When Did the Olympics Jump the Shark?

[NashVegas]

Poll question: When Did the Olympics Jump the Shark?

so many possibilities ...

Poll result (33 votes)
Nadia Cominic (sp?) Inspires a Hit Record	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
Sarajevo Gets Bombed to Hell a Few Short Years After Hosting the Games	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
Tonya Harding	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
Kerrigan, Nancy Kerrigan	(1 votes, 3%)	Vote
Games Schedule Changes to Every Two Years Summer / Winter Divided	(16 votes, 48%)	Vote
NBC Brings Coverage to Three Channels, Weakening Content on Each	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
Salt Lake City Scandals	(1 votes, 3%)	Vote
Professional Players Allowed to Compete for US	(15 votes, 45%)	Vote

[vi5]

1. Switching out the winter/summer games schedule....

Changing it to every 2 years diluted it. When it was both winter and summer in the same year, there was an ongoing excitement about it. Now it gets watered down with each one in isolation of the other.

[underpants]

20. Plus they HAD to have an extra Olympics in '94

That gave us the Kerrigan/Harding embarassment. It was the best thing that ever happened to Kerrigan, she wasn't going to medal until the "kneecapping" happened. It shows how objective and publicity driven that entire sport is.

[trotsky]

2. Other

When the U.S. started sending our PROFESSIONAL athletes to compete.

[OneBlueSky]

5. agreed . . . when winning became more important . . .

than competing, I stopped watching . . . sending the "Dream Team" to mop the floor with other countries' hoopsters was about as unsportsmanlike as you can get . . .

[Redhead488]

13. Moreso than the

East German and Chinese doping?

[noonwitch]

3. Dream Teams

I remember being a kid and being told that our athletes were not professionals like the bad russians and east germans. That was once considered an american virtue. The Olympics were something very special then, and different from our professional entertainment sports. The athletes were competing for their country, not for money and not for endorsements.

When our hockey team won in 1980, those guys were all amatuers. They beat the professional Russian team. It made the victory that much sweeter, I think.

I don't even watch them anymore, they were ruined for me when the US started allowing professionals in.

[NashVegas]

4. Oooh, Forgot

adding

[LynneSin]

8. I'd change that to ALL teams

Heck Hockey took a month break so they could have hockey "dream teams". Everyone who plays tennis is already a professional. All sports are "dream teams"

It's boring - get rid of professionals!

[NashVegas]

10. Fixed

..

[LynneSin]

6. I have to agree with that - get rid of the "Dream Teams"

they bore me which makes the Olympics very boring

[Spinzonner]

7. Synchronized Swimming

[Burma Jones]

9. When NBC took coverage away from NBC

I mean, Who would you prefer, Jim McKay or Dick Enberg?


ALSO - the whole "up close and personal" human interest bullshit. SPORTS, not melodrama please.

[NashVegas]

11. Aye

But the WORST EVER was Keith Jackson in the host's chair. OMG that was soooo bad.

[LynneSin]

12. I wouldn't mind those 'up close & personals'

if they showed athletes from all countries and not just USA.

[NashVegas]

15. I Am So With You!

Who gives a crap about Brian Boitano when there're hotties like Philippe Candelloro around?

[SoCalDem]

14. 1972.. they were never the same again

Terrorism trumps good will and sportsmanship every time..

The Olympics have long been about "our system" vs "their system", played out on the world stage, through "friendly" competition..

I am afraid it has lost its usefulness.. Students of history will know that the games were suspended for many years, and only revived as the "modern games" around the turn of the last century..

Each succeeding Olympics, they get more rife with scandal,squabbles, and less camaraderie..(which WAS their hallmark)..

Where it was once about competing bloc participation, it is now about doping,cheating judges,and penultimate security systems..Big mooney and sponsorship deals have ruined them as well..


Before all this nonsense, there was a college campus feel to them..The athletes shared facilities, and wandered throughout the host community.. People who attended the games were free to wander too..

The "armed camp" scenario and the necessary regimentation practically assures the host community of losing money.. Who has the energy to deal with all that nonsense?

[bo44]

39. Agreed

I would add that all the Soviet/America my pee is bigger than your pee pee posturing got a little old and tired after the violence in Munich.

NBC fucked up the games compared to ABC's Wide World of Sports Coverage of the same.

[mede8er]

40. The games......

were sacred time before 1972....war and politics all stopped for the sake of sport....

[Bertha Venation]

16. I voted "Pros" but I think it was really when

the Olympics started being hyped -- over-hyped, shoved-down-our-throats-hyped -- as the ultimate television/patriotic experience. WTG, NBC.

[Elginoid]

17. when the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Games.

another on the long list of America's Shame.

[NoPasaran]

18. When Gaius won the dolichos at the 177th Olympiad

Once the Romans were allowed to compete it was all downhill.

[Lavender Brown]

19. The Atlanta Olympics

The opening ceremonies were embarrassingly over-patriotic and over the top, and then of course there was a bombing.

