Dave Zirin: Blind to Bolt in Beijing

[marmar]

from The Nation:




Blind to Bolt in Beijing
posted by Dave Zirin on 08/16/2008 @ 5:42pm




The ultimate Olympic event is the 100-meter dash. From the greatness Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis, to the ignominy of Ben Johnson--it has in many ways come to define the Olympics. This year a man with a name that comes out of central casting, a name that would shame Dickens--Usain Bolt of Jamaica, set a world record of 9.69 seconds at the Bird's Nest.

Bolt, in breaking his own world record, even slowed up at the end, pounding his chest, which has some wondering if he could have come in at 9.64, or even better. This is what the Olympics should be all about--watching athletes exceed our wildest dreams as to what is physically possible. There was just one problem with this amazing moment in sports history--it wasn't televised here in America. Instead men's basketball was being broadcast. Does anyone believe for one moment if US track star Tyson Gay had made the finals, this would have happened? In fact, unless you were following the race on a live blog you wouldn't have known a record fell at all. (And what does a "live blog" for a 10 second race look like? "The race begins." "Now it's over.")

As one poster at Washington Post.com put it, "Seriously, I'm sitting here watching the basketball team destroy Spain when I could have been watching the first person in history beak the 9.7 second mark? NBC has been dropping the ball all week on what they have been showing. They think that just because we are in America, all we want to watch are Americans." Another person called it "Shocking and disappointing." And yet another said pointedly, "Hey NBC, you SUCK."

Somehow NBC--as well as John McCain and the Republican party--hasn't gotten the memo that the cold war is over. Ivan Drago has left the building and no one wants to remake Red Dawn. We don't need to be spoonfed American athletes and US stars as if our national dignity would somehow be sullied if we watched Bolt race. The sports world has gone global. We are capable to be awed by swimmers from Zimbabwe, gymnasts from China, and yes, sprinters from Jamaica. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/345719

[Ekirh]

1. Is it at least going to be broadcast tonight.

Cnn spoiled it for me earlier "sigh I should've known better but I wasn't thinking" but hopefully they'll show it tonight.

Wish I could've watched it as it happened.

[ticapnews]

2. NBC is broadcasting the best stuff in prime time

Even if it is delayed by several hours. There are only a few non-prime time events that NBC is broadcasting live. If the Chinese had told NBC to fuck off and run the swimming events in the afternoon (mid morning in the US), NBC would not have broadcast Michael Phelps live. They would have waited and broadcast it in prime time anyway. It has little to do with the nationality of the athletes and more to do with maximizing advertising revenue.

[Awsi Dooger]

4. That's exactly right

NBC tried to persuade the IOC to run track and field finals in the morning, for live primetime East Coast. The IOC refused, unlike the swimming finals, and unlike Seoul 1988. That decision was 2 years ago. As soon as I read it, I knew the track and field finals were going to be incredibly anti climatic, in terms of American television.

I did my damnedest to avoid the track results but I heard about Bolt's performance during an NFL exhibition game. Same thing with the Torres loss by 1/100 of a second.

The remainder of the Olympics are going to be selective packaging in primetime.

On edit: I somehow forgot to mention Bolt's performance was the most jaw dropping impossible dominance I've ever seen in a timed event. He jogged a 9.92, 9.85 and then 9.69 in his 3 races at Beijing.

[chelsea0011]

14. This may be true but it doesn't explain the night of August 17th. The swims are

finishes and it is time for some T & F. So what does NBC do? They give us 15 minutes of taped hetas and then we get 40 minutes of Phelps and his mother. There is no excuse for that. With the backlog of track events NBC can't help itself with Phelps all the time.

[hughee99]

3. Dude was fuckin' fast!

Congrats to Bolt and Jamaica. I don't care if you're from the US, Jamaica, or Mars, that was impressive.

[underpants]

8. That was out of this world impressive

I've never seen anything like it

he is going to go under 9.5

a human going that fast??? Unbelievable

[DinahMoeHum]

5. I just hope to hell that Usain Bolt is SQUEAKY CLEAN re the drug tests.

G*d only knows we've seen enough of that crap, re Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, etc.

Sheesh, I remember the 1988 men's 100-meter dash as if it were yesterday. THAT race actually WAS shown LIVE - not tape-delayed.

:evilfrown:

[Hav]

11. Yeah, sadly that's only a dream, especially for the 100 m.

I read an article about the 100 m and how much money and fame is involved. They interviewed someone who supplied well known athletes with drugs and many of these drugs are pretty much impossible to find by drug tests.
His comment: From all the 8 who are in the final, none are clean and that it's just not possible to be that fast without doping.
Or to put it in another way, it wouldn't be possible to compete with those who do cheat.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. He could have gone 9.59 without the antics.

What could have been the greatest 100M ever was tarnished by the fact that we'll never know just how fast he could have run.

[Twillig]

7. It looked like T.O. running the 100.

Nice job hotdog! The Your record could have stood for god knows how long.

Speaking of TO, somebody should waste an NFL draft pick on Bolt. It'd be like Bob Hayes all over again(if he can catch).

[underpants]

9. That wasn't bragging

that was breathtakingly awesome

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. TO or Bolt?

[BlooInBloo]

12. I'm surprised he didn't do the Nestea Plunge across the finish line...

But I ain't criticizing - if the fucker can run so much faster than everyone else that he only has to run 80% of the way, then rock the fuck on.

[Awsi Dooger]

13. That was Bolt's chance to drop the world record by huge amount

The track is supposedly blazing fast. Boldin the NBC analyst said it was the fastest he's ever seen.

I realize Bolt is only 21 but the Olympic stage offers adrenaline and competition opportunity to put up times you simply can't match in other circumstance. He may break 9.69 in the future but I doubt he'll go as low as he could have Saturday night.

Still, the way he did it is memorable, not the time. I doubt many could come up with Ben Johnson's exact time in Seoul, before the doping DQ. It was 9.79, as exclaimed by the late Charlie Jones.

[Wetzelbill]

15. Yeah and today he practically jogged to a win in a 200 heat

That guy has so much ability, he's like a cartoon.