Am I the only one mad about Olympic coverage?

I am miffed too I can't watch it at all
It seems like equestrian sports is not important to the viewers

The vast majority of viewers aren't interested in horses.

For the vast majority, Dressage could be called: "People Bouncing on Bouncy Horses".

Eventing is easier for most to understand: "Was There a Pileup?"

Show Jumping: "Was There a Wreck?"

Nor would commentary help. I remember watching Dressage on YouTube, and the commentator said in BBC tones, "For Anky to win, she'll need to ride as only Anky can ride!" Yeah, THAT helps a lot! I found myself wishing there was some redneck to say something like, "He'll go faster if you let go of his head, lady!", or, "Look at her lean back & pull...bet she has a strong back! I'd hire her to clean my floors, no problem!"

Instead, the commentator went on to add brilliant analysis like, "She's practiced this many times in practice..." What? You mean dressage riders don't go for a world championship without practicing first? What's next? Saying in hushed tones, "She rides like that deliberately?" or "She tried those clothes on before she came to the stadium"?

I may like watching horse stuff, but most figure it makes a good time to go to the potty and piaffe a little...

Maybe they could have the dressage riders wear bikinis...or perform two at a time and allow them to punch the other rider!

Or perform two at a time and allow them to punch the other rider!

Ha HA HAHAHAAAA!!!! I'd even pay extra to see that!

Yeah, I wish they showed it more too. I also wish they had more Western events! It's not like we're the only ones doing them, and they are growing around the world.

Swimming equals a sleeping pill for me. Gymnastics are pretty boring too. Rowing ='s SNORE. I would love to see more of the shooting, and diving.
That synchronised stuff was crazy.

I can't even watch the equestrian sports. Dressage is on at like 3 am for me. 3AM!!!!!!! Wth!?!?!?!?! HRTV doesn't even recover it. I'm stuck with watching TB racing all day.

I haven't gotten anything here either-really disappointing.

Made the riders wear bikinis and give them swords. Wasnt dressage originally cavalry saber fighting tests ?

Dressage is percieved as a hoity toity sport reserved for the super elite to perform and understand. The coustumes they wear isnt helping that image. I think they need to bring Endurance racing into the olympics

The coverage on my TV (I have verizon fios) has been showing the equestrian events, but the problem is they're only on between 3-5am and even though I can record it I want to watch it live when it's in action. If it's not that, when it is on, a few times on my tv it didn't even say it was equestrian, it said it was the usual: swimming, gymnastics, rowing, etc. I was quite irritated.

Luckily I was able to catch a few things like the first day of cross country for the last hour because of it saying it was something completely different.

The pay TV company Foxtel in Australia has AMAZING coverage. Every medal event is beamed live...so pretty much everything is shown on seven (eight?) channels. London 6 has become my new favourite channel as all the equestrian events are aired live at night (AEST time, that is :P) and it's ad free! Free-to-air Channel 9 has rights to air the Games but from what I've heard the coverage isn't very good.

Wait...sorry I'm not ticked off as I have pay TV but all the free-to-air stuff is crap!
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It would be interesting to hear about coverage from an European's perspective.

I agree with all of the comments about "why" the horsey-events are missing from local coverage. In addition, I would add this:

The "people" factor is missing. We know that there are equestrians competing who have had to face obstacles and overcome challenges. They have competed and lost and won big to get to the Olympics and be chosen on the USA team. But who knows it? Not I. I couldn't even tell you the ratio of male riders to female riders on Team USA.

The USA olympic team should be praising these hopefuls during competitions and advertising them in mainstream America. But they don't so people don't know.

On one hand, these riders have their privacy. Teens are not following them around gawking and snapping pictures. No papparazzi. But, they also come home with several medals and no one knows a thing about it.

I would also debate the inclusion of a horse removes some of the human interest. My husband asked me last night who won the medal. The rider or the horse. Yes, and I still married him. But, the fact the competitor is on a horse does in some way, reduce the excitement.

Yesterday I watched men's 200 metre swimming for all of 6 laps. The announcers went on and on about effort of the swimmer. The swimmer's condition, power of the dolphin kick, extension of the arm. Smoothness. They drew circles around the swimmer to highlight what they see.

In Dressage, the whole point is not to see the rider move. To illustrate dressage properly would be to discuss the horse, not the rider. And, that turns people off. They want to identify with the athlete as a person.

In all Olympic events, the sports that receive the greatest coverage are the individual competitor events, such as ice skating (couples or singles) gymnastics, swimming, skiing. The luge gets its fame for being so freaky fast and dangerous.

If you sit back and really watch and listen to the Olympics, you are learning about the athletes and not necessarily about the sport itself. It's all about the people and the human side of training, sacrifcing, and competing. We hear stories of their childhood, their families, tragedies and successes.

Equestrians train, sacrifice and compete just as intensely. They have families. They suffer losses and have successes. But, they are not household names.

I couldn't even tell you if any of our own forum members are in London this month.

For us to get the proper coverage, they need to come out from the shadows.

My two cents.

PS - I would also add that while almost every competitor is backed by money to some extent, the greatest praise and following goes to the little guy that worked hard and beat the odds. Most people I know think that equestrians have this unending pot of money and did not beat the odds.

What the sport needs is an inner city kid who woked her/his way through lessons and is now the top rider. That's something the people can get behind. Nobody wants to get behind a snooty britches wearing third-generation money child who had a nanny and went to private boarding school.

(no offense to your rich kids. Being funny)

If Endurance racing was an Olympic sport, I'd work my butt off trying to get there. I love Endurance.

I agree tho, they should have a bit more. It's basically just dressage, cross country and show jumping. It would be nice to see some western sports there as well. Western dressage, barrels even... some sort of speed event!