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Comment from David Velasco
Date: August 11, 2008, 12:10 pm

Thanks for the trenchant commentary. I just watched this episode of Project Runway last night (love it)—I can’t think of a better riposte to all of the Olympics hubbub.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 11, 2008, 2:09 pm

Thanks David!

“Project Runway” is about the only silver lining I can think of in the reality tv cloud. Not even Michael Kors can ruin it.

Comment from Counter Critic
Date: August 11, 2008, 2:14 pm

OMG, I agree 100%. I change the channel any time one of the bio segments starts to roll. All I want is to see the action. I feel about the Olympics very much how I feel about porn: Get to the goods. Dispense with the story. All I want to see is somebody’s body do some crazy shit. Not that I don’t care about who these people are. But I want to judge them for their performance, not for their situation.

Comment from Meg
Date: August 11, 2008, 3:14 pm

Those biographical segments really are terrible. I think having TiVo has vastly improved my Olympic viewing. I’ve just been watching on a delay and fast forwarding through all the bios and interviews with Bush, etc. Now if I could just get them to stop telling me the same delightful facts over and over again as if everyone with any interest whatsoever in the Olympics didn’t already know…

And if they really feel like they need to fill air time for whatever reason, they could do so much better than biographical segments and schmaltz. Better intros to rarely seen sports where they explain how they work or what their history is would be interesting. Or if they really want to profile specific athletes they could use them to explain some of the finer points of technique. Why not use Phelps to show exactly how Fly works and what viewers should look for (that’s an incredibly obvious example but it’s the first that came to mind)? Or talk about how one athlete’s technique and approach differs from another’s? I find that I enjoy a sport so much more when I actually understand what’s going on in detail and I can’t be alone in that.

Of course they could also just show more of the actual events, which would be ideal, but I don’t see that happening. Still though, it seems silly to try and impose some kind of dramatic narrative when the events are often plenty dramatic all on their own.

Comment from Esther
Date: August 11, 2008, 4:45 pm

My British roommate is lamenting the absence of the BBC in our Olympics’ watching (we don’t have cable) - modestly suggesting that perhaps, just maybe, their coverage of the events would be just a little less biased and hotheaded.

A LITTLE less?! Try off the charts comparison.

Ugh NBC/USA, get it together.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 11, 2008, 5:02 pm

The Olympics as hosted by a porn channel! Brilliant …

Short of that, or TiVo or BBC (alas, I have neither), I think your idea is a great one, Meg. It’s hard to fully appreciate events when you don’t know even the basics, let alone the finer points - half the fun of watching something is being able to disagree with the experts, whether we’re talking about art critics or gymnastics judges. I would love to have technique-oriented segments, or analysis of how stylistic differences impact performance. Once again, it seems to be a case of the audience’s intelligence being underestimated.

I also wish everyone would take themselves a bit less seriously - some parts of the Olympics are pretty absurd, and it would be great if they could make fun of themselves just a bit.

However, there has been some fabulous unintentional comedy (well, maybe tragicomedy) as a result of the biographical segments, such as when they did a spot on how one of the divers had given up her entire youth to train for this one moment, because it was all worth it - this aired just before she and her partner were edged out by the Germans for the bronze. Oops.

Comment from tonya
Date: August 12, 2008, 9:51 am

After watching the men’s gymnastics in awe last night, I’m interested in your comment about the women. I probably shouldn’t say anything until I watch them tonight and decide for myself, but is there a big difference in the way the women are portrayed than the men? Are the women much younger? It seemed most of the men were around 20; one who was 24 was referred to as older. From having watched in the past I still think all of the gymnasts both male and female do incredible feats, things that don’t seem humanly possible, and I’m always blown away watching them. Is it in the challenges I wonder? The men’s all seem to involve upper body strength — the rings, the pummel-horse, the way they hold themselves in the air both vertically and horizontally on the high bar, and the push-ups and floor flares on the floor work. The women would have a harder time with all of these challenges, but I still think it’s amazing how they balance on the beam and fly around those uneven bars. And their floorwork has an artistry that the men’s lacks — especially the American men; they were an eyesore as they held out their legs haphazardly at the end of a tumbling pass to balance, no pointed toes, no regard to line whatsoever! Ew! The Chinese men were SO much better. But with the women it seems to be even more about the artistry, where they even have a music score and they do such stylized movement in between the tumbling passes it resembles dancing. But is this bad that it’s more about the artistry?

Sorry to go on; I’ll have to watch tonight and see how tarted up they are! It’s definitely not the first time I’ve heard that criticism about women’s gymnastics though, and I just think it’s so sad that the men are taken so much more seriously than the women.

