Olympics on TV
NBC's coverage forgettable, but stirring events will live on

By Jayda Evans
Seattle Times staff reporter

SHAUN BOTTERILL / GETTY IMAGES Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova of Russia gave viewers some moments to remember in the synchronized-swimming duet.

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As the Athens Olympics draw to a close this weekend, we're left with many memorable and plenty of forgettable moments. Normally you'd wait until the final day to rank them all, but NBC Universal doesn't wait for the conclusion to share its opinion, so why should we?

Here's a list of sights seen and heard on television:

Golden microphone

With 202 nations and 37 sports, the announcers factor into the Olympic experience, shuffling you around to the various sites while hopefully keeping you informed about the news circling the Games as well as tidbits about the athletes.

No one did this better than CBC host Brian Williams. He had his goofy moments but was critical about his own country, Canada, while remaining knowledgeable and fair about the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, NBC's prime-time host, Bob Costas, should have his microphone stripped. Not only did he botch the names of almost everything Greek (and he's of Greek heritage), his grade-school quips incensed viewers from Port Townsend to Flushing, N.Y. At least that's the feedback I received via e-mail.

Golden network

Got a call from a Canadian radio station the other day. Turns out they're honored us Yanks think the Canadian network is worthy of the gold medal in Olympics coverage.

But it deserves it. Yes, I was peeved when they cut from Team USA's men's basketball loss yesterday to air track, but the Americans were down by 13 points.

Otherwise, I have to look hard to find anything else wrong with CBC while I can rattle off 100 beefs with NBC Universal without taking a breath: Costas, Katie Couric, "Access Hollywood," not airing the softball gold-medal game, too much American jingoism, too many commercials — you get the point.
 
Two snaps

Costas finally had a sit-down interview with an Olympic dignitary Thursday. IOC president Jacques Rogge met with Costas to discuss the men's all-around gymnastics fiasco and to back the organization's partnership with television. Too bad it was aired close to midnight and the only issue the network seems capable of discussing is gymnastics.

You have to give NBC some credit, though. It tried to cover some news in the latter days instead of interviews with Brazilian cheerleader Marcelo and the intricacies of whistle blowing.

CBC gets the award for best use of technology — using someone's cellphone during the opening ceremony — to talk to Canadian athletes, including wrestler Christine Nordhagen, who had watched her husband make the march but never could herself because women's wrestling wasn't made an Olympic sport until this year.

"I was so sad I never had the opportunity," she said. "This is an emotional moment."

Moments to remember

Women were the story of these Olympics, with females accounting for nearly half of the medals for the U.S. While softball and soccer provided lasting memories, I'm stuck on the beauty of Russians Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova in their gold-medal winning synchronized-swimming duet. They were captivating, receiving 10s across the board for artistic impression.

A close second is the American sweep in the men's 200- and 400-meter races, but the women win for style.

Make it stop

Thanks to all the announcers for killing the phrase "golden girls" every time an American woman won, you guessed it, gold. And what was up with the Greeks playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" every time we finished first in track? Love "The Boss," but no one else has made a patriotic song since the 1980s?

Oh, and I won't miss the Athens Olympic mascots ruining post-event interviews by bopping around in the background. Goodness, those things were a mistake.

A bigger mistake was Couric trying to run the hurdles with American Joanna Hayes, the 100-meter hurdles gold-medal winner, as her teacher. I enjoyed laughing at Couric, but that's just mean.

Yes, we see you

Many are talking about, how shall we put this, the athletes' attributes on display at the track events. Shawn Crawford, the 200-meter champion, even took his top off during an interview so we didn't have to guess what was underneath, as if the uniform left much to the imagination anyway.

Since they're obviously begging for attention, let's all thank them for displaying their bods.

The commercials

Canada can keep that blue cow ad, but Air Canada gets two points for creativity.

On the American side, why did we have to sit through so many commercials pitching cartoons? Not only does NBC Universal trivialize the Games, but they're going to feed us mush in its fall lineup, too? The Sealy Posturepedic ads were the most clever. Aside from the competition, it was ironically the only thing that didn't put me to sleep.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com