Olympic Coverage - UK vs. USA

Wow, what a difference in Olympic coverage, BBC compared to any US Network.

1. First of all, there are no sappy docu-dramas about all the athletes. I just assumed that part of watching any event was a 20 minute infomercial about the horrible life of some driven youth who would kill themselves if it wasn’t for their shot at some Olympic Gold. Apparently not so.
2. Second, I didn’t know there was Olympic men’s synchronized diving or mixed doubles badminton. I guess you have to go where your country’s athletes are – and Great Britain must not have that many medal contenders, because they show a LOT of odd sports. However, this does mean that I have been able to see some sailing… for the first time ever. Its pretty exciting to watch and obviously some of the best sailing ever. The US would never even mention sailing and shows only the main events like gymnastics, running and swimming.
3. Finally, there is very little desire on the UK side to show the finals of any event. In the US you tend to see a hour or more of abbreviated trails leading to the live finals. Here, in the UK you see an event until the Brits drop out and then they shift coverage to something like, Women’s 60 kilogram clean and jerk competition… with no Brits even in it – strange.