While I was knitting away on the husband sweater I was often watching the Olympics. This is the first time that I have watched them while in a foreign country and I wasn't really sure what to expect. In the US people often complain the the Olympic coverage is US-centric, overly commercial, too heavy on human interest stories and edits out many of the lesser known sports.
Here in India there was what seemed to be a lot more available to watch, although I never knew what was going to be on until I sat down and turned it on. There didn't seem to be any way to know the schedule. Because of this I missed many events that I usually like to watch, like diving, gymnastics and many of the track and field events. The commentary was also fun to digest as they generally had two people, speaking to each other, one speaking English and the other speaking Hindi.
So, while I do feel like I missed out on a lot- I did catch a few things and have my own Olympic medals to award! Without further ado we have...
The BRONZE award goes to Usain Bolt in the 100 meter.
Did you see this race? Did you see him at the end? He actually slowed down, to bask in his glory, before he crossed the finish line! What a way to win an Olympic gold medal and establish a new world record.
The SILVER award goes to the unknown boxing commentator.
He kept the action interesting with such quotes as:
"...he's getting more hits than a Pamela Anderson Website!"
"...exhibiting more control than an episode of Get Smart!"
"...he's got his rhythm and like Gloria Estefan says, the rhythm is going to get you!"
and my favorite, in reference to the Chinese heavyweight boxer, Zhang
"... hes got an arm stiffer than a box of Viagra!"
But the GOLD, the Gold has to go to the Chinese Olympic organizers themselves. Why? The song lyrics for the closing ceremonies...
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing
Beijing, Beijing I love Beijing...
6 comments:
I hope you got to see some of the less glamorous events that we NEVER get here in the U.S.! Go Ping Pong! Hurray Kayaking! Yeah Field Hockey! Rah Rah Rhythmic Gymnastics!
Was the reporting more neutral, since India didn't have much of a team presence there? Or did they have favorite country/ies that they focused on?
And hey - what's wrong with those song lyrics? They used THREE WHOLE WORDS!
No, you didn't miss any gymnastics or diving. There wasn't any :) They didn't cover any of these events.
About the schedule, they used to show a ticker at the bottom everyday about what to expect during the day, but they rarely followed that! DD's coverage of Olympics was disappointing.
Love the commentary! It is indeed illuminating to watch international events as presented in different countries. Quite fun actually.
Count yourself lucky you aren't drowning in around the clock election coverage for the last year. I can't even tune in the news any more. I've had quite enough, thank you.
Cindy,
The Indian news coverage used to be excellent and they used to report events from around the world, this was a decade back. In fact as kids in the 80s we were used to hearing about even the news from abroad. But now when I visit India it is disgusting to see breaking news and scandals being given priority, hate to say it but they all seem like Fox news ;-)
I live in SJ and we had an excellent summer, the weather was mostly good. And sometimes makes me miss India a lot in spite of all this. So it is natural to long for our roots. But please do not despair over being stared at. At least they are not hating you for being a brown foreigner which is how many people in America feel about immigrants.
Hahahaha, more hits than Pamela Anderson, hahahahaha! What a great experience, stepping outside the culture box!
I know what are you talking about! But try watching DD sport now and see what fun it can be. They were putting their best foot forward during the Olympics.
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