Melton: You should watch the Winter Olympics

by Will Melton | February 8, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

I love everything about the Olympics: the spectacle, the sport, the athletes, the wrecks.

However, it appears that much of America doesn’t agree with me, especially when it comes to the Winter Olympics. For the first time ever, NBC is going to take a loss on its broadcast of the games.

I may be a bit biased in this, as I grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colo., the home of 69 Winter Olympians — the most of any town in the country. I grew up ski racing with Olympians, going to school with Olympians and taking piano lessons from the mothers of Olympians.

Even though Steamboat primarily raises skiers, my love of the Olympics stretches far beyond that.

Watching the best athletes in the world at the top of their games provides for better sports television than just about anything else (short of the Super Bowl, the World Cup and March Madness). The athletes’ stories of redemption make people worldwide root for names they’ve never heard before and will never hear of again.

In this Olympics, the “Snow Leopard,” Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, will become the first Winter Olympian from Ghana. Nkrumah-Acheampong taught himself how to ski on an indoor mountain in England in his 20s and has raised all his own funds. He’s one of at least seven athletes representing African nations. There will also be a snowboard cross rider representing Jamaica.

Even American athletes have to suffer to reach the pinnacle of their sports. The intensive training regimens don’t help anyone keep a good job, a lot of sports equipment is prohibitively expensive (a bobsled, for example, costs about $50,000, not including steel runners) and few Olympians are sponsored.

The U.S. Olympic team will pay travel expenses to the games, but that’s about it. In order to reach the pinnacle of their sport, most Olympians must suffer. America’s Olympians exhibit a true love of sport that athletes in the big three can’t compete with.

This love extends to all sports, and it is the main reason why the Games are so watchable. If you don’t like sports, you can watch for the athlete stories; if you like sports, the Olympics represent the high point in many athletes’ careers, so you see them put forth their best.

The Olympics are also one of the few times Americans can watch certain sports as they’re played. Because of this, the Olympic sports I like best are smaller ones. Take curling, for example. Most Americans watch it (or don’t) and think, “Hey, it’s shuffleboard on ice.” But it’s so much more.

Curling is a sport that takes ultimate concentration, fine muscle control and an extremely steady hand. Watching people hurl a 40-pound block of stone 150 feet down a sheet of ice to within a couple of inches of their desired throw is incredible.

Likewise, the Olympics are the one time that I will watch ice dancing, Nordic skiing, speed skating and any number of other events that only make it to my TV every 4 years.

The Olympics begin this Friday. Take some time out of your schedules to watch some of America’s best unheralded athletes compete with their brothers around the world for nothing but the love of their sport and the pride of saying they are Olympians.

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