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Ted Crow, Associated Press Click illustration for larger image.  For hard-core sports fans who want more sports facts than Phevos and Athena muss and fuss, there are the usual suspects from the Internet's sports realm: sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2004/ For those looking for Olympic news from a few old, reliable sources, visit: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/leaguesandsports/olympics/2004summer/ www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/olympics/index.html www.post-gazette.com/olympics/ |
The Internet's a dial-up/high-speed portal to all things Olympic -- from the silly to the sublime, from a quiz on Olympic mascots (remember that fuzzy thing from the Atlanta Games?) to the history of the Olympics back to 776 B.C.
Olympics-related sites may outnumber actual spectators at Olympic events in Athens 7,003 to 1. (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but only a slight one judging from the rows upon rows of empty seats at many Olympic venues.)
Want to vote on the Olympic Kleenex Moment of the Day? Care to know more about 2004 Olympic Mascots Phevos and Athena? Want to learn about the history of badminton or Michael Phelps' workout music? There are sites out there to help.
Most Olympics-specific sites include news, event results, details of each sport's history and rules, athlete biographies, profiles and features, event schedules, television schedules, photographs, video clips and Olympic history as well as other fun features.
Here are just a few:
The NBC Universal networks -- NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, USA, Telemundo and NBC HDTV -- are slated to offer more than 1,200 hours of programming during the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad with each event getting some degree of TV coverage. Consequently, its Olympic site has tons of information that's useful for the seriously sports-minded as well as the casual watcher. A section of the site called the O-Zone can be personalized to provide Olympic news and schedules specific to a particular zip code.
In addition to the live scores, event results and news stories, there are lots of cute little features about the athletes and Athens culture, as well as special sponsor-related features such as the Kleenex Moment of the Day and VISA's Celebrate the Underdog vignettes. Many athlete bios even include lists of the athlete's favorite workout music.
So far, this site has proved more popular than it was during the last Olympics. In contrast to 2002's Winter Olympics, this year's Summer Olympics attracted 27 percent more unique visitors to NBCOlympics.com, or 1.3 million surfers, as compared to 1 million visitors during the same comparable week two years ago, according to Nielsen//Netratings.
Athens2004.com, which fell below Nielsen//NetRatings' reporting levels the week prior, shot to 640,000 unique audience last week.
"Due to the time zone difference between Athens and the U.S., this year's Olympics on the Web has turned out to play a significant role for American fans," said Kaizad Gotla, Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "People are keeping track of the games during the day through the Internet and watching the events in the evening on television."
The official Web site of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games has all the traditional schedules, scores, athletes' bios and photographs but also is rich in descriptions of the majesty and history of the Olympics, Athens and each Olympic sport. This all-purpose site offers something for the armchair spectator and is an excellent resource for anyone actually visiting the Games, with information about transportation, weather and tickets.
The site feature worth the price of your Internet connection is the informative and humorous Olympic animations for each sport with characters that are strangely reminiscent of those in the cartoon drawings on airplane evacuation seat cards. Learn the rules and techniques of a sport. See what an uppercut looks like or learn the dimensions of the sabre.
This official site of the Olympic Movement comes out of the United Kingdom. Get real-time results and competition schedules. Learn about the heroes, discipline, equipment and history of each Olympic sport and the history of the Games dating back to antiquity. Through nifty computer animation, visit the Olympic Village. Get behind-the-scenes looks at the volunteers, the culture, the fans and the media. See pictures/video from all previous modern Olympic contests dating back to 1896. Get the latest news from the Athens Games Organizing Committee and even learn about the Doping Control Center.
www.infoplease.com/spot/04olympics.html
Talk about fun facts to know and tell! This is a fantastic site for anyone wanting to know tons of geeky, Olympic factoids and trivia as well as some quick, bare-bones, day-to-day news highlights -- namely daily medal counts, world records set and facts of the day. Want to learn about Olympic symbols and traditions? Want to see an Olympic timeline from ancient Greece to today or know how many people watched the opening ceremonies in Athens? Want to know the all-time medal count for the United States or learn about Poland's "Stella the Fella"? This is the place. A person could devise questions for 28 different Olympic versions of Trivial Pursuit from the information on this site. Trivia types will love it.
About.com's Olympic Blog guide Jamie Fitzpatrick has been writing a smart and funny blog each day rounding up news, views and controversies of interest at the Games. He already has touched upon cranky TV critics less than thrilled with the coverage and misunderstandings between athletes and others due to less-than-skilled translators.
"How many hidden cameras, fighter jets, surveillance blimps and NATO troops does it take to stop a guy dressed like a clown? More than they have in Athens, apparently," writes Fitzpatrick about the Canadian guy in the purple tutu and polka-dotted tights who -- much to the consternation of Olympic security officials -- jumped from a 3-meter springboard platform into the pool during a synchronized diving competition earlier this week.
The site is a clearinghouse of sorts with hyperlinks galore for myriad things Olympic, from gossip, news, history and trivia to recipes for a good Greek meal.
This is the funny, personal blog of a guy from London visiting the Games. It's part journal, part talk show and part game show.
On beach volleyball: "I'm quite a fan of beach volley, having seen it played at the highest level in Australia, Greece and, oddly, on a rain-swept seafront in Oslo. And no, it's not just good because it's played by beautiful people in skimpy outfits -- It's actually a really fast-moving, exciting sport. No, really."
Blog readers currently are trying to guess the price (in Euros) of two beers, two waters, two hot dogs and two creme caramels at Olympic venues. The winner will receive "a tacky Olympic souvenir."
"It's been really great being able to write a sort of irreverent fan's eye guide to the Games to give people an idea of what it really feels like to be here experiencing the Games," site creator Kit Simon, 29, said Thursday via e-mail from Athens.
In addition to the daily dispatches, Simon's trusty and ubiquitous companion -- a big-eyed stuffed animal bird named Robin -- is featured daily in photographs with athletes, at various Olympic venues and just hanging around Athens. Robin has been seen in the company of badminton Bronze Medalist Mi Zhou of China, Australian weight-lifter Deborah Lovely and a Hungarian water polo fan, to name a few. He also sat through the U.S. men's basketball loss to Puerto Rico and has enjoyed women's beach volleyball and water polo.
Blog on, Kit! Blog on, Robin!
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