Watching: London 2012 Olympics

Ahhh, the Olympics. Just one of many reasons why even numbered years are the best. I have been on an Olympics high for the past 17 days. I haven't changed the channel on my tv since the opening ceremony. (Well, I only have like 10 channels, but that is not the point here). Moral: I love the Olympics very much and am glad we carry on this tradition.

As each Olympics goes on, I get more and more involved with the action. This year, I begged my mom to let me borrow her login information so I could watch it online. Each day I watched the obscure sports like canoe slalom or racewalking or highly publicized matches like women's gymnastics and swimming in the background while I worked. Once I got home, the tv would be on the primetime broadcast 8pm-12am each night. Oh boy, I cannot tell you how many times I overslept or was a groggy zombie in the morning. (Actually I can. It was everyday.)


Anyway, I find the Olympics to be a special part of my life because even though I can't remember all the details from each event, I can remember where I was when I was watching. My earliest Olympic memory was watching women's gymnastics in the 1996 Atlanta games as I played with my Barbies in front of the tv. In my excitement, I stepped on the door of Barbie's car, forever damaging it. I remember Tara Lipinski winning gold in 1998 Nagano while I was on February break at my grandparents' house. We rescued a cat on the day of some swimming event in the 2000 Sydney games. Said cat eventually got caught behind the entertainment center and we had to disconnect the tv in the middle of the games to retrieve her. 2002 Salt Lake City was another winter break at my grandparents' house. During 2004 Athens I was lounging around my house watching at night with my mother. 2006 Turin was yet another Februrary break watching at my grandparents' house, but it also marks the last Olympics where I solely watched it on the television. I split my viewing of the 2008 Beijing games between livestreaming at work and enjoying primetime with my grandmother. 2010 Vancouver was my first Olympics-viewing away from family as I shared the moment with my roommates. 2012 London marks a solo Olympics experience across many mediums like email, text, and phone calls.

Favorite memories

Gymnastics- I loved watching the women rock it in all their events (despite the constant commentary about Jordyn Wieber's redemption, Russian "divas", and other idle prattle). McKayla Maroney's vault was absolutely mesmerizing and the number of gifs I saw online are proof of that. Same goes with Aly Raisman's gold medal floor routine. Though my favorite has to be Russia's gymnast Aliya Mustafina, who is the most decorated gymnast of the London 2012 games. Other achievements include: most decorated Russian athlete of the games; most heartwarming language barrier thumbs up.

Pole-vaulting
Yelena Isinbaeva, 2 time Olympic gold medalist was going up for a historic 3rd medal. Her story is neatly summed up in a Morgan Freeman-narrated Visa commercial. Unfortunately she didn't repeat this year, instead taking home the silver.

Awww, an Olympic themed blanket

Beach Volleyball
All I can say is I am so glad Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won. How could you root against them, seriously? They are the epitome of teamwork and partnership both on and off the beach volleyball court. Anyway, while livestreaming the final match the BBC commentator said (and I am not making this up) " Kerri Walsh…the woman is half flesh and bone, and then the skeleton is wrought-iron forged in the fires of Morrrrrrdooooorr!"

Kerri and Misty win 3 golds in a row!

Football/Soccer
The Canada/USA semifinal was a nervewracking game to watch while trying to work, even more so than the gold medal match between USA and Japan. What was most upsetting was the lack of attention it seemed to receive in the primetime broadcast. Or even from the cameramen themselves as evident from this screenshot from the USA - New Zealand match.

Thrilling coverage at the women's football match.

Judo 
I don't know much about judo, but that didn't stop me from watching it here and there during the Olympics. One of the things NBC did get right was a nightly 30-minute block of time called The Olympic Zone right before the primetime coverage started. It covered short background stories on athletes that weren't in the spotlight. Well, one night while I was watching, they talked about Kayla Harrison, who overcame sexual abuse from her former coach, and her journey to London 2012.  Long story short, she won  a gold medal in 78kg judo, thus becoming the first U.S. gold in the event. Besides that, I tuned into a men's judo final and was pleasantly surprised to find Putin in the crowd.

A wild Putin appears at the Judo finals.

Swimming & Diving

Go Michael Phelps go! Swim Missy Franklin swim! The US dominated swimming again. Much of the pre-Olympic hype was Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte. Many were switching over to the Lochte camp because he increased his training while Phelps (deservedly) took a break from swimming after winning 7 golds in Beijing. Honestly, I was glad Lochte didn't live up to expectations because he just comes off as a jackass to me and I did not like people putting Phelps down. He has won more Olympic medals than ANYONE. I do hope that he swims in Rio 2016 just so he can win more medals, but I respect him for retiring. The theme of the swimming events is a changing of the guard as young up-and-comers like Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky take gold against more experienced competitors. As for diving, I dislike how it has become a sport where you aim for silver because you know China is taking the gold. It was incredible to watch the crowd react to Tom Daley and his celebration of a bronze medal is adorable. And way to go Pandelela Rinong for winning Malaysia's first Olympic medal that is not in badminton!

Track

Speed round. Running - ugh. Allyson Felix - congrats. Sanya Richards-Ross - ditto. Mo Farah - your shocked face is adorable. Team GB - way to rock that one day. Oscar Pistorius - awe-inspiring (and awwww-inspiring). Usain Bolt - meh. Yohan Blake's beast move - please stop. Lolo Jones - I'm sorry you cried on the Today show. And time. New world record!!!!!

Of the 36 types of sports offered at the Olympics, I watched at least a little bit of 30 of them. (Sorry canoe sprint, road cycling, hockey, modern pentathlon, shooting, and triathlon). 

There were lots of articles about how NBC handled the games. Here are just a few.
[ NPR ] [ AVClub ]