Are you enjoying Olympics?
The series of excitement came from swimming and gymnastics matches for the last two weeks. I have been watching Olympics in NYC, Philadelphia, and now Virginia. I turn the TV on every night at 8 pm to watch what’s happening in London. They showed the total medal count for each country, and I got to see how Korea is doing. Before London Olympic 2012, I’ve never watched Beach Volleyball, Water Polo or Trampoline. Trampoline, seriously? But anyway, Olympic is fun and inspiring. And the other day, I saw a facebook update of one of my American friend who’s living in Korea saying,
“Seriously Korea, can we please show something other than archery, judo, or fencing?!”
And it got me thinking, I haven’t seen or heard anything about archery, judo or fencing so far. Should I be bothered?
(FYI: Korea always get medals from judo, archery and taekwondo among a few other programs.)
You’re allow to be patriotic
Olympic is the far most major international event. Thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries participate in a variety of competitions. It’s all about the harmony of the world, but admit it; it’s also ONLY about your home country. If your country wins gold, you’re not going to remember who win silver and bronze. You wouldn’t know how Dominican Republic is doing in tracks unless someone did something outrageously amazing thing. We all know who Michael Phelps is because he is the best Olympian in the world, but other than few of those occasions we are taking our own side.
You can’t fake the blood
Olympic is one of the rare opportunities that you are allowed to be over-patriotic. My home country and I disagree with a lot of values in life, but I feel proud when I saw Koreans got a medal. Like an old saying in Korea, you can’t fake the blood. Archery is extremely boring to watch, but I did because we were good at it. Though Judo and Taekwondo are quite fun. So if you are in Korea during the Olympics, you’ll watch a lot of those matches just like I’m watching a lot of swimming and gymnastics. But I understand your frustration; archery is not as fun as swimming. It is amazing but it’s too quiet and too serious. However, when in Rome, right?
Everyone’s same
Americans and Koreans are just same as any other countries in the world. They like what they are good at. They broadcast what their people are playing. They talk about the medals they got. It’s okay to be not paying attention to 199 other countries that are in Olympics. It’s okay to be rooting for your team. The important thing is that to remember there are 199 other countries along with your country. I guess that’s the Olympic spirit. Right now NBC’s broadcasting strategy is not really smart; they fool us not to know the result until they show everything in the evening. I hope at least Korean broadcast is doing a better job on reporting important games.
Well, nobody’s perfect. But I’m glad Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt did a good job!
Have you watch the Olympics in a foreign country?
