I watched some of the USA trials last night and i was so impresssed with the athletes, especially the women runners.

Ill watch some of it, not all of it. Break dancing is ridiculous but so is synchronized swimming, at least i think so.

I just feel bad for the swimmers who have to get in the Seine.

We always watch gymnastics but that's about it. It's been years since it was decided "professional" athletes can compete in the Olympics. YEARS.

Beach volleyball has been an Olympic sport since 1996. We watch the competition, its quite fun. They play in the sand. Only two players per side, so they are moving!

Professional basketball players have been able to play in the Olympics since 1989 and skateboarding has been an Olympic sport since 2020. Don't follow those sports at all.

I haven't watched the Olympics in years. I detest the editing and the "up close and personal" junk segments. Not that I don't cheer on the athletes and root for the home team, but the presentation is horrible.

The Olympics don't interest me. Neither the Summer nor the Winter versions.

The Olympics has faded in my heart somewhat. The coverage is very limited, largely to Americans, stars, and close-ups. And it’s all about the Benjamins, who has the money and the sponsors to make it to the top level of competition. I know that’s not just the Olympics but all the sports federations, but still.

I am, however, looking forward to seeing Paris!

I am planning on watching opening ceremonies on the Seine!

I love watching the Olympics especially the track and field events, cycling, equestrian and swimming. I detest beach volleyball. I remember a few Olympics back the only thing that seemed to be televised was Beach volleyball. Most likely I won't be watching the break dancing.

I'll be watching Netflix while my husband watches in another room.

Never been a sports fan of any kind, but I do follow news and the whole thing about using the Seine seems nuts to me - what are they thinking!?!? How can they eliminate pollution in a river - and in time for the Olympics? Are there no Olympic size pools in France?

I enjoy the gymnastics and figure skating in the winter Olympics

Yes. It definitely has expanded. I used to say it was UnAmerican to not root for your country. There is a lot to learn from these competitors in sportsmanship. I'm in awe of the years of preparation the athletes put into this one shot to meet their goals. the opening is magical and being a good sport and a worthy opponent serves them well when pursuing their next career. We will see Paris like we never have before. It,s quite an education. The stories behind what their families gave up to get them there can be very emotional. I'm a bit sad it's not perfomance worthy.

I don't plan to watch (except the equestrian events if televised).

same for me. i look at the schedule and record that day any time i see equestrian events being covered. it's never long enough, though. usually a 2 minute blip.

I am in awe of these athletes. Find one sport or one athlete that resonates with you and follow them. Go Elle St. Pierre!

I don't really have much time in my day to watch but I will watch some equestrian events, or catch the highlights later online, and I stumbled upon skateboarding events by accident sitting in a restaurant and they are pretty amazing to watch. I've always enjoyed more individual sports over team sports like basketball and volleyball.

I was once on a business trip in France during an Olympics. The coverage was quite different from US coverage. It was years ago so I don’t remember specifics, except that I preferred the French coverage.

I only plan to watch selected events. I doubt i will watch break dancing or basketball since i have no interest in either.

What i don’t understand is why they plan to use an AI generated broadcast of Al Michaels. I do understand the networks try to work with the time difference and broadcast the most current activity real-time, but that isn’t always possible. Apparently the US audiences are so demanding, they are trying to adjust.

I was in the US for the Atlanta games and was struck by the difference in coverage.(I know it's an old example). This was before streaming, obviously. But we were amazed that adverts would appear at crucial moments and we'd miss the ends of races or parts of finals. Also mostly US athletes seemed to be followed.

Now we can see a huge number of events, at a time of our choosing, so there's no need to miss anything or stop our normal day to watch. Whole events are available, not just short excerpts. I tend to watch a lot of events: track and field, swimming, cycling, watersports. Mostly individual events. I'll probably look at the newer events out of curiosity.

I wasn't really aware that the Olympics was about to happen. I kind of vaguely heard or saw some chatter about it, but it didn't really register until seeing this thread.

What I thought I remembered is that it was towards the end of summer... thinking of the ending of the 72 Munich Olympics which I recall very well, late August into September.

I used to look for the figure skating (winter) and swimming.

I may watch the opening ceremony if I remember.

I’ll watch some if I stumble on it. I was more interested years ago. In summer, gymnastics can be fun. In the winter, figure skating. Winter is overall more appealing to me. I’ll take in a bit of this and a bit of that from either, but unless there's some high profile story developing I'll rarely go out of my way to watch. Glad I’m not the only one who hates the up close pieces. Show me the sports!

Occasionally we get a VPN to watch ”the rest of the Olympics”, like when a relative was on the broadcast team for their country. And we have been in another country during the Olympics, and glory be, there are athletes from countries around the world competing! You’d never know it from US coverage.

Breakdancing is in? How about swing? Ballroom? Now that robotics and gaming are high school sports, will those appear in the Olympics? They did away with the ”figures” part of figure skating when the skaters couldn’t do it properly anymore (or that was a comment I heard at the time).

The reason they are swimming in the Seine is that Olympic distance (1.5 km) triathlon swims are always in open water. That's an integral feature of the sport.

France has plenty of Olympic pools. But they're no good for the triathlon.

Where are they holding the other open water events? Sailing etc?

Thanks for the clarification, floral 🙂

I guess it can't be much worse than Rio...?

Distance swimming in the Seine is a very colorful touch that will showcase the beauty of the city.

I will watch the cycling (mountain, road, and track, especially interested in Chloe Dygert and Matteo Jorgenson), some gymnastics, and some track and/or equestrian, maybe skateboarding, as the mood and opportunity strikes me.

I know that I have mentioned it before, but there is a great documentary called "Personal Gold" about the formation and preparation of a USA women's track team for the London Olympics in 2012 (with almost no support from the USOC, BTW). It is available for free on Kanopy, and for rent on AppleTV, Prime, Google Play, YouTube and Vudu. Interesting even if track cycling doesn't interest you, IMO.

Fun fact: the surfing events are going to be held in Tahiti!

ETA: track cycling team

Sailing is in Marseille.