Not a ton, but random bits here and there. There's coverage on all day long, so I'll put it on when I'm feeding Linus or we'll watch some in the evening. The only thing I really got into was the Men's Gold Medal Tennis match. Hooray Andy! What a match!
I have a few observations about the coverage. One is that it seems to me that the British coverage involves far more actual coverage of the sports, rather than endless puff pieces on the athletes meant to inspire me. Maybe I'm just watching at the wrong times, but it definitely seems to be better coverage. Not that they are immune to the occasional gaffe. I heard a commentator proclaim that a competitor had "celebrated a birthday just a few short years ago". I'm fairly confident that she meant days or weeks, but she totally said years. Hahaha!
The biggest difference I've noticed, however, is that when competitors in track and field or cycling events wins they often take an extra celebratory lap. That's not unusual, but I noticed that this practice is called something different here! I'd always known this as a "Victory Lap". Here in the UK, it is referred to as a "Lap of Honour". I think this difference is pretty interesting and actually says something about the difference in the cultures. In America, the emphasis is on the victory. The dominance. The superiority. In England, it's the pride and honour brought to the person. and thus their country, for having achieved something amazing. It's a subtle difference, but it makes sense in my head. Almost like the American way is about showing off and the British way is about acknowledging the crowd. It's totally semantic and contains broad generalizations and stereotype. Oh, well. It's a true fact that British people don't like to show boat like Americans do. It's considered fairly egregiously distasteful. So maybe I'm not reaching on this as much as it seems. I think there is an actual difference between a Lap of Honour and a Victory Lap.
What do you think?
What's been your fav moment of the Olympics so far?
I would agree Americans like to showboat but nobody showboats like a Texan!
ReplyDeleteI've been glued to the Olympics every night. I wish they would show more of the village where the athletes stay. I love puff pieces.
So far my favorites have been Gabby winning the gold and Oscar Pistorius. And of course all those buff swim boys! Huba huba!
With all those pristine hairless swimmers...I wonder if there is a team waxer!
Kiss Linus for me!
LC