i think the winter olympics are still on. i think. hong kong doesn’t devote much attention to the olympics. the two local stations only cover olympic events during the evening and morning news; it is a two minute blurb. the cnn sidebar does give blurby updates, but so far i have yet to witness one entire event.

of cable televisions three sports channels, one of them has somewhat reluctantly pushed aside its snooker coverage to feature some olympic stuff. i watched a bit of the women’s 30k ski, some of the giant slalom, two ends of the men’s bronze curling game, and four long programmes from the women’s ice skating competition. all in one hour! you have no idea if you are watching the winning runs, or if there was a specific reasons why you saw the second and third ends of the curling game. surely those weren’t the two best?? some of the time i have to watch it muted, because the annoying commentary (in chinese) really exasperates me. i cannot imagine what they would have to contribute to the curling game, when the skip, third, or whoever is throwing the rock is explaining the strategy. yet the commentator talks over their huddles, where the team is talking in a language I UNDERSTAND, so say probably nothing at all in a language due to my own fault i don’t understand. i would rather watch one event, than to see excerpts of seven. olympics are not a big thing, and the issues that are still big things in china are not big things in the rest of the world.

in hong kong and china, the crotch slamming pairs ice skater who won the silver is MUCH bigger than any of the american skaters. the chinese fellow who won the skiing freestyle event is huge. yet no where else. it’s interesting to recognise how much our interest in athletes comes from american or canadian news stations.

after showing us blurbs, the cameras switch back to the studios where the three teenage commentators sit in a studio possibly meant to be an iceburg. it is blackish purple and grey white, and their desk sort of looks like an iceburg and it looks like there are iceburgs in the background. they wear mismatching outfits…yesterday one girl had a moss green turtleneck jumper and a violet vest with fur around the collar. one of the girl had half a princess leia hairdo yesterday, and the roll was at the front of her face just off her forehead.

olympics are meant to be about bringing the countries of the world together, but in watching the chinese version of olympic coverage, i find myself so exasperated and confused that i am going to stop watching sports and watch again with renewed appreciation lost in translation.