Watching the Olympics

February 12, 2006 - Are you watching the Olympics?

Chances are you are either drawn to the hype, or you simply don't care. For me though, I have to admit that I am definitely drawn to the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. Compare to previous Olympics though, these games seem to have a much lower profile (as compared to say Salt Lake City in 2002). Perhaps it's because the games are being played out in Europe, in a little town that no one has really heard of; or maybe because these games are really looked upon as the precursor to Vancouver 2010 - which we all know will be what the entire country will pay attention to in just 4 years.

Personally, I find the Winter Olympics much more interesting than the Summer Games. I guess the primary reason is that Canada does much much better in the Winter Olympics. I also think the winter sports are much cooler to watch - I can't think of anything sports that are in the Winter Games that I don't like watching, whereas for the Summer Games, the only ones that I really care to watch are swimming, diving, and beach volleyball. Plus, am I the only ones who think the winter athletes are much hotter than the summer ones?

Watching the Olympics also brings this warm fuzzy feeling too - maybe it's because I know I will never win an Olympic medal - but also the games bring the world together, and for 2 weeks, we focus our attention on these athletes - on friendship, on sportsmanship, and on cooperation - something that we definitely don't see regularly enough on tv.

So here are some my favourite memories from watching the Olympics over the years. My earliest goes back to 1994, since I don't quite remember watching the games before then...

1994 - Lillehammer, Norway: Who can forget the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding skating scandal that took centre stage at these Olympics. The one thing I remember was Tonya Harding failing miserably in the finals (her laces broke or something?) while Nancy Kerrigan went on to win a silver medal.

1996- Atlanta, USA: I was in summer school that year when the Olympics took place. My best memory of those games was our teacher actually stopping his lesson so we could watch Donovan Bailey run the 100m heat trials. Bailey went on to win the gold medal - which I watched from home.

1998 - Nagano, Japan: Elvis Stojko won the silver medal despite his injuries was remarkable to watch. Ross Rebagaliati won gold in snowboarding (which I watched live in the morning) but is probably remember by most as the athlete who "inhaled" but not "smoked" pot. Michelle Kwan, who I had a big crush on growing up, lost the gold medal to 15 year old Tara Lipinski in figure skating.

2000- Sydney, Australia: Best memory was watching Simon Whitfield winning the gold medal in triathlon on my way out that night. The course was memorable since it featured great views of the Sydney Harbour. I remember watching rowing, but that's pretty much it.

2002- Salt Lake City, USA: Aside from the gold medal hockey game (which I think everyone watched), my best memory is probably watching Jamie Sale and David Pelletier skate to their well deserved, though belated gold medal. The two probably owe their medal to the media, who advocated endlessly for the pair. These games also forever changed the way figure skating is judged.

2004- Athens, Greece: I don't have any memories of these games, aside from how much I would love to check out Athens. This of course, coincides with Athens being Canada's worst Olympic performance in recent memory.

So there you go, and for the next two weeks, I'll probably watch more sports that I have in the past 6 months. And maybe, just maybe, watching the Olympics will entice me enough to go out there and try a new sport - anyone up for ski jumping?