# Non-U.S. Dopers: What is Your Take on the U.S. Olympic Atheletes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381 "2006-02-20T21:55:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/21 "2006-02-21T22:21:56Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > When I have watched the NBC coverage in the past, I’m always amazed that nearly every American athlete has overcome some great personal disadvantage or obstacle to get where he or she is today. Did none of these people have fairly uneventful lives, apart from working and training for their sport? Is Overcoming Some Form of Adversity a prerequisite for a place on the US Olympic Team? Non-Americans may find this odd, but there’s a reason for the sentimental, “soap opera” coverage to the Olympics: the vast majority of the Olympics’ viewers in the USA are women! Male sports fans in the USA may watch one or two events at each Olympiad, but women are the ones who tune in to watch most events. Male fans generally wanbt to watch the competition without any fluff… but female fans seem to eat up that Oprah-esque stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/22 "2006-02-22T02:10:52Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > When I have watched the NBC coverage in the past, I’m always amazed that nearly every American athlete has overcome some great personal disadvantage or obstacle to get where he or she is today. I remember once watching an American bio of some athlete. Then the sad music started playing and they mentioned the death of the athlete’s great-aunt two years prior. Not to disrespect anybody’s great-aunt, but I thought “man they are trying too hard to find tragedy”. ---
**Author:** ![Queuing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/23 "2006-02-22T06:23:27Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Non-Americans may find this odd, but there’s a reason for the sentimental, “soap opera” coverage to the Olympics: the vast majority of the Olympics’ viewers in the USA are women! > > Male sports fans in the USA may watch one or two events at each Olympiad, but women are the ones who tune in to watch most events. Male fans generally wanbt to watch the competition without any fluff… but female fans seem to eat up that Oprah-esque stuff. I must ask; where did you get this idea from? Sounds like complete drivel to me, and frankly makes you look bad, IMO, YMMV, whatever… My problem with Americans and the Olympics is not the atheletes, or some of the attitude some of them may or may not have. What bugs me is how america-centric the Amercian media coverage is. I can watch NBC or CBC (I watch CBC mostly I am Canadian), but some events NBC shows I find more interesting, and my god! You would think no one but Americans compete in the Olympics. CBC tends to do a better job of showing other atheletes, and I vastly prefer it as I think it reflects more olympic ideals to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Dubious\_Weasle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b782af/32.png) [@Dubious\_Weasle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dubious_Weasle)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/24 "2006-02-22T09:55:31Z")
> [@Bertie Wooster](#): > > I may be alone in this, but I’ve heard all I need to about Michelle Kwan’s groin. Otherwise, I haven’t been paying attention. Damn straight. Talk is cheap. Where are the pictures? ---
**Author:** ![Incantatrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/46a35a/32.png) [@Incantatrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incantatrix)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/25 "2006-02-22T10:09:21Z")
I support my country’s athletes for the same reason you probably support your country’s atheletes - because they’re representing my nation. I don’t really think there’s anything more or less in it than that. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/26 "2006-02-23T04:14:34Z")
One of the American swim teams, 4x100 relay I think it was, did their country a massive disservice - forgotten whether it was Sydney or the one before that. “We’ve going to smash the Aussies like guitars” was the boast, and ooooh it was sweet when we beat them again anyway. Being Aussies our guys played air-guitar at them afterwards, just to rub it in. > [@Incantatrix](#): > > I support my country’s athletes for the same reason you probably support your country’s atheletes - because they’re representing my nation. Erm, the OP was about the attitude of the athletes, not of the fans. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/27 "2006-02-23T05:13:46Z")
