Does anyone follow or watch the Olympics?

Don't watch it here either ID, only sport I watch is football.

I generally don't watch the Winter sports. Although the crazy course conditions from the weather is making some events a lot more interesting. 

I enjoyed some of the winter sports (hockey) the slalom and figure skating...

I didn't enjoy the politicization, however...and everything that went on around that.

Hockey. That's about it.

I was watching until I learned some things about the place they are at. I learned that the buildings were constructed by laborers brought in from the east and most of them weren't paid. Essentially slave labor was used. I learned that a whole forest region was trashed. I learned that a whole bunch of people who lived in the area were told to get out. I learned that a good part of that area is now polluted from the construction of a lot of those buildings. If that wasn't enough the whole repressive regime in Russia and anti LGBT stance tipped the scales in me not watching anymore. I personally think that The United States should have boycotted.

OK that's my rant for today.

Yep. I try to watch, and at the very least keep my eye on, every Winter Olympics.

Canada is doing very well this year.

@Chasbo

A little surprising that you would consider USA needing to boycott Russia. Every major power has done things of questionable legality. Shall the world boycott the USA because of Iraq or Afganistan or Sweatshops or the housing bubble or deliberate monetary inflation?

Not saying what Russia did was right. Just saying that every government has done something wrong...

Nope, not me

Yawn.  Moral equivalence sucks. 

Personally I passionately go out of my way to avoid watching the Olympics.  The whole thing reeks and, at least in the US, NBC couldn't line up enjoyable coverage of an event no matter how much time was available or money was on the line.  

Bob Costas... blegh!

So, of course, my wife loves the Olympics and tries to catch every moment.  

This. Since my very own Slovakia played like shit and was eliminated, i am cheering now for either Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog or Paul Stastny, who all play for my beloved Avalanche!

Woot!

More good news for Canada.

Just watched Canada beat the USA in women's hockey. Gold 4 times in a row, yahooooooooooooooo!

Curling is just so....riveting to watch

I like to watch the bobsleds... the luge and skeleton are also pretty crazy to watch as well.

Those are good. Short Track Speed Skating can get crazy at times too with the shoves and falls.

I really can't be bothered with the Olympics, not since it became more about money than the competition.  Far too much money is spent for the prestige of winning gold, and the lesser countries with small economies have little or no hope of competing against the wealthiest nations with $ to burn.  Moreover, I don't like the fact it is so political these days, what with all the chest beating from the major nations, and various national Olympic Committee members unable to agree and coming to blows over national pride. 

It's not about the sport anymore, but rather about which country can win the most gold medals to boost its national pride, and when the insane amounts of funding money could have gone to far more worthy and needy causes, I find the whole thing somewhat obscene.  And when one athlete's special competition suit costs more than my entire lifetime wardrobe, it's bordering on feching criminal.

So no, I haven't watched one millisecond of the Winter Olympics.  In fact, I haven't turned my TV on in a fortnight or so, other than to let my grandkids watch cartoons on the Cartoon Network, so I don't even see it on the news or in commercials... because I have zero tolerance for such things.

Cricket and Rugby League are the only sports I bother with, but not so fanatically anymore.  Big money and power have infiltrated there as well, so neither are the clean, competitive sports they once were.

will usually try and catch a few events in the summer and winter ones that I like, but this time 'round... whole thing a turn off... for a lot of Chasbo's reasons... (#5) and then topped off by the mass poisoning of the homeless dogs that wander around the town... nice story that that dude who found a litter on the streets is trying to take them back to the US for adoption...

Rio becoming a turn off too.. with the stories of the poor areas being bulldozed... link..

I think it's time to start rethinking how the summer games are run.  It's too much of a burden on any one country to build the massive infrastructures when they are economically struggling... Greece could certainly have done without it...

Time to break up some of the events and put them in countries who already have the infrastructure from previous games.. eg... Sydney, London, US etc..etc.. and poorer countries who want to participate at some stage can just host one event and supply structures for that... would change the flavour of the whole event somewhat, but might be a positive thing that it gets shared around more... I know in Sydney it was a helluva party... I could never have imagined it being so much fun...

The best thing about the Olympics is the closing ceremony... except too much money is spent on that as well.  There's more than enough money in the world to eradicate poverty and help feed the starving, but no, the powerful and wealthy are bolstering national pride with gold medals and celebrating it at the end with 10 mil worth of fireworks... with another 20 mil on lavish costumes, food, dance and music.

And another thing, let's get rid of the bullshit events being labelled as sport and get back to traditional sports as they were once played.  Get rid of the special designs and tech that give competitors from wealthier nations the edge and bring back athlete against athlete, each depending on their own prowess to either win or lose the event.  Only then would it be worth watching, and not before.

I don't know people. I think some of you make sense but lets face it, the Olympics is hardly the only event one can find fault with. I can list a page full of stuff that happens far more often then once every 4 years. This is somewhat different but as an example as much as I enjoy our national sport hockey I don't agree with the salary's the players make. I mean is anyone really worth multi million dollar contracts for playing a sport a few months out of the year?

Now as far as the Olympics is concerned I don't agree with a lot of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes but there is nothing I can personally do to change it either. I don't see how turning the TV off and boycotting the event will have an impact except rob me of the joy of watching competitive sports. I know that sports is not every ones cup of tea. Some would prefer to watch Coronation Street or the Playboy Channel but I like to watch sports.  

steroid against steroid    

what's wrong with Ikebana on ice...  

I don't not watch the Olympics to boycott it, as such.  Despite not agreeing with the politics and money spent, the included sports do not interest me enough to sit through it.  I used to be an avid cricket and rugby league fan, but even those have lost much of their allure due to various rule changes brought about by power and money, sissies on the relevant boards caving in to the demands of influential people who'd be better keeping out of affairs that don't really concern them.  I still catch a few games here and there, but nowhere near as many as I used to... and being that getting to the ground is an ordeal these days, I no longer purchase a season ticket as I'd rarely get to use it, if ever.

you are Canadian. you probably don't get the full dose of propaganda because your country doesn't really matter from a global perspective.

it's the same here. media coverage in Austria (where i live) or Switzerland is very different and way more differentiated from the media coverage in Germany (where i come from). not only on this topic.

it's also a little amusing how German reporters always try to provoke our athletes to complain about the games or the Russians, but it never works.

That's it, you see, money and tech made the events too competitive for many athletes, and there were all these steroid peddlers just itching to sell it to them.  That's why I say let's get back to the basics and let athletes compete on their own merits.  Without the high demand and expectations being put on them, there'd be less need for some to resort to steroids, not if it were a more fair/even playing field.

[quote who="sydneysiders" reply="19" id="3442747"]what's wrong with Ikebana on ice...[/quote

I have no idea what/who that is... but if she's [sounds female] on ice she should seek help for her addiction.

Seriously, I have no idea who she is or what she does... that's how much I do not watch sports or sports news.  When it comes to that sort of thing I is iggerant, as my one of my grandsons [3 y/o] would say..."iggerant"  Bless his little cotton socks.

"you are Canadian. you probably don't get the full dose of propaganda because your country doesn't really matter from a global perspective."

OK if you say so, lol

Ikebana...  Japanese flower arranging...    just being silly...  

That's fine, you're as entitled as any of to act the goose now and then.  Besides, you wouldn't be a true WCer if you didn't.