Since the first modern Olympics during April, 1896, in Athens, Greece the world has competed every four years. Recently, every two years, and the subject has been broached–which is better: Summer or Winter?
During the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics it was recorded that 3.6 billion people watched the summer Olympics for at least one minute. The average at any given time was about 160 million viewers according to the Global Television and Online Media Report.
Looking at the ratings for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics had an estimated 1.8 billion viewers watched at least one minute of coverage, an increase of 0.7 billion when compared to the 2006 Torino Olympics. The average viewers per minute were about 48.7 million viewers recorded by Global Television and Online Media Overview.
These statistics do not include the 272 million views of online videos of which about 125 million live streams for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The first Winter Olympics to have major outlets for online broadcasting available to about 19.4% of the world’s population. Online views for Vancouver were about 785% higher than those for Torino in 2006.
When looking towards the online views for 2008, Beijing was considered the first truly digital Olympic Games; however this did not hold back the streaming of 628 million videos. About 90% of the population of China alone watched the 4,000 hours of online coverage broadcasted there.
During a poll taken at Colonia High School it is clear that most students and teachers prefer Summer Olympics. Mrs. Jennifer Murphy, Vice Principal of the school provided the idea, “more people are home and not in school during the summer.” This is of course considering that most teachers and students, who have more time on their hands then during the school year, decide to watch the Olympic events.
One argument that’s been uncovered is that some events in the Olympics appeal to different genders. Heather Passarelli, a freshman at Colonia High School, when asked which she preferred and why, responded “I like Summer Olympics better because I enjoy watching Volleyball and Gymnastics. Volleyball is my favorite event because I play it competitively.” Indeed, the more popular events such as basketball, track and field, gymnastics, and swimming, which are more common high school sports, are in the Summer Olympics.
Passarelli also brings up the point that “more people like Summer Olympics better because it has more events that people can relate to.” This seems to be a valid case as schools host similar sporting events as to those in the Summer Olympics.
Craig Epstein, a student enrolled at Colonia High School said, “My favorite event for summer Olympics is basketball because it’s the most entertaining.” it should be noted that Mr. Epstein has is an avid basketball player which could possibly be the reason it’s his favorite event.
