Do the Olympics Still Matter?

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Tokyo Olympics are drawing to a close, and it’s with perhaps less enthusiasm for the event than any Games in recent memory. Viewership is down sharply from the 2016 Games in Rio, and while much of that is no doubt due to the timezone difference as well as the lack of spectators due to the pandemic, there is still a sense among many that the Olympic’s future is uncertain. Fewer and fewer cities are actively bidding to host the Olympics, and corruption scandals at the IOC as well as doping controversies have left much of the public cynical about the true purpose of the Games. Jeremy Schaap, who has covered eight Olympics on the ground, examines where the Olympic movement is headed...and reflects on some of his favorite extinct Olympic events from history. Then, former rhythmic gymnastics Junior Olympic gold medalist Katie Nolan shares her memories from the sport she loves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The International Olympic Committee has the honor to announce that the games of the
0:12.0	35th Olympiad are awarded to Brisbane, Australia.
0:20.0	When the IOC awarded the 2032 Summer Games to Brisbane last month, the future of the Olympics
0:29.6	was the turban for more than a decade to come.
0:33.0	But thanks to scandal after scandal, after scandal, and now a Tokyo Games
0:39.3	that many simply tuned out, that future also looks as bleak as it ever has.
0:46.9	Today, our Olympic savant, Jeremy Shapp, explains why the Olympic flame might be burning
0:52.8	out.
0:54.0	And then Katie Nolan illuminates the sport where she once took gold.
1:00.2	I'm Pablo Torre. It's Friday, August 6th.
1:04.4	This is ESPN Daily, presented by UKG. Our purpose is people.
1:12.9	Jeremy Schap, how many Olympics have you covered?
1:15.3	What's the number at?
1:16.8	Eight, eight.
1:19.2	Five winter games, three summer games.
1:22.0	I was on pace, though, for many more a long time ago.
1:26.1	I was at three in a row from 92 to 94, three in two years,
1:31.6	and the pace is kind of slackened. I imagine it's a lot to keep bouncing around various
1:37.4	cities on this planet trying to maintain an encyclopedic knowledge of every sport that's ever been
1:43.9	played.
1:44.6	That's why I pretty much stopped in 1996.
1:47.7	I don't accumulate any knowledge starting with 1996.
	...

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