Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Olympics

1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics on TV in the USA

alicat — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:26:33 -0800

Were the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics broadcast on tape delay in the United States? How can I figure out the TV schedule? Anecdotes of events you remember watching would help. I found this schedule of the Sarajevo Olympic events, but I want to know what time the events were shown on TV in the US (specifically, in the Eastern time zone). The broadcasting network was ABC.

Were all events tape-delayed or only some? Which ones? Did anyone get up early to watch Bill Johnson win a gold medal in the Men's Downhill, for instance?

This is research for a kids' novel I'm writing, so if anyone has memories of watching the Sarajevo Olympics on TV (especially if you were 8-10 years old at the time) I would love to hear them.

Where do I get Vancouver Olympics tickets this late in the process?

mathowie — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:01:34 -0800

I just realized the Olympics are happening in a few months and they are within driving distance. I have memories of going to several events during the 1984 games as a small kid, and loving the experience. Is there any chance this late in the game that I could get tickets to some events like speed skating or ski jumping? Are scalpers the only option at this point? Are hotels already well-booked? Basically I'm wondering what my chances are of getting into an olympic event, as a lazy american that completely forgot about the games until now.

Bode Miller falling in Olympics Slalom

royalchinook — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:55:19 -0800

There was a Olympic slalom event that Bode Miller was competing in (can't remember if it was Torino or Salt Lake City) which was notable because he kept falling and missing gates; but instead of just quitting, he would hike back up a bit and try again - I remember that he missed more than one gate and hiked up - anyone know where a video of that is so I can watch it again?

History of HD at the Olympics?

StickyCarpet — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:34:03 -0800

How has HD television been used in past Olympics? The Beijing Olympics was the crowning achievement of HD -- full coverage available to all markets. What incremental uses preceded this, at specific Olympics, as HD gained traction?

When was the first use of any kind? What benchmarks where achieved along the way?

Are the Olympics a White Elephant?

qwip — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:59:13 -0800

Do the Olympics pay for themselves in the long run? For host cities, do the investments to building new infrastructure, facilities, marketing, etc. end up costing them more than if they did not host the games? Do cities use the Olympics to justify urban renewal projects that would never otherwise happen? Are there statistics on the long-term effects of whether or not host cities are better off 10 years or so down the line?

I wonder if the cost of hosting the games is never really recouped, and it seems that the facilities in previous host cities are not always well used (or maintained). What's the attraction if they aren't cost effective?

Were China's Olympic greening efforts short-term?

GIMG — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:17:13 -0800

Will China's efforts to go green for the Olympics be instituted for the longer-term or for a broader geographic range?

How does the Chinese media deal with climate change (esp. during the Olympics)?

GIMG — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:51:20 -0800

How does the Chinese media handle climate change, and what (if any) difference did the Beijing Olympics have in this? I only really followed the Chinese media in the time window surrounding the Beijing Olympics - I'm trying to get a sense for how climate change is discussed in the Chinese media (what is to be emphasized, what is to be ignored or downplayed), and how the Olympics impacted these discussions.

I've noticed a lot of contrasting opinions - a stream of climate change skeptic editorials, we must act now to stop climate change, features on industries who are trying to cut emissions - a contrast that I think goes against Western perception of a homogeneous Chinese media. What are the main pressures on discussion of climate change in the press?

I want to hear this broadcast again!

kepano — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:00:02 -0800

About ten days ago I was listening to NPR in my car (KPCC in Pasadena, to be specific) and heard a hysterical piece on Great Britain's success at the Olympics. Help me find it! A British columnist(?) was stating with great humor that most Olympics sports were in invented in England but somehow the Brits have become terrible at them. As a result they've striven to become the world's best losers. The recent downpour of gold medals came as a shock and the columnist wanted to apologize to the other nations for their success.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? NPR has a great archive but I just can't find this broadcast! Help!

Is there an aquatic sport called zapping?

ninebelow — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:43:34 -0800

Is there an aquatic sport called zapping? My girlfriend was watching the Olympics in a bar in Ljubljana last week. She swears that one of the events was called zapping and consisted of a sort of aquatic leapfrog with one person swimming over three others in the pool before somersaulting off the back of the final one. Now, obviously this isn't an Olympic sport but she is adamant she wasn't drunk. So what did she see? Was this part of the Olympic synchronised swimming? Or some crazy Slovenian sport?

Capture the magic of the olympics--two weeks after it's over.

mecran01 — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:08:42 -0800

What's the best way to catch all of the olympics that I missed? It seems like NBC's coverage was narrow at best and I'd like to see some of the great stuff they didn't focus on. Is there the equivalent of a boxed set of olympic footage that will show up on netflix at some point, or am I just stuck cobbling together olympic torrents?

