The rings and the box: television spectacle and the Olympics

There can be little doubt that the Olympic Games could not have attained their current form without television. The Olympic Games, as they now exist, are a product of television’s power to produce and distribute live global spectacle. Indeed the Games are perhaps better understood as a television event than a sporting one. Of the Olympic sports only athletics, tennis, football, basketball and boxing have any significantly large spectator following outside the Olympic Games and for the sports of tennis, football, basketball and boxing, the Olympics are only a minor part of their sporting year and competitive formats. In my estimate, the other 22 sports combined account for less than 3 per cent of television sport on terrestrial television in the UK. The Olympics aside, athletics cannot compete for popularity or financial strength with the major commercialised sports such as football, basketball, golf, tennis, motor racing and American Football. Most people who watch the Olympic Games do not otherwise follow even the sports that are most prominently featured on Olympic television, athletics, swimming and gymnastics.