RoyII

Did you see the BBC trailer for the Beijing Olympics that was played on TV before the start of the games? It was a mini cartoon featuring some caricatured animals, which looked to be trying to fight some monster sized beast, all to the sound of an oriental operatic tune. It was only when a graphic of some of the landmark buildings (such as the Beijing Olympic stadium shown below) came into view did it become clear what the trailer was plugging.

 Arena of Dreams...

This was pretty good, and for me, it is the most entertaining thing in the whole Olympic competition. Don't get me wrong - I have loads of respect for the Olympic Athletes, who have spent many years and months in arduous training, honing their skills for their particular events, and they fully deserve any medals they get. My problem with the Olympic Games is that it just doesn't make for entertaining viewing.

A classic example of this is the swimming events. It goes without saying that to get anywhere close to winning a medal you have to be supremely good, but as a spectacle, it doesn't really cut it - it is just loads of Olympic type folk milling around a pool. To win at Archery you have to be extremely dexterous at loosing those arrows, but to the viewer, all you see are multitudes of people hanging around in a field. To be fair though, some events, such as the running and cycling, are better than others, but as sports go, they lack the excitement and drama of other sporting competitions.

Judging by the amount of TV and media coverage dedicated to the Olympics, it looks as if I am in the minority on this one!