Olympics or Judo Championship? (2004-08-22)
The world's biggest, most overrated, extravagant and costly party-- with a bit of sports thrown in-- opened in Athens last week. The Olympic Committee may seem like a powerful authority, but every sport played in the Games still has its own governing body to answer to. For example, although the soccer teams are playing in the Olympics, they are overseen by FIFA; much like tennis players under the watch of WTA. The Olympics is like a broker really, putting a bunch of sporting events together in one place, enabling sports such as beach volleyball, rowing or archery which by itself could hardly draw the kind of global broadcasting and sponsorship if held as an individual tournament but now enjoys worldwide attention thanks being included in the Olympic Games.
I seldom watch the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympics for more than a few moments, but I do enjoy watching different kinds of sporting events in the Games. It's pretty convenient and neat to be able to watch a variety of sports all played out at the same time. However "a variety" is not what is being broadcast here. Every time I switch on the television, Judo is on. There are live matches, re-play rounds, profiles of Japan's Judo athletes and a look-back on all the Judo matches that have been won, from the first round to the finals. We might as well call this Olympics The World Judo Championship in this country. I know Japan is good at this sport--they have eight gold medals to show for it-- but they seem to be focusing on this event alone and overlook the rest. There is coverage on other events to a much lesser degree, suspiciously because high-profile Japanese athletes are featured in them. I don't suppose they will show as much cycling, diving, tennis and badminton, events I'm interested in seeing, as they did Judo. And after Japan men's soccer team was eliminated in the preliminary round, men's soccer matches are no longer broadcast. So unfair!
Now that all Judo matches are finally played out, hopefully there
will be a bit more variety of events on TV. Oh, but there is the
Women's Marathon... which Japan took home Gold and Bronze in Sydney.
I'm going shopping today.
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