Us television coverage of the beijing olympics

But not at each other. At the telecasting. In front of which we have spent all our spare time. Even mealtimes, I’m ashamed to admit.

And the ground for this: The Olympic Games. More specifically, the US telecasting coverage of the 29th Olympiad.

although ‘coverage’ is a generous term for what we have seen on NBC (the functionary channel to show the Games over here in the States).

With China being 12 hours ahead of US Eastern time, I understand from friends in the UK that there has been some griping about the alleged alterations in the timetable of events so that we, here on the East coast, could see live events at prime time - usually between 8pm and 10pm.

This has meant that these same events were available live to UK spectator in the center of the night. Such is the power of the US.

This power has to be handled with care and with the acknowledgment that a fair image of the Games should be painted.

During the course of study of the first week of the Olympic Games, I became an expert on only swim, synchronized diving event, gymnastics and women’s beach volleyball game (with it becoming increasingly clear that the latter is not a very difficult sport – you just have to be over six foot tall and look midway decent in a two-piece).

So limited was the fluctuation in sport that I began to wonderment whether Great United Kingdom was really taking part. I had seen no sight of them, or of any country other than the USA, in fact.

After the magnificent, mind blowing opening ceremony during which the competitors paraded, I saw little evidence of anyone other than the American sportsmen and women actually being in Beijing.

Were the other athletes, like the fireworks in the sky over the Bird’s Nest, merely computer generated? And there’s the reason for our frustration.

It seems that the American public only got to see events where Team USA got a medal and only a gold or silver at that.

It was purely due to the BBC website that we had any clue about how Great Britain (or any other country) was doing. Equestrian events? No chance of seeing these or even of hearing about them.

Our loudest shouting at the television occurred in a women’s 800m swimming final. With about three lengths to go and a Brit in the lead, but not in the clear by any means, but with no American featuring in the final, you will not believe it, but they cut to commercials.

On the middle Sunday of the Games, Dr W and I watched the non-live broadcast of the women’s indoor cycling finals, where the competitors from Britain absolutely wiped the floor with their opponents, sweeping the gold and the silver medals.

NBC reluctantly showed this – it was Sunday afternoon in the US and therefore the middle of the night in Beijing, so not a lot was happening live.

The NBC anchorman in the studio could not bring himself to congratulate the winning Brits, nor even recognize the achievement for what it was.

He begrudgingly mentioned that GB had won forty percent of their medals (at that point) from cycling and then cut to the commercials with, “If only the Games had snooker, darts and a dog show…” Humorous, but nonetheless pretty harsh.

And therein lies the issue. Yes, the US is a great sporting nation, but actually that is not the point. The Olympic Games is not about great sporting nations.

The television schedule, dominated by events with American winners, skews the ideology behind the event.

It is not intended to be a country vs. Country battle, with powerful nations bringing their armies of sportsmen and women to claim their stake, it is meant to be the bringing together of the very best individuals from all over the world, A subtle difference, I agree, but the nuance is important.

Other than in the actual team events, we should be focusing on who is competing, their individual achievements and not immediately on where they come from.

It is inevitable and natural that we should root for the countries where we come from, but this should not be done in a spirit that excludes and does not recognize the achievements of those individuals from other parts of the world.

What a great opportunity for us to learn, to find common ground and to take off our introspective blinkers.

The television channel which has the rights to broadcasting the Olympic Games should be more imaginative in its outlook.

It seems we have some educating to do in this house, after The Girl’s excited observation during the parade of Team USA.

“Look, Daddy! OUR flag!”.

I thought Dr W handled this very well, only the pulsating vein in his forehead and his gritted teeth gave any clue of his absolute horror.

I honestly thought that I would arrive home the next day to find the outside of the house painted with the Union Flag and God Save The Queen being piped into The Girl’s bedroom.

It seems we are more patriotic than we thought.