Who sang the US national anthem at the men's basketball final at the Olympics?

cda — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:40:37 -0800

Who sang the US national anthem at the men's basketball final at the Beijing Olympics?

Do Muslims watch women's sports?

RedEmma — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:30:41 -0800

Do they show women's Olympics competitions in conservative Muslim countries? I mean, I've been watching the track & field and the gymnastics and all, and I know that many conservative, Muslim-dominant countries don't even let women participate in the sport. But I've been wondering how Arab eyes in particular must see all those nearly nekkid women (with the one Arab exception I saw on the track) running around in their "underwear." Do they even air those competitions in those countries? Is their controversy about it? Or is the fact that those women are "infidels" anyway negate the offensiveness of their booties hanging out?

Olympic number crunching.

markkraft — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:02:59 -0800

How do you rate which country is "leading" in the Olympics? I ask this, because the latest figures are as follows:

Gold Silver Bronze Total
1. China 46 15 22 83
2. United States 29 35 34 98
3. Great Britain 17 12 11 40

results.beijing2008.cn

I assumed that the overall rating was based on 3 pts for a Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze, which would mean that China is at 190 points and that the U.S. is at 191 points.

So, what gives?! Is there something offficial out there from the Olympic Comittee -- or a historical example -- of how the rankings are reached? If so, who's in the lead currently by how much?!

Can someone just tell me what time the men's Olympic basketball game is on?

caroljean63 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:56:05 -0800

Can someone just tell me what time the men's Olympic basketball game is on? I'd like to watch the game between the USA and Lithuania live. I've searched several websites including NBC which says it's 08/22 at 22:15PM. Huh? Is that Beijing time or U.S. time? What's with the PM? USA Network has it sometime between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Why does this have to be so complicated???

Can someone just tell me what time I can watch LeBron and Co. play tonight (or this morning, or whatever!)

"Spanish Lice"?

Third — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:46:47 -0800

What exactly is wrong with this Spanish advertisement in which the Spanish basketball teams are slanting their eyes so as to appear stereotypically Asian? My friend, who is Spanish and just spent five weeks in Spain, and I were discussing this picture earlier this evening. We had just seen Tropic Thunder, where Robert Downey Jr.'s blackface performance and the derogatory nature with which mentally disabled people are depicted has drawn some criticism.

I asked my friend, N, what he thought about the teams' photograph. I was joking of course, but he seemed to take it seriously. He told me that there was hardly a reaction in Spain and that it's the rest of the world that is up in arms about the situation. He failed to see what exactly was wrong with the picture.

My other (American) friends in the car thought, like me, that the picture was racist. N said it would be the same thing if Spanish teams put on flat caps and held cups of tea at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Everyone else argued that it would only be on the same level as "slant eyes" if they put in nasty fake teeth. Then more examples came up:

What if the Spanish football team put on dark makeup at the World Cup in 2012?
What if a future set of Olympic Games were held in Munich, and they put on small dark mustaches?
What if the women's basketball team put on full burkas if the Games were held in Baku?

N realized that we thought the picture of the basketball teams was offensive, and asked why it was OK for Downey Jr. to get away with Tropic Thunder, and we responded that Downey Jr. is not representing his country in a worldwide sporting event.

The argument ended in a stalemate, with N calling bullshit on me when I told him that, regardless of the intended meaning of the picture (which he claims is innocuous), it's the perceived sentiment that matters.

When I got inside and sat down, I couldn't really think of a good reason as to why that picture is inappropriate. It's insensitive, sure, but what are the actual complaints being lodged against Spanish athletics? Does it have something to do with Aragonés and Spain's recent bouts of perceived racism in sport? Where is the line drawn between humorous cultural ribbing and outright racism? Would it be OK if, at the fictional Munich games mentioned above, they had mugs of beer and were eating sausages?

Sorry for such a long-winded explanation to a hard-to-answer question, but I happened to start seeing N's side of the story and I wanted to hear what the hive mind thinks.

Do you think it's likely that the unfair judging in Olympic gymnastics could be mafia related?

mintchip — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:29:06 -0800

How likely is it that the unfair judging in Olympic gymnastics is mafia related? It seems pretty clear to me (and many others) that certain athletes were favored in Beijing, even when they made clear mistakes.

For example, the bronze medalist on women's vault only landed one out of two of her vaults--and she still medaled! This bias seemed to apply across all events. However, if I understand correctly the same teams of judges don't judge the same events, i.e. the vault judge and beam events will have different judging teams. Furthermore, a judging panel cannot included judges from the same country as an athlete...so it would seem that the judges wouldn't have a lot of political incentive to favor one athlete over another.

