Diary of an Olympian (Watcher) Preview – Part 1 of 5

By Keith Miller

In just under 6 weeks, most sports fans in the country will be glued to their TV’s (yes, I know….and/or laptops, mobile phones, PC’s etc).  It’s Olympic time again, and I’m here to bring it to you on Sportsfreak with daily reports, and updates as they come through.  But first up, let’s take a look at what’s on offer, and when you can expect it to hit New Zealand screens.

Archery

Probably the sleeper hit of London 2012.  Few Olympic Sports have benefitted as much from the advancement of broadcasting technology, with the ability to track the arrow mid-flight in ultra-slow motion providing a new dimension to the sport.  The format consists of a ranking round (where all 64 archers of each gender will be seeded after shooting 72 arrows over a distance of 70 metres), followed by a straight knockout scenario – choke early on and there’s a good chance you’re on the next flight home.

The New Zealand viewing times for the knockout rounds aren’t great, being from around midnight to 4:00am.  But for the medal rounds we’re talking a vast improvement – you’ll be able to watch it over breakfast.  I suggest you do.

Gold Medals on offer:  4

NZ Participation:  No

Athletics

The Blue Ribbon event yet again.  Yes, it has been (and most likely always will be) tarnished by the scourge of drug cheats, despite the fact that the Russians have been uninvited to the party.  But to really enjoy the spectacle, you unfortunately need to park your brain in neutral and remove that from your thinking.  There are so many events over the last 10 days of the Games it’s not funny, but they all evoke the Olympic motto of being faster, higher or stronger.  This is tradition at its very best.

The morning sessions for the Games will be from around midnight to 4:00am, but the evening sessions – where all the medals are dished out – are perfect.  Switch the TV on at work from around 11:00am to 2:00pm.

Gold Medals on offer:  47

NZ Participation:  Yes

Badminton

One of the more scandalous events (who’d have thought?) in London, compliments of a deeply flawed format.  However, the organisers have seen the light.  Gone is the farce of attempting to lose to get a more favourable draw in Round Two – even more farcical when both parties are trying to lose – so we should be in for a far more competitive affair.  In case you’re interested, there will be 8,400 shuttlecocks used throughout the tournament.  There’s some Olympic pub talk for you.

For NZ viewing times, the qualifying is staggered throughout the day, so if Badminton is your go then there’s something on offer for you.  But if you want to know who’s grabbing the medals, it’ll be in prime time over here.

Gold Medals on offer:  5

NZ Participation:  No

Basketball

Tune in to see all the great players; Lebron James, Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook will all be….huh….?  Oh……  Unfortunately, basketball suffers from having such a dominant TV shop front in the NBA that everything else seems to pale into insignificance.  The big names from the USA don’t want a bar of it, yet still it feels like you’re only tuning in to see who grabs the silver.

Some of the qualifying games will be in prime time from our perspective, so if you’re keen to see whether Lithuania can get up over Nigeria, enjoy.  The other games are scattered throughout the day, whilst the Gold medal games tip off around 7:00am.

Gold medals on Offer:  2

NZ Participation:  No

Beach Volleyball

No, no, no.  Please, enough is enough.  If you want to watch some real volleyball, get into it – it’s a wonderful spectacle with pace, agility and reflexes at their best.  The only two moderately interesting things about Beach Volleyball at Rio is that they will be playing some of the matches at night, and it’s being held at Copacabana Beach (wonder if we’ll see Barry Manilow?).  Another bastardised sport that should probably die a death after Rio, although admittedly, the sport is a natural fit there.  But seriously, even the pervs can’t be bothered with it anymore.

Somewhat bizarrely, even the medal games are being held at night, so it will be lunchtime/early afternoon viewing should anyone care.

Gold medals on Offer:  2

NZ Participation:  No

Boxing

Another of the prime events at the Olympics.  Yes, there’ll be dodgy decisions, as always, but it’s another sport with plenty of tradition.  Strangely though, a decision has been made to allow professional boxers to participate in Rio which flushes a lot of that tradition straight down the S-bend.  The IBF have determined that idea too dangerous, and have told any champion in that organisation they will have their IBF title stripped should they participate in Rio.

The morning sessions for the early rounds will kick off at 2:00am, with the afternoon sessions over NZ’s breakfast.  Whilst a handful of medals will also be fought over cornflakes, the remainder will be around 5:00am.  Sadly, not one of the friendliest sports for NZ in that regard.

Gold medals on Offer:  13

NZ Participation:  No

Canoe Slalom

Anyone lucky enough to have caught some late night viewing recently on Sky Sports may have noticed this pop up, ironically, on a pop up channel.  It’s actually a pretty good watch, but it will again most likely struggle to gain traction against some of the bigger name sports, coupled with the fact that the viewing times for NZ are truly awful.  One of those events where a decent commentary team could potentially make quite an impact on your viewing pleasure.

Of all events in Rio, this is one of the worst for New Zealand viewers – there’s only five days of competition, and if it takes your fancy, think 3:30am to 07:00am.

Gold medals on Offer:  4

NZ Participation:  Yes

Canoe Sprint

With such an obvious gold medal chance in Lisa Carrington, Canoe Sprint should be big news in New Zealand come August.  Hopefully, the news relating to the drug resistant super bacteria found on the course recently won’t be as big.  The very silly C-1 event remains, but watching the competitors in the K-1 events slog their guts out should be a great watch.

But be warned – the times aren’t completely diabolical, but if you’ve got work in the morning, good luck.  All the events kick off at midnight NZ time, and won’t finish up until 1.30am/2.00am.

Gold medals on Offer:  12

NZ Participation:  Yes