A little Olympic swimming rant

[alison]

If I was on the US Olympic swimming team and my name was NOT Phelps I would be getting pretty feed up with the coverage of Olympic swimming.

Three things stick in my mind.

First, a minor infraction, was the coverage of the 4x100 free relay. The announcers were so focused on Phelps’ quest for gold medals that they barely mentioned Lezak’s fastest relay split in history. Luckily articles posted the next day pointed out the true feat of what happened.

Second, was NBC’s coverage of the 200 freestyle final. Turns out there were TWO American swimmers in the final. Did you know that? I don’t think NBC’s camera crew did, because they spent half of the race zoomed in on Phelps. In fact, I don’t think the camera crew knew there was a race going on at all, because in order to watch a race, you have to see more than one guy. Then the lady that does on deck interviews just made it even worse by YELLING at Vanderkaay (who got bronze, by the way) across the swim deck to come back so she could talk to him on camera, then proceeded to ignore him and talk only to Phelps. I couldn’t believe my eyes how rude the entire thing was.

Thirdly, was this article on time.com that talked about last night's 4x200 relay. The other two are annoying, but this article was just plain degrading for the other three swimmers on the winning relay team. Here is the quote:

“He dove in to start the 4x200 freestyle relay, and gave his teammates a lead some weekend lap swimmer could hold. Phelps swam the fastest relay split in 4x200 history, 1:43.31. All the remaining U.S. swimmers, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, and Peter Vanderkaay, had to do was avoid a cramp.”

WTF?!? These guys have worked their butts off for years in order to get here and this article makes it sound like they did NOTHING. Oh, it makes me so mad!

I just had to share my irritation with some fellow athletes.

Alison

[bberk1]

It´s just the media. Take it for what it is and don´t get to crazy over them.

[Eric]

It was still a team effort on the 4x200 relay to go under 7 minutes.

I agree about the VAnderkaay "interview". I didn't think she was even going to ask him a question.

Media coverage usually sucks like this.

[Charlie]

Phelps is the biggest story of the games. NBC wants viewers.

Any athlete that wants to win, wants Phelps on their team.

[MattCollister]

Most Americans care about swimming exactly 16 days every four years. I think I'd be enjoying whatever little share of the limelight I'd be getting either way.

[Aussie Rob]

He is the most successful olympic athlete ever. He has 11 total now, and will smash that record by the end.

[gvale]

We are looking at Olympic history.

When I was a kid, the only thing I remember from the Olympics was the USA hockey in 1980. Eric Heiden winning 5 gold in speed skating and Carl Lewis and all his medals.

Every day, my kids are tuned in watch Phelps race.

Thanks to the media , my children will have hero to look up to.

[alison]

Yeah, Phelps will most likely become the greatest Olympic swimmer ever, but does that make it okay for a article, posted online by a reputable source, to pretty much say "he was so fast the other guys didn't have to do ANYTHING to win gold and break a record" The NBC coverage is slightly annoying for people that want to see other US swimmers, but fine. That last article is really what gets under my skin. Completely out of line.

Alison

[MattCollister]

Aug 14, 2008 4:29:01 GMT -5 alison said:

Yeah, Phelps will most likely become the greatest Olympic swimmer ever, but does that make it okay for a article, posted online by a reputable source, to pretty much say "he was so fast the other guys didn't have to do ANYTHING to win gold and break a record" The NBC coverage is slightly annoying for people that want to see other US swimmers, but fine. That last article is really what gets under my skin. Completely out of line.

Alison

We are witnessing the birth of a mythological hero. Not coverage of the facts.

[Aussie Rob]

I think maybe NBC has caught on to this vibe, because last night they spent a whole segment talking about Lesak, and how as good as Phelps is.....the other Americans are great swimmers too and Phelps owes his bit of history in part to them. Had an interview with Lesak and everything.

[alison]

Thanks for the update, Rob. I didn't watch any Olympic coverage last night, but we have it all recorded so I will check it out later.

Alison

[benmiralia]

I don't know about that George, I think your kids already have someone to look up to.

[sarazim]

I've been laughing at the "buzzwords" and/or "mandatory phrases" that are mentioned for each athlete, like it's some kind of requirement...watch, you'll see...they can't say "Dara Torres" without saying "41 years old" and they can't say "Ryan Lochte" without saying "free-spirited, skateboarding" and they can't say "Aaron Peirsol" without saying "laid-back, California."

Seriously. It's pretty funny.

My favorite was listening to Matt Lauer and Bob Costas act like they were scholars on Chinese history during the opening ceremonies.

[MattCollister]

And I've seen at least a half dozen clips of grossed out journalists eating fried scorpion

[Charlie]

After that 100 fly, you can't say enough about Phelps. Amazing.

[Brian Luther]

The World has a great group of swimmers in the olympics, and they have trained hard to earn their time in the spotlight...

One word! Speedo

It was quite interesting that the Wall Street Journal had an article about the LZR swim suite that takes 20 minutes to get into. Last Thursdays paper it was in.... It was also tested in NASA with an added coating to create less resistance........

I do hope to buy one of these suites to start swimming faster..... Anyone know if Speedo makes a full body wetsuit that can help me in my open water swims? ;D

Brian

[suziharman]

If I see one more bug on a stick I am going to freak out. Especially if Al Roker is involved.

What I found annoying was that even when they interviewed a swimmer other than MP, they got two questions in and just had to bring up MP and ask the swimmer what they thought of him and his accomplishments. It annoyed me, but maybe it does not annoy the other swimmers - maybe they are just as proud of him as everyone else.