the Olympics haven’t made anything better, either. The few reasons to actually tune into the Olympics are left for prime time, which may actually be hours after the events happened. With the advances in technology, it’s not very difficult to figure out who won Olympic gold.

Time zones obviously come into play but that didn’t seem to be too big of an issue in Beijing. Vancouver is a mere three hours behind the East Coast so that should not even be a big deal at all. Everybody got to see Michael Phelps win his medals live, yet Lindsey Vonn’s ski runs air on a tape delay. Obviously NBC wants to make money, but this is ridiculous.

Part of the blame for these bland Olympics falls on the events themselves. The Winter Olympics are known for having extreme events such as the luge and downhill skiing. These events are usually among the favorite events for viewers, as long as they actually happen.

Anyone who has watched the downhill skiing on primetime knows that the crashes are happening in the same numbers as finishes. Crashing happens, but not this much.

Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death on the luge was apparently no big surprise to any professional. Kumaritashvili had told his father how terrified he was of the course before his death. Many other lugers have complained of the difficulty of the track as well.

The IOC is placing entertainment value above the safety of its competitors. The courses are scaring the athletes. The Winter Olympics lack a lot of the mainstream events that make the Summer Olympics so popular, but the IOC should not be jeopardizing the welfare of its athletes to try and close the gap.

The Olympics are a time for the world to come together as one for the sake of competition. With all of the negative press surrounding Vancouver 2010, I think the IOC could use some reminding as to what the Olympics are truly about.

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