Comment from Aynsley V
Date: August 12, 2008, 10:31 am

I ended up watching the Olympic opening extravaganza because some friends who didn’t have a tv came to watch it on ours. I resisted it! But then at some point it was too fascinating and I started taking notes. (If Jerome Bel has questions about the use of spectacle in concert dance performance I wonder what he was thinking about this!)

Here are some note highlights from the ever insightful and nuanced TV commentators:

“Birds return and the conflicts between man and nature resolve.”

“Everything is bigger here in China.”

“I don’t see how anyone could dispute the quality of this presentation.”

Comment from Meg
Date: August 12, 2008, 11:07 am

Tonya, the female gymnasts are indeed younger. They’re required to be at least 16, which is a response to just how young the average age of Olympic gymnasts had become–somewhere in the mid-teens I believe–but there’s quite a bit of controversy as to whether or not some of the Chinese girls are even that old. On top of that, intense gymnastics training can delay the onset of puberty. While there are some adult competitors, it would be rather more accurate to call it “Girl’s” Gymnastics.

I don’t think it’s that the girls are taken less seriously than the men at all, but I do think that there are a whole host of disturbing things that go on with women’s gymnastics. Not that you’re likely to hear them addressed on the NBC broadcast.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 12, 2008, 11:10 am

Hey Tonya .. please go on whenever you feel like it - it’s great.

My comment was specifically about the tumbling, which was what I happened to catch. I was rather dismayed by the parade of very young girls (the ages seemed to hover around 16, but many of them looked like pre-adolescents to me and, indeed, the commentators said that there have been questions raised about the ages of the girls on the Chinese team) wearing heavy eye makeup and performing these faux-artistic elements. I do remember, from Olympics past, being impressed by the artistry of female gymnasts, especially Russians (big surprise), but these routines seemed cheap and schmaltzy - not the actual athletic feats, of course, but the bad music and silly, jerky extensions and cutesy hip juts.

So, I was thinking all of these things when one of the commentators said, of (I think) one of the senior Chinese gymnasts who is a bit older, maybe 20: “A couple of years ago she pleaded with her parents to come home, to quit gymnastics. Well, we’re all lucky she didn’t, because this is magical.”

Didn’t seem very magical to me. Seemed rather sad, and I wondered just whose Olympic dream this young woman was fulfilling.

It also seems a bit crazy to me that gymnastics is dominated by teenagers - seems maybe the sport might look at itself a bit more critically.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 12, 2008, 11:11 am

You beat me to it, Meg!

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 12, 2008, 11:13 am

“Birds return and the conflicts between man and nature resolve.”

Brilliant.

A couple of my favorites:

“…China spells history with a capital H…”

“…just an electric atmosphere…”

and the magical remark, see comment No. 10

Comment from Meg
Date: August 12, 2008, 11:31 am

I particularly enjoyed them telling us that you can see the Great Wall from space. Sure, with the appropriate magnification. You can also see my apartment building from space with the appropriate magnification and somehow I don’t think it’s going to be named as a world wonder anytime soon. Way to fact check those thoroughly illogical myths, NBC.

Comment from Counter Critic
Date: August 12, 2008, 11:46 am

FYI - Gawker has a nice graphic that actually compares internet traffic for the Olympics vs. porn. Guess which one wins the gold?

http://gawker.com/5034421/how-popular-are-the-olympics-really

Comment from jolene
Date: August 12, 2008, 4:30 pm

To be fair, I think the way that the Chinese floor routines look a bit jarring and offputting might be a result of a cultural bias - I feel like I prefer the routines of the Americans and the Russians more because it’s what I’m used to. More balletic, perhaps (minus the tumbling of course). Or perhaps it’s something that the Chinese are presenting through imitation since it’s mostly a Western sport, and you can see that they’re trying too hard, not to mention the fact that these girls seemed forced into the sport and worked within an inch of their lives.

But I totally agree with you about the glittery yellow gold sparkle and the clashing purple eye shadow that adorns these pre-pubescent girls’ eyes - I almost get the sense that they’re trying to be more “American” instead of being themselves. (Maybe the eye makeup was to make them look older.) And who are we kidding when we say that they MIGHT be underage?? There are rumors that one of them is even 12 years old. I also had the same reaction to the commentator who said that it’s great that Cheng Fei kept on going with gymnastics even though she wanted to quit a few years ago. I found it sad that they pushed her to suffer through a sport just for the chance to win the $150,000 in cash the Chinese government doles out for a gold medal.

