Well, the Rio Olympics have come to an end. And, despite of the Armageddon predictions about how these Games were going to be a disaster, Rio pulled it off. Just like you knew they would. Were these Olympics perfect? No. Were they a massive failure? No to that one, too. They weren't London. They were Rio. They had their own identity and left their own indelible moments.
In Rio, we saw the end of two of the greatest careers in Olympic history. Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt are already the stuff of legend. Years from now, there will be Olympic fans watching clips of the two of them on YouTube just wishing they'd been able to see them in their prime. We would've been lucky to see one in his prime. We got to see both! It really is amazing that they're contemporaries. And I hope everyone realizes just how privileged we were to live in the Era of Bolt & Phelps.
But these Games were about more than Phelps and Bolt, both of whom made Rio their Olympic swan song. We were introduced to plenty of stars that we'll see again in Tokyo and beyond.
Team USA paced the medal count with 121 medals, 46 of which were gold. That's the most for an American team since 1984 (which comes with an asterisk because of the Soviet-led boycott), and the most for anybody since the Soviet Union won 132 in 1988. It's also the most-ever for Team USA in an Olympics held in another country. The women were particularly successful, contributing 61 of those medals and winning 27 of the golds. If the American women were their own country, they would've finished fourth in the medal standings!
The United States won at least one medal in 20 of 27 sports in which it competed, which is a remarkable showing of depth. But, as usual, most of the American success was found in the pool and on the track. Team USA captured an incredible 65 medals (29 gold) in its two powerhouse sports of swimming and track & field, plus another 12 in gymnastics.
Towards the end of the swimming competition, Rowdy Gaines gave his theory about why the U.S. swim team was so dominant at these Olympics, and I completely agree with him. The U.S. Olympic Trials are later than all of the other countries, so the Americans are in much better form heading into the Olympics. Likewise, just making the team is so hard that all the pressure is on Trials. Once they make the team, it's gravy. If other countries want to close the gap in Tokyo, they'd be smart to take a page out of the Americans' playbook.
Meanwhile, it was quite a contrast between last summer's World Championships and this year's Olympics for the USA track & field team. This was the best Olympics anybody can remember for USA Track & Field, with medals all across the board, including an impressive distance showing to go along with the usual haul in the sprints and field events. So why did the Rio Olympics go so much better than the 2015 Worlds? The same reason as swimming. Olympic Trials were a month before the Olympics. Last year, U.S. Nationals were nine weeks before Worlds. Clearly a shorter gap is better.
As for Brazil, they enjoyed the usual host country boost. It may not look like it to outside observers, but this was actually a very successful Olympics for the home team. Brazil had its most-ever medals with 19, and its seven gold medals also set a record. And, most importantly, they got the golds they wanted. They won men's beach volleyball and indoor volleyball, which was nice, but they would've been willing to trade those for the gold in men's soccer. And that's exactly what they got. Neymar had the Maracana rocking when he clinched Brazil's first-ever Olympic men's soccer title on Saturday night. it was Rio's signature moment. Brazil's Super Saturday or Sidney Crosby goal. If that had been Brazil's only gold medal, it would've been enough.
Speaking of the Maracana, it was full for every game. So were Copacabana and the Maracanazinho and some other marquee venues. But there were noticeable empty seats at some others, which the critics were quick to point out. In London, everything was sold out, so that's not a fair comparison. And all of the venues that were packed were the ones that housed sports popular in Brazil.
And, frankly, some of the other ones might've been full, too, if not for the media. For months leading up to the Games, all you saw were articles trying to spread panic by saying how unsafe Brazil was or that they were going to get Zika. Because of this, a lot of people who might've traveled to Rio for the Games decided not to go. And they didn't buy those tickets as a result. You can't have it both ways! You can't tell everyone to stay away, then criticize the organizers for all the empty seats.
Of course, everyone loves to criticize. And we never see that more than when people speak out about NBC's Olympic coverage. I had a discussion with a friend earlier about NBC's coverage in Rio, and we both agreed that it was a solid B+. The Opening Ceremony was a disaster, but they really did settle into a groove once the Games themselves began. I actually kinda liked Ryan Seacrest on the late night show, and Mike Tirico further proved that he's one of the best in the business.
My "favorite" thing about the criticism of NBC's coverage, though, is when people get all bent out of shape about the tape delay. Either that, or when they complain about what they show on which channel. ("Why do they focus so much on the Americans?". Well, because they're the American rights-holder, that's why.) Well, guess what, they're never going to make everyone happy. But no one is possibly able to say they weren't able to watch what they wanted. They just needed to find it.
They had coverage on seven! different networks during the Games, much of it overlapping, and dedicated channels for both basketball and soccer. If you didn't want to watch rowing on NBC, you didn't have to. And if you couldn't find your sport on TV (or it wasn't being shown live), every event was streamed live online. So, it would be inaccurate to say that NBC didn't give you plenty of options. In fact, they offered more viewing options than ever before. This isn't Sydney, or even Athens, where you had no choice. It was what was on NBC, when they decided to air it, and that was it.
It also goes without saying that, like-it-or-not, NBC has Olympic rights in this country until at least 2032, so if you don't like their coverage, but still want to watch the Olympics, you don't really have much of a choice. And the next three are in East Asia, which isn't ideal for anybody. But that's the way it is. We turn the page from Rio and get ready to head across the Pacific. The countdown to PyeongChang 2018 is on.
No comments:
Post a Comment