This had me imaging some Tony Soprano-like scenarios. What do you think the chances might be that some threats were communicated, i.e. "She scores well...or you're toast"? What are some other scenarios to explain the blatant bias?

Test their medal.

furtive — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:07:14 -0800

Who's the first person to bite their medal (photos or it never happened) during the Olympics? The earliest one I know of is 1988 but the practice must go back way earlier than that?

Un-tattooed Olympians?

chookibing — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:53:40 -0800

Are competitors in the Beijing Olympics required to cover up or mute their tattoos? Or is my mind playing tricks on me. Every person that I've seen with a tattoo looks like its been at least partially covered with makeup. Mostly I've seen this in the track and weightlifting events.

Massive conspiracy or Olympic peace?

pithy comment — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:10:50 -0800

What news am I missing at the Olympics - what has been covered up or ignored by the Chinese regulators providing the video feed to NBC etc? I have to imagine there have been some outbursts or protests and the Chinese are not letting the media cover it (at least on live TV). Is there a good site noting these occurrences, or have the games just gone off nearly flawlessly? (excepting the drum tower murder last week.)

Bulking up to shoot?

xetere — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:12:12 -0800

Why would someone who is competing in shooting in the Olympics need to dope up? While reading this CNN article about the Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler who threw his medal down and was disqualified, towards the end, it says;

"On Friday, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su had his silver and bronze medals taken away after failing a doping test."

Not trying to diss the accuracy or skill involved in competitive shooting, but what kind of substances could he possibly have been using to gain an "edge? and why" Are the guns heavy so you need to bulk up? Is there a time limit so you have to be super-quick? I can see that in Skeet shooting but is it enough to tempt one to use performance-enhancing drugs? And what drugs would they be? Speed to make you more awake?

familial

plexi — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:47:55 -0800

Why does Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin's father Valeri Liukin keep kissing her?

When is Michael Phelps competing?

null terminated — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:41:02 -0800

I would like a list of the times Michael Phelps' gold medal races will be shown on NBC (EST). I can't seem to find this information online, or even the events in which he's competing. I can't use NBC's Olympic site to watch video because I can't install Silverlight.

My Butlerian Analysis Fails Me

Weebot — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:09:10 -0800

Why the different events in women and men gymnastics? This has been somewhat bothering me, but I was wondering what the reasoning was for splitting the events between the men and women in gymnastics. Why don't men do the balance beam, or the women do the high bar, among other things? Is there a practical reasoning behind the splitting of these events? A historical one? I know this was lightly touched on previously, but I was hoping I could get a more detailed answer to this.

Can't stop the talkin'?

oxford blue — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:30:08 -0800

Mesdames et Messieurs, Ladies and Gentleman, and so forth. Or, how to avoid the commentators. Is there anyway I can hear/watch the olympics without the commentators a commentin'? Specifically, the medal ceremonies and maybe the Opening Ceremony?

I really like listening to the french, english and then mandarin (?) announcements and so forth (you know, the things that are announced within the actual venue over the speakers), however 9 times out of 10 a commentator is talking blithely over the top of them. I also like hearing the roar of the crowd, the various national chants and so on. Obviously when Johhny Pasthisprime and Sally Tragicaccident are talking I can't hear any of this delightful ambient noise.

Why is it so difficult to find historical footage of past events which were, at the time, broadcast for free?

chos — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:20:09 -0800

Why is it so difficult to find historical footage of past events which were, at the time, broadcast for free (for example, archival video of the Olympic Games and the Oscars)? Wouldn't the economic value of making these events available somehow (for a fee) outweigh their value sitting on a shelf somewhere, unwatchable except in tiny snippets or on very rare special occasions? The current Beijing games has made me interested in going back to see events from past Olympics, especially those featuring athletes who are competing again this time. Considering the popularity of these types of events, I am surprised that it isn't possible to find archival video (either legally for purchase, or otherwise). I have observed this same behavior at work with other high-popularity events, like the Super Bowl or the Oscars.

Obviously the broadcast/distribution rights-holders of these events are fiercely protecting their property, as one would expect. It would seem, however, that the value of these events goes down immediately after they are completed (after everyone knows the winner of the game, most people would have no interest in watching). I am interested in understanding the economic rationale behind limiting their availability - is this a Long Tail kind of thing where it wouldn't actually be worth it to produce DVDs or otherwise manage these assets? Or is the strict limitation supposed to add to the "special/exclusive" nature of these events, thus attracting more viewers the next time they occur?