Re: Olympics - Watching USA Men's Gymnastics Implode
Karson said:
I almost think the Internet has ruined the Olympic experience - open up your browser that goes to your msn or yahoo homepage and the medal counts and results are all over! Especially when the timezone is that far ahead of us 'Muricans and we merely get re-reruns on TV that night...
Do you consider overall medal count to be more of a success that total number of golds?
I was having a discussion with a colleague about the coverage and how the results are everywhere. He felt as you do, I told him to unplug and turn off his phone.
Overall success is an interesting discussion I haven't had. I personally have never measured "success" of the Olympics. I couldn't tell you who had the most medals from the last Olympics, I've never really cared about it.
One thing though that I read about this week that did change my overall perception of the USA's success is the amount of emphasis China puts on the games. I can only state what I read in a Yahoo article, but they apparently will take Olympic hopefuls as young as the age of 6 to training facilities, where their sole existence becomes training for an Olympic event. When you measure that kind of "forced" athletic cultivation with how the USA does it it becomes very amazing how competitive the USA really is. I believe in general the USA athletes pay their own way, and their training is an "extracurricular" activity rather than their sole focus for existence.