Footnote?

[bunsen_h]

"Olympic Sport unites people. This is the Olympic Message the athletes spread to the host country and to the whole world. Yes, it is possible to strive even for the greatest victory with respect for the dignity of your competitors. Yes, Yes, it is possible - even as competitors - to live together under one roof in harmony, with tolerance and

Comments

[dewline]

I'd heard that everyone except Russian TV watchers got to see that part of the IOC speechifying.

[bunsen_h]

No; NBC also edited out that comment, along with other parts of that speech. I was surprised to hear about it, since usually US media organizations want to show anything that would embarrass Russia.

[dewline]

Well.

Very odd on NBC's part, that.

[henrytroup]

NBC has a short-term need to have a lot of local co-operation.

[auriaephiala]

I have been doing my best to ignore the Olympics, mostly because medal counts as a news item is really unexciting and far too jingoistic for my taste. And this games, of course, has Russia's homophobia and totalitarian/anti-free-speech tendencies on top of that.

Of course, that means that I'm not listening to Q, because CBC has sent Jian Ghomeshi -- who is an excellent arts reporter, but not a sports writer -- to Sochi. I mean, WTF CBC -- blowing your whole damn budget for the year for Q on this travesty?

The only Olympics-related show I actually have sat through was this week's Under The Influence (on again on Monday at 11:30 a.m. on CBC Radio 1 or available for a short period as a downloadable podcast) -- in which Terry O'Reilly showed conclusively how advertising, marketing, and sponsorships have been an integral part of the Games right from the beginning. Of course, being a marketing guy, he wasn't exactly condemning this -- but the facts speak for themselves.