With the conclusion of the Winter Olympics, it is kind of sad that the nonstop action has finally come to an end. No longer can I turn on NBC and know that there is going to be some sort of winter contest on. One question that is always asked about the Olympics is which games are better: the Winter or Summer Olympics? Though I do like both, I think the summer games are far more exciting and fun to watch.
Both the summer and winter games have their fair share of exciting, heart-pounding sports. The summer games has the 100m dash, while the short track speed skating competition is always crazy in the winter Olympics.
These two sports aren’t without characters to root for either. Though he was not born in the US, Usain Bolt is a fan favorite in the 100m dash, not only in native-Jamaica, but all over the world including the US. In the 2008 Olympics, he smashed records in that event as well as in the 200m.
Speed skating has American Apollo Ohno, who just recently captured his 6th, 7th, and 8th Olympic medals in Vancouver. Speed skating is a sport where anything can happen as Ohno is well aware. He was in fourth going into the final turn of the men’s 1500 meter finals when two Koreans wiped out and he took the silver.
Speed skating is exciting, but I still prefer watching the fastest men in the world compete against each other for just under 10 seconds. This isn’t the only sport where I hold preference for the Summer to the Winter Olympics. Figure skating is boring and overplayed, which is a terrible combination. The male figure skating is ten times worse than the females just because of the terrible outfits that the men wear. I don’t think anybody enjoys these men in the outfits, but I could be wrong. I doubt it though.
The odd sports in the Winter Olympics are pretty interesting, but they can get old fast. Curling was cool a couple Olympics ago, but now I think they go on for too long. The games take forever and there are no household names to draw viewers. The same goes with skeleton and luge, though they are exciting sports nonetheless. The problem is that they are never shown on NBC at good times. One o’clock in the morning is not a good time to watch skeleton.
In the summer games, beach volleyball is the equivalent to figure skating in terms of being overplayed, but I would still much rather watch volleyball. The swimming is also very exciting in the summer games. Sure, part of this is because Michael Phelps is swimming, but the same can be said for snowboarding with Shaun White. Both sports are great to watch, but are made even better with these icons.
On Sunday, February 28th, the hockey gold medal game was played in Vancouver. This is one thing that I agree is amazing in the Winter Olympics. The United States hung with the gold medal favorite Canadians, and gave them all they could handle for three periods and overtime. The Canadians outlasted the US team 3-2 in a game that kept all fans on the edge of their seats. Basketball does not bring this type of excitement in the summer games, just because the US is heads above every other country at the sport it seems.
Overall, though, the summer games are much more fun to me. They rarely lag like the winter Olympics do. So in 2012, when the summer games come to London, I will be much more excited for the games. It’s too bad that the 2016 Olympics are not in Chicago.
