Ok so I know that this may not be in the right forum and I apologize in advance but it seemed like the best place to put it. Just a tiny "grr" (well a big "GRR!!!" but not a long rant)
I just wanted to point out how little attention and public support the 2010 paralymics received. The minute the "able bodied" Olympians had finished competing, all the Olympic merchandise disappeared and almost ALL channels returned to their usual broadcasting with minimal discussion of the rankings of the athletes. I have NO clue what countries won what medals and quite frankly I'm really disappointed in the media and people as a whole for pushing the paralymics aside as though it's less meaningful. I'm sure many people would agree with me and I feel that something should be done to increase paralymic awareness.
The paralympics are shown in the UK on main TV channels, same as the winter olympics and the Olympics.
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I can understand why they do it though. Yes, it's great to see, but if they aren't getting the ratings then they change back to regular programming. Not everyone appreciates these sorts of things. It's the same with why they don't show all the different types of sports on TV. I'm a fencer, and really like to watch the professionals, but they hardly ever show it because it's such a niche interest.
I'm unsure to be honest. I agree there should have been more coverage of the winter paralympics, but I don't think it should have had the same amount of coverage as the olympics. Personally I think things should be judged on their own merits and whilst some paralympic sports are as exciting to watch (for example wheelchair racing), others just don't have the same draw (but then again I avoid coverage of sports like curling for that same reason). That's not to say that the paralympics aren't worthwhile or to diminish the fact that some of the athletes have overcome massive barriers to be able to compete at the level they do, but that sports coverage is all a popularity contest, hence why premier league football get's primetime, sunday league football doesn't and some of the more obscure sports don't get covered at all.
It'd be nice if they did, but look at it from the point of view of the broadcasters. They don't broadcast the entire Olympic games, never mind all of the Paralympics. Take the BBC, currently they show the Olympics, the Paralympics, World Cup football as well as other major cup games, all the international rugby, major snooker tournaments, darts tournaments, Formula 1 (qualifying and the actual race), major tennis tournaments, world and regional athletics, gymnastics, boules tournaments and probably some other stuff I can't remember.
They need to cater to everyone, and not everyone enjoys sport of any description.
They should. The athletes of the parallel olympics train just as hard, if not harder than the able bodied olympians. While all olympic athletes are inspiring and show us what humans can achieve through hard work and trying, the athletes on the para olympics are twice as inspiring because they have trained themselves so hard they have gone beyond what people expect to be their physical limitations.
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I dont understand why the paraolympics and the olympics cant happen alongside each other and share the media coverage. I agree that the media dont really bother with it and what coverage they do have seems to be a 'token effort' so not to seem like discrimination.
The same can be said about womens football world cup thing.
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The Paralympics are held just after the Olympics, whether that be summer or winter. Putting both on at the same time would probably be a logistical nightmare and, imo, further stretch and therefore limit the media coverage of events since they can only show a set number of events at once, obviously favouring the rating hits.
I can't honestly say I'm interested in paralympics. It's great people can still do athletics while in wheelchairs and that there are events for them. But it's unrealistic to think a wheelchair event (and they have stuff like wheelchair curling even) will be as interesting to people as top athletes in standard events and I don't find that unfair in any way. I don't like watching B sides or second strings in standard games either.
Well, I was well into the winter olympics but I didn't see any paraolympic stuff at all. I love sport..but sometimes it's just 'too much' sport haha..I would be bored of watching the down hill 4 times-well more like 8 times if I watch qualifying.
The reason it isn't on at the same time is because there are probably the same amount of paraolympians than there are able bodied olympians and so that would be mad..you'd need a HUGE 'olympic village' it would cost an even more ridiculous amount of money and time and to have everyone organised and comfortable and yeah. it would be a huge nightmare.
Don't get me wrong, if the 'highlights' of the games were on or something then I'd watch it..but I didn't see anything about it at all this time round..but I wouldn't sit and watch it all over again. I just don't find it interesting enough..like Isoverity said I don't like watching 'B teams'
Same reason I don't watch womens football..because it's less entertaining than mens football..and thats also why thats not on telly much..(though there is more and more of it now)
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There is a bog difference between what should happen and what brings in the money. Because less people watch the Para-Olympics there is less ad revenue. The stations make more money off normal programing then they would on showing the Para-Olympics. To make the most money they switch to normal programs.
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There is a bog difference between what should happen and what brings in the money. Because less people watch the Para-Olympics there is less ad revenue. The stations make more money off normal programing then they would on showing the Para-Olympics. To make the most money they switch to normal programs.
I think that plays a part, but the BBC (as an example) has no adverts. It's probably more a case of having to justify their programming choices to the public.
I don't think they are "worth less" as people since they may actually be worth more. It's just that sports are (like gladiators in Rome) a kind of spectacle where people want to be entertained by people who they think are "the best" . People like to egotistically identify with the superior qualities of champions who they think are superior to them . Watching people in wheelchairs goes against all of that. It might be lamentable ideally speaking but to expect human nature an markets to change would be like expecting people to greatly reduce interest in sports on the whole.
Just a tiny "grr" (well a big "GRR!!!" but not a long rant
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