Olympics Leave Bad Impression of Americans

The Olympics left Sydney last Sunday with a bang in a spectacular closing show. President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch declared the games "the best Olympic Games ever." Yet with the lowest television ratings in years and some disagreeable events that have left a taint on America, there is something just that doesn't seem right about the Olympics.

The programming for Sept. 30, including track superstar Marion Jones competing in the long jump for her third medal and the United States basketball team's nail-biting two-point semifinal victory over Lithuania, pulled in a 10.6 rating (roughly equivalent to 10.6 million televisions) and 20 share (approximaetly 20 percent of the televisions that were turned on for that period). That's 15 percent lower than the previous worst nightly rating for these Olympics, 35 percent lower than what advertisers were told to expect and 40-43 percent lower than NBC Sports predicted its programs would get. No night at any of the last three Summer Games rated worse than the 12.3 for the closing ceremonies at Seoul 12 years ago.

The cumulative rating for the Olympics slipped to a new low of 14.2 with a 25 share. That's worse other than for any Summer Olympics since the Tokyo Games in 1964. NBC decided to show all action on tape because Sydney is 15 hours ahead of the East Coast, and one factor probably hurting the ratings was the delay between when events are completed and when they are aired. Results are available on the Internet and on TV sportscasts up to 24 hours before NBC shows the competition. The Olympics also have to compete with the NFL, college football and baseball's pennant races.

On top of the low American viewership, several events occurred which showcased Americans poorly to the rest of world. The national attitudes taken by American athletes contrasted greatly with those taken by athletes from other countries such as Gezahgne Abera of Ethiopia who won the country's fourth gold medal in the marathon or Cathy Freeman of Australia, who carried both the Australian and Aboriginal flags after winning the women's 400m. These are athletes who teem with pride for their countries.

Some of the American athletes represented the United States less admirably, such as two free-style wrestlers who turned ugly when the gold medal escaped their grasp. Sammie Henson, who said he wasn't interested in a silver medal, got exactly that by losing 5-4 on Sept. 30 to the wrestler he beat for the 1998 world championship. Then, as he sobbed uncontrollably on the mat and during the medal ceremony, he was jeered by a crowd that felt he was an ungracious loser. Brandon Slay's complaint after losing 4-0: He wasn't allowed to wrestle at all. Slay also was jeered ‹ much more loudly than Henson ‹ when he wouldn't shake the hand of referee Borje Schoug of Sweden. These childlike gestures present a very poor image of American sportsmanship.

A Russian referee was suspended from international competition for four years after the U.S. team protested about his officiating in the featherweight final, featuring their world champion Ricardo Juarez. An American call for Juarez to be declared the winner instead of Kazakhstan's Bekzat Sattarkhanov was rejected however, leaving the United States without an Olympic boxing gold for the first time since 1948. The U.S. team might very well have had a valid claim, but unfortunately, most people will probably just view their complaint as a feeble attempt at winning any way possible.

But by far the biggest spectacle of American ostentatiousness came with track and field. Americans finally had a big night at the Olympic track, prompting three playings of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for U.S. relay teams standing atop the victory podium. And that's when the trouble began.

The U.S. women's 1600m and the men's 1600m and 400m relay teams all won gold. The women's team also won bronze in the 4x400m relay. The men's 4x400m meter team decided a victory was plenty enough cause for celebration. On a victory lap, the Americans ‹ two of them barechested and wrapped in the stars and stripes ‹ preened and flexed muscles while posing for several minutes. And, when awarded their medals by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the foursome­ Maurice Greene, Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams and Brian Lewis ‹ continued clowning. Greene stuck his tongue out at cameras.

"I held my breath," U.S. Olympic Committee vice president Sandy Baldwin said Sunday. "I tell the athletes at every one of the briefings that American athletes are judged by different standards than the rest of the world, because we live in a blessed country. Anytime we forget that for even a moment, we'll be criticized more than most people will."

The criticism came from fans in the crowd, who whistled and booed the Americans as they celebrated. It also came from some U.S. athletes, who cringed at the antics. One of the foursome wrapped a flag around his head. A bare-chested Williams draped himself in a flag and flapped it as though he were a bird.

There are other things that probably contribute to the view of Americans as arrogant, such as Marion Jones going to her first Olympics and proclaiming she was going to win five gold medals. She fell short, winning only three golds and two bronzes. Still, she finished the Games as the first woman to win five track and field medals.

Don't get me wrong, not all American athletes behave in such ways, but unfortunately the ones who do often do it in high profile. Michael Johnson did the same in the Atlanta games four years ago, but Johnson seemed to learn his lesson, saying, "Atlanta was once in a lifetime, and honestly, that's not something I want to go through again." He quietly and respectably capped his golden Olympic career by running the anchor leg on the winning 4x400m relay team, preserving his record of having won only gold in his five Olympic and nine world championships, since he won't compete in the world championships next year and this is his last Olympics.

The United States finished the Olympics with 97 medals overall and 39 gold, beating out Russia and China, the top two competitors. There were 56 countries with fewer than 10 medals overall and 29 countries that didn't win a single one. No one doubts that we are an athletic superpower, but when our athletes flaunt it, it trivializes the struggle that other people must overcome just to get to the Olympics.