At the same time, I can’t help but to buy into the Olympic hype. Maybe it’s because of my need to believe in something greater than this fractious petty world of ours, but I still find it riveting to watch, even the corny overthetop bios - I especially enjoyed one on the 33 year old German gymnast who’s a mother of a child with leukemia. Her vault was excellent. Despite the cheese, that US relay swimming race against France where Alain Bernard made fun of the Americans and the Americans made them eat their words? Pure gold.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 12, 2008, 4:58 pm

Just when I’m ready to give up on Gawker, they do something grand like this …

I guess you’re right, Jolene, the “might be” is a bit silly. I didn’t realize that was the cash prize, makes it even more tawdry, if that was the reasoning.

Perhaps the bias is simply mine, as I caught some of the American floor routines, and found those just as artistically wanting. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the Chinese would have the most artistically interesting tumbling acts, given the country’s history with acrobatics? Perhaps they aren’t looking closely enough to that for artistic inspiration?

Did they do a segment on the French (or any other team) having to eat it?? Now that I could get behind. Whoever said “silence is golden” never experienced the fine art of trash talking.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 12, 2008, 5:01 pm

And I have to admit, I do get sucked into some of the segments - but that’s the thing, they’re so freaking manipulative. I never feel good about myself after; it’s the entertainment equivalent of eating a bag of Doritos.

Comment from tonya
Date: August 13, 2008, 10:12 am

Remember though, Jolene, that it is the American press whose eyes you’re hearing everything from. They think it somehow makes the average American feel better to believe that another country only beat us because they’re horrible communists who force their poor children into this kind of slave labor. Frankly, I’m leery of any story I hear about another country. And I agree with you that ironically they are trying to act more American with the sexy hip juts and the blue eye shadow. Do Asian women really wear their makeup that way?

I hadn’t thought about intense sports training delaying the onset of puberty, as Meg said. Maybe some of those girls really aren’t underage. The delay of puberty thing is a whole other issue … that must be the case with most sports training though, right? Even ballet?

Comment from jolene
Date: August 13, 2008, 7:33 pm

Hey guys! Ok now I realize that the discussion is way off topic (sorry Claudia!) but some words to address what Tonya said:

I know that the US media is biased, but I was making my statements purely based on the fact that these girls are wearing the makeup that they are wearing. If someone had just shown me a picture of a Chinese gymnast’s face, I would have come to the same conclusion that they are trying to be really “American”. I know that this thinking is prevalent in Asia - look at the amount of eye surgery that’s done to make girls look more “Western” - in Seoul, in fact over 50% of women have this done - my cousin just had it done two weeks ago, in fact, as did my younger sister and almost half my cousins. I think it’s a way for Asia to fit into a Western world, a world so foreign to them that they don’t know how to do it. And it comes off as trying too hard from my viewpoint, like the glittery gold and purple eye shadow. It also serves to make them look older. I have my reasons for believing that they’re 12 (or at least, definitely under 16) - in fact, I’d put money on it, but this probably isn’t the best place to discuss that - does anyone doubt that Shawn Johnson (or anyone on the US team) is 16, even with delayed puberty from gymnastics training?

I suppose in fact, the commentary by the Americans on NBC coverage could say that it was “pro-Communist” since the commentator was supporting the Communist regime to keep a girl in the sport, even though she wanted to quit.

Regarding the cash prizes that come with winning a gold medal, I feel like the biggest difference is that for the Chinese athletes, winning a gold (and the cash) means the difference between living comfortably or living in poverty. It’s such a difference from the American athletes, who seem to go into the sport because they truly love to do it. No one doubts that Shawn Johnson will live in poverty after the Olympics are over even if Shawn Johnson doesn’t medal - she’ll probably go to college, do what she wants and succeed. There’s no such guarantee in China where there are way too many people, and competition for a spot in college is unbelievably cutthroat. It’s just sad, that air of desperate-ness, and it could explain Cheng Fei’s decision to stay in a sport even though she wanted to get out of it. Her family’s welfare was riding on her getting a gold medal.

Anyways, Claudia, you make a good point. On a side note, I’m totally craving Doritos right now…

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 13, 2008, 8:56 pm

PLEASE don’t apologize - I am fascinated with the way these conversations take on a life of their own, sometimes sparked by my posts and sometimes, seemingly, quite independent of them. That’s the whole point of this blog. And this is a great debate you all are having.

I have to agree with Jolene, though I don’t have nearly as sophisticated an understanding of the cultural underpinnings (thanks for the great information, J) - but just looking at the photos of some of those girls, it’s clear they aren’t 16. Not even close.

What do you all think about 16 as the cut off age to begin with, though? It seems awfully young to me. I wish the sport could make more room for older athletes (you know, like those ancient folks who can legally drink). There would be less pressure on them and it would probably be more satisfying for us to watch, at least when it came to the artistic elements.

Tonya, do you find that NBC’s coverage has had a consistently unfair/unrealistic bias in its portrayal of other countries? Simplistic, sure, but that’s across the board. I haven’t watched much in the past couple of days.

