[St Charles Owl]

Re SCO
Ok I've been back here 19 years but of the Olympics I saw while over there, and OK a few degrees further North, most of the TV channels were US biased. The biggest complaint I had was that they only used to show events with a Yank (individuals or teams) in them. As soon as they were out the sport/event/finals disappeared from view. Other than the medals table changing, you would have no idea anything had happened. I guess with interweb streaming these days, and the diverse population able to watch folk from back home on all manner of devices, they've had to become more inclusive to keep the viewing figures up to pull in the advertising revenue.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. The US won over 100 medals including nearly 40 golds, they have a duty to cover those athletes and the other Americans that have medal chances and that is what they essentially show in their prime time TV show on the main NBC channel. But they have 5 or 6 other channels showing other sports and events all day long that will include Americans and others. Their coverage this year was as extensive as I have seen since I moved here 20 years ago and I think that is the advent of streaming and use of multiple channels that has caused that. On the Peacock streaming channel you can watch highlights or reruns of every single event. There coverage should be biased towards US athletes, that audience is who pays the bills but they also showed plenty of other events where Americans were not in the medals.

[Lord Snooty]

I think the coverage here from the BBC has got more Britcentric in the last few years. I used to get sick of hearing the Star Spangled Banner at previous Olympics. Nowadays, the only anthem Auntie Beeb let us hear is that one about the Queen getting saved.

Now this is probably down to GB getting better at winning stuff in the last three Olympics or it could be orders from above. You know, our wonderful Conservative/little britain/brexiteer government.

Just saying.

[ritchiebaby]

The Beeb had 3 Olympic shows on every day ad infinitum with Hazel, Gaby and Jason. They had the problem of not being in total control of the events they could show and did a pretty good job overall, albeit extremely repetitive.

We still have oven-ready, world-beating successes to show off. Asher-Smith, Muir, Peaty, Scott and the Kennys will probably still be around in Paris 2024 and there are a host of youngsters at the start of their careers winning medals just now.

Let's just celebrate our successes and leave the negativity to others.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

There was also JJ Chalmers, Clare Balding and Alex Scott, Dan Walker and Sam Quek presenting shows.

[St Charles Owl]

I think the coverage here from the BBC has got more Britcentric in the last few years. I used to get sick of hearing the Star Spangled Banner at previous Olympics. Nowadays, the only anthem Auntie Beeb let us hear is that one about the Queen getting saved.

Now this is probably down to GB getting better at winning stuff in the last three Olympics or it could be orders from above. You know, our wonderful Conservative/little britain/brexiteer government.

Just saying.

Amazingly I only saw about half a dozen medal ceremonies on tv over here, I wonder if over here they were scared of protests during the anthem so didn't show many, something that is a very hot potato over here!!

[Devongone]

Re: Devogone
Team GB leave Japan with 12 cycling medals, matching their performances in the London and Rio Olympics and just two short of the record haul from Beijing in 2008.
Great Britain topped the medals table in two-wheel events.
While British Cycling’s performance on the track was in doubt heading into the Games, as other nations had dramatically closed the gap in major competitions, the Team GB track stars delivered multiple golds.

But the Great Britain Cycling Team also flourished in other cycling disciplines, winning gold in BMX freestyle and racing, as well as mountain bike gold with Tom Pidcock.

In an interview with The Telegraph, British Cycling performance director Stephen Park said: ‘We’ve had a tough few years at British Cycling, different people taking different views. I have always been very conscious of the legacy of the British cycling team.

“The question was whether we could maintain top team status. For those listening three years ago I was saying the dominance of the track would not be the same because of the movement in equipment. That’s proven to be the case.”

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/briti...0-olympics

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Re SCO
Ok I've been back here 19 years but of the Olympics I saw while over there, and OK a few degrees further North, most of the TV channels were US biased. The biggest complaint I had was that they only used to show events with a Yank (individuals or teams) in them. As soon as they were out the sport/event/finals disappeared from view. Other than the medals table changing, you would have no idea anything had happened. I guess with interweb streaming these days, and the diverse population able to watch folk from back home on all manner of devices, they've had to become more inclusive to keep the viewing figures up to pull in the advertising revenue.

What you say is both true and disguises the truth Theo'. Our cycling performance was bulked up by seasoned performers doing well in minor events. Jason and Laura are great, but would anyone see their careers as being on an upward trajectory? We did not win or come particularly close to winning any of the glamour events. There was no evidence of a new Hoy, Wiggins or Boardman coming through and whilst the notion that it was simply other countries catching up seems to make sense it really only tells us that we are failing to maintain the gap by which we led the world. Now whether that gap was a fair one resulting from talent and hard work, or whether other nastier elements were involved I don't know, but surely you can't deny the gap has closed and if the trend continues we will sooner or later be looking at ways to catch up.

And cycling is a sport in which other countries could rapidly gain ground. I'm surprised the Chinese haven't yet come through to make it a massive source of medals.

[theo_luddite]

Those million bicycles in Beijing are all stuck in a traffic jam.

[theo_luddite]

If we were so good before Devon, why didn't we mop up the "less glamorous events" as well?

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I know it's The Grauniad for a good reason, but wasn't the actual sport Beach Volleyball? On top of that, it was a sport founded on folk wearing beach wear. That said, leaving the budgie smugglers to the divers might not be a bad idea.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/a...an-finedHi

[Devongone]

That's an easy one Theo. To win the top events you have to concentrate on them. You can then mop-up a couple of others as Sir Chris Hoy did, but you only win the sprint titles and big pursuits on fresh legs and clear minds.

Henry Cecil didn't enter Frankel up at Bath and Brighton when he was going for the 2,000 Guineas.

We aren't as good as we were. In pursuit events GB teams were feared by everyone. Now we'll struggle to beat Denmark. We are still first rate, but the rest of the world isn't now looking at us and asking how the fcku are they doing it. We are at a point on a slow decline at which we can either recover & sprint clear of the field or the peloton will swallow us up. My opinion.

[Lord Snooty]

I think we're about to lose one of our silvers. CJ Ujah caught out using an banned substance.