> [@Queuing](#): > > What bugs me is how america-centric the Amercian media coverage is. I can watch NBC or CBC (I watch CBC mostly I am Canadian), but some events NBC shows I find more interesting, and my god! You would think no one but Americans compete in the Olympics. CBC tends to do a better job of showing other atheletes, and I vastly prefer it as I think it reflects more olympic ideals to do so. Well, bravo to CBC if they do indeed do this. Because i can tell you, having grown up in Australia, that the narrow parochialism of the American media is not unique to the United States. Spend any time around the Olympics watching the Australian media, and you’ll see nothing but a barrage of feel-good stories about the Aussie athletes. And when you watch the coverage, if an Australian wins you’ll be lucky if you can work out who placed second and third, because they’ll be too busy interviewing the winner. The Commonwealth Games are coming up next month in Melbourne, and i’m glad i’m not in Australia, to be honest, because it allows me to avoid the hype. The Commonwealth Games get about as much coverage in the US as Enlgish county cricket. A good thing, too, because the Commonwealth games are stupid and pointless, and should be discontinued forthwith. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/28 "2006-02-23T05:36:16Z")
> [@Queuing](#): > > I must ask; where did you get this idea from? Sounds like complete drivel to me, and frankly makes you look bad, IMO, YMMV, whatever… If it sounds like drivel to you, that’s because you don’t know anything about the subject. Women make up a sizable majority of Winter Olympics viewers, which is why the Winter Olympics don’t have the same advertisers as standard sporting events. Pro baseball, basketball, hockey and football games in the U.S. make their money through beer and automobile commercials. The WInter Olympics have advertising aimed at women. Coincidence? Nope. Frankly, the fact that you argued the point without knowing the facts makes YOU look bad. [http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/21/commentary/column\_sportsbiz/sportsbiz/?source=yahoo\_quote](http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/21/commentary/column_sportsbiz/sportsbiz/?source=yahoo_quote) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/29 "2006-02-23T06:06:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Women make up a sizable majority of Winter Olympics viewers, which is why the Winter Olympics don’t have the same advertisers as standard sporting events. Anecdotally, our household confirms this trend. I’m a huge sports watcher; my wife generally avoids watching sports whenever possible. So far, i’ve watched no Winter Olympic coverage at all; she has watched about three or four hours of figure skating. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/30 "2006-02-26T15:37:27Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Apollo Creed would be the black boxer from the Rocky movies. Apollo Anton Ohno is the speed skater you are looking for. [nitpick] **Apolo** is his name. Ohno was not named for Apollo, the Greek god of sunlight and prophecy. His unique first name was given to him by his father, who combined the Greek words “Ap,” meaning “steering away from,” and “lo,” meaning “look out, here he comes.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/31 "2006-02-26T16:57:46Z")
> [@Balduran](#): > > On CBC coverage at this olympic’s opening ceremonies they said that every country, when they march past the host country’s team, tips their flag as a sign of respect. The lone exception is the American team, because apparently their flag tips for nobody. Other than that, their athletes seem the same as everybody else. Is this true? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/32 "2006-02-26T17:44:34Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Is this true? Cite? All i could find on the subject was [this article](http://www.excal.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1455&Itemid=2), which says: > [@](#): > > In the 1908 Olympics held in London, the officials forgot to display the United States flag in the stadium. When the Americans marched past the reviewing stand containing King Edward VII, they refused to lower their flag saying that “this flag dips to no earthly king.” That’s almost a century ago. Not sure if something similar still happens now. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/33 "2006-02-27T16:06:15Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Is this true? Cite? I see **mhendo** has managed to dig something up. I had never heard of it before it was mentioned by the tv announcers at the opening cermonies. I didn’t know that anybody dipped their flag in the first place. Not the best cite I suppose but [http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/archives/007509.html](http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/archives/007509.html) The announcers on TV said it was a dip to the host nation. This site says it is a dip to the olympic banner. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381/34 "2006-02-27T16:13:22Z")
I found [this.](http://www.americanflags.org/docs/etiquette.jsp?pageId=0690200091781119362386569) Not sure what they mean by “disrespect”. I guess disrespect to the flag itself, if that’s possible? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-what-is-your-take-on-the-u-s-olympic-atheletes/345381.md?page=1)