[AngryAmish]

21. LA Olymips corporate whore-a-thon

There is only one way for the Olympics to get back any sort of legitimacy. Make barrel-jumping an Olympic Sport.

[LynneSin]

31. Plus in 1984 it was the second major boycott

the Soviets were getting back at us boycotting in 1980 (in Moscow)

I hated the 1984 Olympics, I also didn't watch much of the Salt Lake City coverage.

[VelmaD]

22. I blame NBC mostly...

but CBS has to take some blame as well. I'm a huge olympics nut and watch every minute I can. I especially love the sports you only ever get to see during the olympics...like dressage and luge.

I blame CBS for turning the Winter Olympics into a crapfest. For example: I own video tape of every olympic figure skating event since 1984. The number of competitors showed back in the day by ABC was at least 3 times the number shown by CBS. And over the years CBS has reduced the number it shows down to where you're lucky to see the medalists any more. Hell, they NEVER showed one of the US ice dance teams back in 2002 and I thought they ALWAYS showed the Americans. This problem is not just specific to skating...it's true of all the events.

But NBC is worse. Al Trautwig should be drug out into the street and shot. The music NBC uses is dreadful and the "Up Close and Personal" features they do are shlock and they take up too damn much time when they could be showing athletes actually competing. I remember being furious enough after the first night of gymnastics coverage in 2000 that my best friend and I actually wrote NBC to complain.

But the thing they both do that drives me the most nuts is the way they cut from event to event. It's on tape delay for god's sake. It's not like you have to cut away because events are happening in real time. Show all of one event and then go to the other. It's a huge pain in the ass when you're trying to record specific events.

What scares me is that NBC has gotten the rights to the Winter games as well (can't remember if that starts in 2006 or 2010) so we're going to be stuck with them for a LONG time.

Sorry for rambling. I've just had severeal years to get more and more furious about how bad the coverage has gotten.

[underpants]

23. But don't you NEED to know about athlete's overcoming tragedy?

I don't mean this in an accusatory way but those soft-hued stories of loss and perseverance are made and directly at the female audience. The weird part is that I don't know any women who don't say the same things about them you do, boring/sappy/stupid.

I hear that the CBC flips all over the place-anytime any event is going on they go to it----show the first round of a boxing match/cut to 110 meter Men's hurdles/show an equestrian run/second round of boxing (TKO)/ cut to 400 individual medley swim/ ......

Sounds a helluva lot more exciting than hearing about how the 30 year old athlete lost her grandmother (do the math) but was able to overcome it

[VelmaD]

24. Well, I don't know how CBC covers everything else...

but I do know their skating coverage is somewhat better than the US coverage. At least they show more skaters. But their commentators are just as bad as the ones in the US (especially in terms of being "homers").

[underpants]

25. Uggh figure skating

NO this isn't bashing the girls in it just the people who run it.

I remember some buddies of mine and I were sitting around watching the Olympics in '94 and there was this "black" girl from France I think. Not only was she HOT (guys ya know) but she was fantastic, she did this trick where she pulled her leg over her head (think that was popular in the room I was watching it in?) but she was just plain fantastic. Okay so we may not know all the intricacies of judging but there was no way that the winner (Oxana?) was THAT much better than she was (7th I think).

At the same time Kerrigan had NO shot of winning a medal until Harding's goons whacked her. Suddenly she everywhere in the media and she gets what a bronze? Someone got totally ripped off because of that.

[NashVegas]

26. She Was Great!

I remember the girl you're talking about, she was very good. But so was Oxana.

Skating judges are VERY conservative. Just as Kill Bill wasn't nominated for best movie, neither will someone who puts a big edge on their skating win the gold. It's like the movie, Strictly Ballroom, where the judges didn't want to award someone who was pulling moves they couldn't teach.

[VelmaD]

29. Read my post below...

it wasn't about conservatism of the judges. Hell, if that was the case Oksana never would have won because she hadn't been on the skating scene long enough. Surya Bonaly had easy to spot deficiencies in her basic skating technique that held her back.

[underpants]

30. Well it does HAVE to be subjective (my wife busted me on this)

Since they grade as they go they have to leave room for the last performer. They also have it pretty much established who is vying for what because the field really can't be wide open, this was what was so shocking about the American girl winning from third place at the last Olympics. I understand all that but still the first girl/guy out there might give the best performance but because things are pre-ordered there is no way they can win-wait your turn.

My wife ws a gymnast in high school and I was going off about subjective judging when she reminded me that college football does much the same with the original rankings. No one comes from outside the original top 25 to win it all and only the top 15 really have any shot of winning.

[SoCalDem]

27. I liked her too, BUT she did things that were against the rules

(Rules that were stupid, but rules nontheless).. Her mother was her coach, and even though she was athletically gifted and did marvelous jumps and maneuvers, her "style" was always criticized.. This has always been the "rub" in figure skating.. Is it powerful jumps and difficult maneuvers, or is it ballet with skates??

