Is there no TV coverage of the Olympic Decathlon?

The Game Room
#1

Does anyone know if there is any TV coverage of the decathlon? I know that the events take place on 8/8-8/9/12, but I’ve been scouring the NBC website for details of coverage, but there is nothing. Even the primetime coverage blurb does not mention anything about the decathlon. Can there truly be no TV coverage?

The decathlon used to be one of the signature events of the Olympics. Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, Dan and Dave? What happened? Not to mention that the World record holder is an American who is participating in these Olympics. I realize that NBC is trying to get as many viewers as possible to increase their ad revenues, but seriously, no decathlon? I like watching Misty May and Kerri Walsh’s butts as much as the next guy, but NBC can’t even spare an hours worth of coverage on MSNBC or Telemundo for the decathlon? Do we truly need beach volleyball 24/7?

I hope that I am wrong, but I seem to remember similar short shrift given to the decathlon the past 2 Olympics as well. I guess I may have to resort to internet viewing.

#2

Look under Track and Field. The NBC site says it will start showing Mens Decathlon events on the 8th at 10:10 PST.

Of course, if there are no US athletes contending for a GOLD medal, you cannot count on much TV coverage, but that should be a topic for another thread.

#3

Yes a thread from 1984.

There is plenty of coverage of non US athletes. The Olympics are broadcast on a multitude of stations as well as online.

#4

I hope so. I couldn’t find some things I wanted to see in 2008.

#5

Does it have to be TV? I thought I read that NBC would be streaming almost total coverage of the Olympics on the internet.

#6

I’d rather see decathlon than beach volleyball. Of course, it’s too much for the network to resist HD closeups of scantily clad female posteriors so I’m not holding my breath looking to see much decathlon. The field events seem to get the short shrift on NBC as does the rowing.

#7

According to what I have read, NBC will also be streaming everything live. They will have a variety of coverage options, such as all events or a single event. So if you want to see most of everything going on, you choose the all events option and you will see the track races and as much of the field events as they can fit in. If you just want to watch the women’s high jump, you can choose to watch just that camera. I am hoping that it will really work that way, but I am prepared to be disappointed.

#8

All events, I believe. You can watch every single second of the Olympics online, I believe.

I have NBC’s two apps for my Ipod touch and I believe I’ll be able to catch anything I missed there.

#9

Yup, the host broadcaster, the BBC, is covering absolutely everything, with up to 24 separate simultaneous streams. I assume NBC will be able to piggy-back on that, with their own coverage on top.

#10

Is it going to be on nbcolympics.com? There are some stuff I missed last time that I want to make sure I watch, like badminton, table tennis, and archery. Also, I was totally amazed with the shooting last time and want to see it again.

#11

Chances are that the only coverage of the decathlon on TV will be about a 5-minute report on the event’s first day, and then a report on its second day followed by airing of the 1500, especially if someone of the USA is in contention or there is a decent chance of the world record being broken. Expect the same with the heptathlon.

Interesting note: if you go through NBC’s complete listings for all of its channels (excluding online coverage and Telemundo), the only sport not scheduled to have any broadcast coverage is sailing, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the one judo event scheduled to air is replaced if that weight class’s American isn’t in the final.

NBC has been hyping its “complete” online coverage (yes, at nbcolympics.com) for a while. They have been promising to have every event available live, including “multiple feeds” for events like tennis and fencing where there are multiple contests simultaneously. I just wonder how much of a hit the servers will take if too many people try to watch, say, the opening ceremony online at the same time.

#12

Dan sort of screwed up Dan vs Dave in 92. That took a lot of air out of things, even if he did win gold in 96.

#13

NBC is not listing the decathlon as a separate event. Anywhere that Track and Field coverage is indicated there is the potential for decathlon to be included.

Here is the listing for online streaming of Track and Field events. Multiple decathlon events are included, and presumably the rest are part of the daily Evening Finals session.

As long as Ashton Eaton is participating, I plan on seeing a lot of decathlon in NBC’s television coverage as well.

#14

If you are within broadcast or cable range of our neighbor to the north, watch the Olympics on CTV. Much, much better coverage than the American networks.

#15

I watched on CBC all the time, though they did not have Vancouver. Did they lose the bid again?

#16

The Opening Ceremonies won’t be online. They will be tape delayed and shown in prime time as they are every year.