The Olympic fever

While there may be empty seats in the stadium in London, it has not stopped the world from following the Olympics on television and other visual media. From live updates to tweets, India is doing it all.

The British government is painstakingly trying to fill in the empty seats at the Olympics stadium, dispatching the army to fill up seats at the London Olympics 2012, hinting on the fall of the Olympics viewership. But that said, all eyes in India are focused on TV and the Internet for the daily dose of the Olympics news in spite of the country not showing much promise at the mega sporting event. With ESPN and Star Sports’ getting the rights to telecast London Olympics 2012 along with DD, Olympics has become the most-viewed programme on television now.

Sricharan M, a medical student, 25, says, “I love watching sports and I keep flipping through sports channels when I am sitting idle. I started watching Olympics when most of the sports channels started to telecast these events. It is always more exciting to watch these events on television, rather than watching them on the Internet after the results are out. The Indian hockey team’s performance was the most disappointing of them all. We were against a strong team Netherlands and we had a fair chance of winning and lost out at the last moment.”

Adman Prahlad Kakkar is of same opinion and feels that ESPN and Star Sports joining DD has increased the viewership of the Olympics. He says, “The viewership of Olympics is bound to have increased since we are not stuck to watching one event. We can always switch channels and select a particular one that you like. My favourites are Hockey, Archery and the equestrian events. More than India’s performance in these events, it is about entertainment.”

Vinay Aditya, 17, a student, says, “I am dedicatedly following the London Olympics this year since I have a lot of time on my hands. I don’t remember watching the last time it was held in Bejing. However, this time around, all of my friends are following it. We update each other and discuss about the events.”

But Vinay is of the opinion that television coverage of the events is not up to the mark.

“There are three channels telecasting these events but DD copies the ESPN and most of the time they telecast the same event. I am a tennis player and I have noticed that tennis coverage is not up to the mark on television. So, I have to turn to YouTube and the Internet for the live coverage of tennis events.”

What with the grand opening ceremony, to the controversies regarding doping and match points. This mega sporting event is one that few viewers would like to miss. favourite olympic heroes

Michael Phelps

He cruised through the anchor leg of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay to earn his record 19th career Olympic medal, becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time.

Jo Wilfried Tsonga

French number one Jo Wilfried Tsonga won the longest 3-set match in Olympic Tennis history today — including a 48-game final set. The game lasted for three hours.

Hamadou Djibo Issaka

Niger’s first-ever Olympic rower trained in a fishing boat has become a fans favourite at the Olympics, despite finishing way off the pace.

Kim Un Guk

North Korea’s Kim Un Guk broke the world record in men’s 62kg category weightlifting on the way to win gold at the London Olympics 2012.

Ruta Meilutyte

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte became the first 15-year-old Olympic swimming champion as she won the 100m breaststroke gold medal.

Tags: featured, full-image, London Olympics 2012, television

Category: TV