The lithe, lean "little girls" almost always triumph over the women who skate.. It's a lot like gymnastics.. The skaters who appear grown, have a hard time.. Katarina Witt was the last grown woman who got accolades ..Most since her, have been girls..

[VelmaD]

32. To answer your question...

skating is both. It's powerful jumps and difficult maneuvers and it is ballet on ice. You have to have both to win and SUrya Bonaly did not have both.

As for little girls always winning...you might want to consider the past few world champions. Michelle Kwan is certainly a grown woman at this point. Irina Slutskaya has never been a little thing. And Maria Butyrskaya was one of the oldest world champions in history.

[SoCalDem]

37. Surya..Thanks.. I forgot her name..

I am glad that they set the age limits higher .. And yes those champs you mentioned were awesome.. The skating is my favorite event.. I think recently the women are getting the attention they deserve

..

[VelmaD]

28. Well, you may know what you like, but...

I can guarantee you that yes Okana Baiul was THAT much better than Surya Bonaly (the black woman you mentioned). Surya lacked grace and had lousy edges. Edges are really important in skating. Her basic stroking on the ice was not particularly good. She had neat tricks sometimes but the inbetween skating was lacking. Her spins and footwork were not up to par for a world class skater. She telegraphed her jumps rather than having them flow out of her skating. All that said, I actually liked her quite a bit. I still think she's just gorgeous. I just know enough about skating to recognize her deficiencies. Her biggest problem was that the judges told her repeatedly what her problem areas were and what she needed to do to win and she never listened and never did anything to make the needed improvements to her basic skating technique.

And actually Kerrigan was a contender before the knee-whacking. She had won a couple of world championship medals prior to the 1994 olympics.

[underpants]

35. Well you seem to know what you are talking about

The problem with that Olympics was that the jumped forward and had an extra one to create the two year offset. I remember watching the Grenoble games and they mentioned the "up and comers" on the American scene (Nancy and Tonya) but that both were probably not going to rise to the top and surely wouldn't be ready in just two years-Hey that is how I remember it.

Oksana actually lived (lives) here in Richmond for a while. She did have a tragic story but I am so immune to hearing about the woes of being a international competitor is didn't really take on me. She has overcome A LOT.

[VelmaD]

38. Nancy won the bronze at the 1992 olympics...

I think Tonya was 5th. There was actually talk of them and Kristi Yamaguchi sweeping the podium that year because they had done so at the 1991 world championships. (See, I am a skating NUT.)

The issue going into 1994 was that Tonya had choked at the 1993 Nationals and didn't even make the world team that year. And then Nancy, who was the favorite to win the gold at 93 worlds, choked in a MAJOR way in the free skate at worlds and dropped to 4th. That performance was why some people didn't expect her to do well in Nagano...she kind of had a history of great short programs and then choking in the free skate.

Back then a country had to have a skater in the top 3 at the previous worlds to qualify 3 skaters to the Olympics. Because Nancy was 4th the US only got to send 2 women to Nagano in 94. That's basically what led to the knee-whacking the next year. There were only 2 spots on the olympic team and Tonya was gonna make darn sure she got one of them.

BTW, the 92 games were in Albertville. Grenoble was 1968 (the year of Peggy Fleming).

[Cybergata]

33. The Atlantic Olympics.....or should I say the Coca Cola Olympics!

The Atlanta Olympics was the first really commercialized Olympics, and I've been turned off ever since. Of course it didn't help when the male swimmers started wearing those ugly body suits. I want my male swimmers in speedos....tiny, tiny speedos.

[midnight armadillo]

34. It's an out of control corporate nightmare

It's all about the benjamins. Nothing more. I feel for the athletes who bust their nuts to compete on the world stage. McDonald's sponsors the games. WTF?

The IOC has totally pimped out the games to multinationals for advertising. It's a friggin' disgrace.

There needs to be a permanent home for winter & summer games to stop the whoring of the games to cities around the world. And they need to ban pros (we get to see them every other day of the year) and go back to an every 4 year schedule to keep the Olympics years exceptional. I remember as a kid after the 80 Olympics (I was in 1st grade or so) thinking it would be FOREVER until 4 years came around for the next one. Not any more...as soon as one's over they're already discussing the next.

NBC makes me want to vomit. Why can't they just show the events and publish a 'stories behind the athletes' after? Oh, that's right, to MAKE MORE FUCKING MONEY off of advertising and the female audience. Aside from the insulting attitude that shows towards women ('they just aren't interested in the sports unless they know the athelete overcame quadrupal amputation and the death of his cat') the fuzzy stories are totally BESIDE THE POINT.

The staging of the Olympics piss me off. THe athlete are great. Go Shane Hamman!!!

[WillParkinson]

36. When they said that they owned the word Olympics...

And that a gay group couldn't use it. Despite the fact that there were rat Olympics, drinking Olympics, etc they decided (and the courts agreed) that the USOC "owned" the rights to the word "Olympics" and forbade the gay group from hosting a Gay Olympics (now called the Gay Games).