one of the advantages of being on the other side of the world is that you get to watch the opening ceremonies live. as i write this, the american broadcast is going on (SPOILER ALERT: there are a few fireworks). the lead up to the broadcast featured a retrospective of all new zealand medalists ever. they then gave their top ten olympians of all time. mark spitz and edwin moses didn't make the list, but some kiwi who had, like, three medals total was number one. at least they are comfortable in their bias.
the ceremonies themselves were amazing. having performed in the olympic opening ceremonies, it was obvious how much went into putting this one on. the costumes, for one, were way more intricate and well done than anything we had. but we were nearly all volunteers. and while the chinese got to put on a display of the 4 major advances of their ancient culture, they didn't have chevy pickup trucks wrapped in mylar. or cloggers.
the commentary on the parade of nations revealed what the new zealanders thought was most important: had the country ever won a medal, what event is the flag bearer in (much was made of the fact that they were mostly wrestlers, weightlifters and canoeists), very brief mention of location and national language it wasn't obvious, and in which events is the country is traditionally strong. i'm interested to see how this compares to the insights of bob costas.
this morning the coverage has, of course, been whatever events new zealand is in. i saw two seconds of the usa women's soccer match vs. norway, but other than that, nothing about the US. maybe because it's more regional, i'll get coverage of the sri lankans.
overall, it's a very different feel to watching the olympics over here. one of the characteristics that is conspicuous by its absence is the distinct lack of heartwarming tales about the adversity that bubba and earl faced making it to these olympics. over the years, that aspect of the US sports coverage seems to have increased to the point of absurdity. if they cut back on it, maybe they could show more than just swimming and gymnastics. but hey, that's just me. go silver ferns!
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I'm sure this time will be no different, but I too and sick of all the fuzzy human-interest stories about the athletes. It seems not one of them was merely genetically gifted and then worked hard to hone that gift.
NoNoNo. They nearly didn't make it to Beijing because of a car accident, pulled hamstring, or sickly pet, but here they are getting one for the Gipper.
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