No Love for Torino (Should There Be?)
by Dan H.
February 2, 2006
February 10th will begin a competition thousands of years old when nations across the globe, regardless of language, culture, and form of government, will come together and compete for a common dream – the Olympic gold. Yet, despite the history, despite the 400+ hours of coverage promised across NBC networks, and despite the perfect placement between the Super Bowl and March Madness, I’m not as excited for Torino 2006 as I was for Athens 2004. And I don’t think I’m alone.
Surprised by this (but mostly because I was bored at work), I decided to do a bit of soul searching to find out why. Now there are several perfectly good explanations for why an average Olympic viewer would prefer the Summer Games. First of all, the Winter Olympics has a much narrower appeal – seven sports compared to twenty-nine in the summer.
The Summer Olympics also includes a number of popular televised sports – basketball, baseball, soccer (or football for those not in the US), and tennis to name a few. The Winter Olympics really only has skating and hockey (and skiing if we include the visibility the sport has gained from the X-Games). And let’s be honest, I’m really stretching to say that skating is a popular televised sport.
Or maybe we’re all just mourning the end of the football season.
All of these are probably reasons why Torino won’t bring me to my television set as much as Athens. Yet, the real reason why you and I will both be more likely to spout replays of Steelers-Seahawks and the NCAA conference match-ups at the water cooler rather than Shaun White’s snowboarding mastery or curling (enough said), is the lack of US dominance in the Games.
Granted the US fared pretty well in Salt Lake City, placing two behind winner Germany in the medal count (at least it wasn’t the French). Even so, 2002 was a historically good year for the American team. The last time US placed first in a Winter Olympics medal count? 1932. For those of you unable to grasp how long ago that was, let me put it another way. In 1932, Herbert Hoover was President, Knute Rockne had finished coaching at Notre Dame two years ago, and Joe Namath would not be born for 11 more years. Even more, when the US did take the medal count, only 17 nations participated. During the long drought that followed, the American Winter Olympic team was regularly destroyed by Communist Soviet Union and East Germany. Not quite what the public wants to see every four years of the Cold War.
Compare these results to the Summer Olympics. In Athens, the US Olympic team won a comfortable 103 medals over nearest competitor Russia (92). In fact, the US has not lost a medal count in the Summer Olympics since Barcelona 1992 when the Americans were edged out by the Unified Team (of the former Soviet Union) by four medals. It is true that the Russians and Americans would often trade victories during the years of the Cold War, but at least the Americans would win occasionally!
What we’re left with is an America used to winning in the summer and losing in the winter. So can you blame me for being less enthusiastic? Of course this is not a rip on any of the Olympians of either Games. Most (with the exception of those caught in the “enhancement” scandals) are true athletes. So looking ahead to Torino, I wondered just how likely it would be that these Winter Games would bring back me and the other viewers who want to see Old Glory flying high at each and every awards ceremony.
After years without a medal of any kind, The “Great One” was able to bring back gold for his country in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, Gretzky is Canadian. The men and women from up north will again be difficult to beat in Torino, despite a few injuries on the men’s side. The American men will have experience behind four-time Olympian and three-time captain Chris Chelios. Let’s just hope the 44-year old is more than a “feel good at any age” story and still actually has what it takes at the Olympic level.
Another interesting story-line is American figure-skater Michelle Kwan. Despite being the favorite in Nagano and Salt Lake, Kwan was twice beaten by fellow teammates. This time around, Kwan needed to skate before a qualifying committee after withdrawing from Nationals with a groin injury. Having overcome that obstacle, still to beat are her talented teammates and defending world champion Slutskaya, who also has made a comeback story of herself after being out of competition for several years with a heart condition. Needless to say, the odds for Kwan are slimmer than years past.
Rest assured, the US will see gold. Vonetta Flowers, the first black American athlete to win a US gold medal in the Winter Olympics, returns to bobsled. The American freestyle skiing and snowboarding teams are nothing short of amazing. Flipping through channels recently, I landed on The Session and watched Shaun White absolutely dominate the snowboarding field with several 1080s (yes, three complete rotations) and a 900. Much has also been made of the fact that the American men’s moguls team is so deep, that the defending world champion was left off the team. The women’s team is equally impressive on paper with a world champion, a two-time national champion, and an Olympic silver medalist. Expect several medals and maybe even a sweep in these events.
So for those who might be disappointed by the odds on American gold (or silver or bronze, for that matter) on the ice, the slopes are definitely where it’s at. And who knows, maybe being the underdog is what Kwan needs to finally capture the gold and raise our anticipation for future Winter Games.
Dan H. is a contributing writer for AJS
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