# The Olympics: Let The Sob Stories Begin! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 8, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-olympics-let-the-sob-stories-begin/459313 "2008-08-08T17:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-olympics-let-the-sob-stories-begin/459313/41 "2008-08-16T22:03:40Z")
Kirsty Coventry. And it’s no surprise NBC does the occasional bio on foreign swimmers – many of them come to the US to train and compete for American colleges. Coventry went to Auburn. However, they are doing somewhat better on the bios this Olympiad. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-olympics-let-the-sob-stories-begin/459313/42 "2008-08-17T00:01:46Z")
In justice to NBC, wasn’t it **ABC** that really started the whole Olympic Soap thing on American TV with the (in?)famous “Up Close and Personal” segments, back in the 80s? And fret not, oomphalocentric coverage is widespread. Around these here parts it’s considered a whole-front-page lede on the largest daily paper that a male gymnast from PR climbed from 15th place in his group in '04 to 14th in '08 and was the top Latin American in the competition. And **glee** , we, too, have had to contend with that our “Athletic Excellence Fund” has spent twice as much hard cash on a delegation half as big as 4 years ago, and that’s expected to do absolutely jack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-olympics-let-the-sob-stories-begin/459313.md?page=2)