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Tokyo Olympics

SSSdave

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Many of us have wondered what is going on with the Olympics adding numbers of sports the last couple decades that don't fit with traditional core sports. I would prefer they leave out most of the subjectively judged sports and major professional team sports. And as some have mentioned, some sports have way too many competition categories. So many sports now and competitions it is so diluted no one is able to watch but a tiny fraction of what is occurring. Today I couldn't believe reading how some are pushing to have video games in like e-games in the Olympics. In any case, nothing that affects my life at all just a peon spectator on this planet. Of course this is about increasing the audience for TV money. If the whole bloated Olympic governing structure and IOC collapsed and had to be rebuilt, I'd clap.


While the Summer Olympics are considered the most-watched sporting spectacle in the world, the numbers of young viewers have been declining for decades. The median age of the US TV audience for the 2016 Rio Games was 53...

Aware of this, the IOC has tried to attract younger audiences by incorporating newer action sports in both the summer (windsurfing, mountain biking, BMX racing) and winter (ski cross, big air) Olympic programs...
In 2015, the IOC worked with the Tokyo Organising Committee to shortlist five new sports – karate, baseball/softball, surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing – for possible inclusion in the 2020 games. When all five were confirmed for Tokyo, Bach proclaimed:

We want to take sport to the youth […] With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us — we have to go to them.
 

neonorchid

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Oops - sorry for the long double post - don't know how that happened except I was having quote issues (operator error).
440px-Discobolus_in_National_Roman_Museum_Palazzo_Massimo_alle_Terme.JPG

I assume you do know that the athletes of the ancient Olympic Games, the first traditionally dated to 776 BC, competed in the nude ;)
 

Tricia

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I'm trying to look for specific events to watch but the NBC/Peacock coverage is super confusing.
I used to be able to DVR stuff that was on when it was inconvenient, but now they have replays but those are only available at certain times, or on channels not offered to me. I'm so confused.
 

wiread

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I feel bad for the athletes, people want to make this about EVERYTHING ELSE, but the actual competition. I don't think there's ever been a time where I cared less about an olympics than now. I used to make sure I was watching them. See the triumphs, the years of dedication pay off, or not and drive them to the next one. For all the athletes, not just ours. Now it's a platform for social commentary and drama. Like everything else in society and I can do without.
 

Jilly

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@Tricia - CBC is the main channel for the Olympics for the next few years here in Canada. But I can also get it on TSN, Sportsnet and CBC French. There is just too much to cover.

I heard that a Russian swimmer is unhappy with finals happening in the morning in Japan to coincide with prime time viewing in North America. Well suck it up buttercup....welcome to the real world! Money endorsements talk!
 

dan ross

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I honestly don't know why any city would want to host the Olympics, Covid or not. The expense is astronomical and so many venues are left to fade into the sunset after everyone goes home. Reno/Tahoe keeps talking about it and I just roll my eyes and hope it never happens. The area is struggling as it is with stressed infrastructure, not enough housing, and all the other typical issues many places are facing.
I’ve come to think of the IOC as a racket- the corruption is well known and everything you cite above is true. Occasionally it spurs development that has long term benefits but most places pay a high price for three weeks in the spotlight.
 

Seldomski

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Many of us have wondered what is going on with the Olympics adding numbers of sports the last couple decades that don't fit with traditional core sports. I would prefer they leave out most of the subjectively judged sports and major professional team sports. And as some have mentioned, some sports have way too many competition categories. So many sports now and competitions it is so diluted no one is able to watch but a tiny fraction of what is occurring. Today I couldn't believe reading how some are pushing to have video games in like e-games in the Olympics. In any case, nothing that affects my life at all just a peon spectator on this planet. Of course this is about increasing the audience for TV money. If the whole bloated Olympic governing structure and IOC collapsed and had to be rebuilt, I'd clap.


While the Summer Olympics are considered the most-watched sporting spectacle in the world, the numbers of young viewers have been declining for decades. The median age of the US TV audience for the 2016 Rio Games was 53...

Aware of this, the IOC has tried to attract younger audiences by incorporating newer action sports in both the summer (windsurfing, mountain biking, BMX racing) and winter (ski cross, big air) Olympic programs...
In 2015, the IOC worked with the Tokyo Organising Committee to shortlist five new sports – karate, baseball/softball, surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing – for possible inclusion in the 2020 games. When all five were confirmed for Tokyo, Bach proclaimed:

We want to take sport to the youth […] With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us — we have to go to them.

How do you even watch the Olympics? Only time I was able to watch a good chunk of a games recently was when I was between fall and winter semesters in grad school. I was home for break for a few weeks.

I'm not surprised that the demographic would skew towards retirement age. Who else has the time and patience to watch this stuff?