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 13, 2008, 9:08 pm

also … I hope you all will check out Tonya’s blog, and the Counter Critic’s - they both have related Olympics posts, and CC has migrated from porn to Eros … my my

Comment from jolene
Date: August 14, 2008, 3:50 am

16 does seem like an arbitrary (and precociously young) age, but it seems to me that 16 the age that seems NOT ridiculously young (i.e. pre-pubescent) but not too old to eliminate the best gymnasts in the world. Maybe if the age is set older, the junior world gymnastic champions would actually be better athletes than the Olympians.

Another thought, since you gave me free rein to speak! Claudia, your phrase “faux artistic” has stuck with me regarding the women’s floor exercise. I wonder if the pretenses of art were dropped from the floor exercise (the music, choreography) but if it was presented more in a straightforward athletic competition without any artistic elements, if we would be able to view it differently and would be more accepting of it as a viewable event. I’m just curious why the floor isn’t presented more like the men’s floor, where there is no music nor choreography nor hip jutting nor cocked chin (haha I just pictured it) but it’s more about the skills and the stuck landings - would we be kinder to it? Yet it’s the artistic and performance aspect of the floor exercise that people love it so much (add figure skating to that as well as one of the favorites for many of the winter olympics).

The information that I get about China isn’t really from the US media but more from college friends that were native Chinese, including some who went back to work there after graduation. It’s not just the gymnastics though, but very representative of the totalitarian state of the government that’s trying to open up to the Western world not because it wants to, but because it has to in order to compete economically and power-wise. Yet China doesn’t quite know how to do it without the freedom of being criticized, which it doesn’t know how to deal with as proven by Tiannamen Square and other equally horrific events.

Random thoughts late at night while I’m watching to see who wins for the men’s all around individual for gymnastics -

Comment from tonya
Date: August 14, 2008, 11:24 am

Thanks Claudia! Yes, I felt that the press did the same thing with communist Russia, endlessly portraying that country’s treatment of athletes so negatively in comparison to ours. Of course they were our main enemy, both politically and in terms of being our main contenders in the Olympic games, throughout the Cold War years. So, again, it made us feel better when our athletes lost to theirs to believe our athletes had a kind of “freedom” theirs didn’t. In general, I feel that the press continuously creates animosities between countries that don’t need to exist in the name of good ole American chauvinism. Why in the world is anyone keeping a country medal count??? It’s the athletes who are deserving of the recognition not the countries.

Benita, a commenter on my blog, wrote that Nadia Cominici (sp?) won when she was only 14, so they’ve actually increased the minimum age. She also said that’s when muscle mass is at its peak in females. Meg had also pointed out that ages were different for the men because so many of their skills require upper body strength which peaks later. I don’t know enough about the human body to talk on these issues with any real conviction! I just think in general, the age should be whatever makes most sense in terms of the body’s musculature and maximum athletic ability. After all, these girls can go on to have lives after gymnastics. Jennifer Sey (whose writings Benita also introduced me to) has said whatever the challenges and difficulties, and even horrors of training at such a young age, it was most definitely worth it for her.

Anyway, thanks for letting us go on about this

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 15, 2008, 11:28 am

I would like the floor routines much better if they dispensed with the artistic patina. I find great artistic beauty in athletics, but only when it’s an organic part of the sport - the way Federer strikes at the net, Iverson on a basketball court, A-Rod’s swing - and not a fakey imposition.

I agree, Jolene, that we wouldn’t want to create a situation in which junior gymnasts were better than the Olympians - I was thinking that the sport would have to adapt somewhat to focus on routines and create scoring systems that are geared toward adult gymnasts, rather than children. But perhaps this would mean the sport had to change too much of its essential nature. I don’t know enough about the nuances of it to offer more than pot shots, I’m afraid.

Yes, the medal count is absurd. Somehow, though, I’m guessing America isn’t the only country keeping track …

Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 17, 2008, 12:29 pm

Oh, anxiety!

I was reading a report yesterday about how popular these Games have been - NBC hit the jackpot, Beijing is on pace to be the most watched Olympics ever.

But, of course, the glee was shadowed by anxiety over Phelps’ departure, and how that will surely cause viewer attrition.

It occurred to me that much of what might be driving some of the more ridiculous coverage elements that we’ve been carping about here is anxiety - quite similar to the fretting that goes on in the performing arts over the graying of audiences. While Phelps, with his pursuit of eight medals, supplied a clear narrative, and one that needed no added hype (NBC drew praise for its subdued take on medal No. 8), many of these other athletes are unknown to us, and their sports are bafflingly esoteric (must sound all-too-familiar to classical arts marketers …). The Olympic machine, worried that this lack of a relationship will translate to a lack of excitement, has gone overboard in hyping these athletes.