What they pick to show in prime time doesn't always line up with sports I care about. Or they stretch out the programming to show the 'good stuff' close to midnight to try to stretch out the time people are glued to the TV. I got work people! Add on that google news is going to spoil all the results anyway, so yeah, I don't go out of my way to try to watch the Olympics. I'll watch highlights and youtube.

Edit to add - and also as @Tricia mentions - I don't have the desire to even figure out when stuff is on or in what format. It's too confusing.
 

Tricia

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@Tricia - CBC is the main channel for the Olympics for the next few years here in Canada. But I can also get it on TSN, Sportsnet and CBC French. There is just too much to cover.

I heard that a Russian swimmer is unhappy with finals happening in the morning in Japan to coincide with prime time viewing in North America. Well suck it up buttercup....welcome to the real world! Money endorsements talk!
For instance, I wanted to watch the mountain biking and gymnastics but can't find the live coverage. When I found the replays on Peacock, they want me to pay premium to watch the replay.

I'm out!
Done paying a little extra here and a little extra there to watch these kinds of things. Grrrrr

What I have found out is that I woke up today, drank my coffee, and am planning on another hike. I will be able to live my life splendidly without having watched these replays and without giving Peacock my extra $$
 

cantunamunch

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I am going to go on record as being for the exact opposite of fewer sports and fewer events. I think every sport with an international competitive structure should be included in the Olympic movement.

Fewer events? NO!
Fewer sports? NO!

The Olympics are fundamentally NOT about viewership. They are about the athletes having a top-notch venue to compete in the events they are best at. Sure, an audience is nice.

None of the problems we are having in seeing what we want are actually Olympics problems. They are problems with the money extraction model the Olympics gatekeepers have set up.

Put all the sports on whatever streaming service will carry them. If someone thinks their packaging and graphics and commentary are worth a premium over free, then let them do that.

#opensourceOlympics
#treatOlympicslikeShakespeare
 
Last edited:

Seldomski

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I am going to go on record as being for the exact opposite of fewer sports and fewer events. I think every sport with an international competitive structure should be included in the Olympic movement.

Fewer events? NO!
Fewer sports? NO!

The Olympics are fundamentally NOT about viewership. They are about the athletes having a top-notch venue to compete in the events they are best at. Sure, an audience is nice.

None of the problems we are having in seeing what we want are actually Olympics problems. They are problems with the money extraction model the Olympics gatekeepers have set up.

Put all the sports on whatever streaming service will carry them. If someone thinks their packaging and graphics and commentary are worth a premium over free, then let them do that.

#opensourceOlympics
#treatOlympicslikeShakespeare

I agree. Me personally watching the games on a TV is not important. If I really cared to see some event, I would put the effort in to figure out how to view it and would be better about avoiding spoilers. It's just not a priority for me. I was just commenting on the observations on demographics for TV viewership.
 

cantunamunch

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I was just commenting on the observations on demographics for TV viewership.

Sure, I get it. I wasn't singling anyone out here.

My primary wish is for minimally augmented, edited or supplemented programming to be openly available.

I still think current practices of lumping broadcast rights are killing non-commercial sports.

So I say, YouTube all of it. Or put it on whatever other platform has a micro-licensing functionality.
 

Jilly

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I spent some time earlier this afternoon to see who was broadcasting what as we have 3 networks showing the games. I have to go to each website to pull up the schedule. I seem to remember during the winter Olympics there was a chart each day with event, time and who was showing it.
 

John Webb

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. My first winter games were 1964 in Innsbruck. First Summer were 1972 in Munich {the Olympics with the "Massacre"}.
I visited the 2002 Salt Lake winter games.
My Brother visited all the summer games from the 1972 games in Munich and on. (missed only the last 2) Most of the time he was coaching world class
Track & Field athletes. Some got Olympic medals, some did not.
 

cantunamunch

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In a lot of ways Japan is kind of awesome for the Olympics.

France: Allez OMI-OPI
Japan: Spontaneous (masked!) drummers and kaiju movie extras.
 

Andy Mink

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Aussie kayaker fixed her kayak with an official Olympic condom. Can't bring the instagram post over. But she MacGuyvered it!! Then won a medal.
Where the rubber meets the road, er, water!
 
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James

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I spent some time earlier this afternoon to see who was broadcasting what as we have 3 networks showing the games. I have to go to each website to pull up the schedule. I seem to remember during the winter Olympics there was a chart each day with event, time and who was showing it.
You can get the NBC Sports app. Watch from there or see what’s on.
For schedule, there’s the IOC Tokyo 2020 Olympic app. It will tell you results though. Times seem to be for your local zone.

Here there’s stuff on NBC after 8pm, USA, NBCSN, Olympic Channel (Tennis and review of day), Golf channel- golf.

Tokyo is +13hrs from Eastern US.

https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/download-olympics-mobile-app

 

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