The coverage is so different from what we normally have access to in the US, and now having spent the first week of the Olympics in Amsterdam and the second week in Norway, we've watched more televised speed skating and cross country skiing than we've seen in our entire lives.
US coverage is often criticized for only showing a select set of sports and for over-highlighting the US competitors/competitions. However, it's not much different over here; we've been hard pressed to find anything but speed skating in the Netherlands, and cross country skiing here in Norway. For obvious reasons, coverage focuses on what most people want to see, and the broadcasters would be hard-pressed to air everything.
Anyway, it's been great fun to witness other countries get so excited about their national sports and, by chance, we've been hanging out in two countries that are HUGE medal contenders. Norway is racking up the gold medals, and both Norway and Netherlands are top five in overall count.
Medal Standings
| Country |  |  |  |
Total
|
|---|
1
|  Norway |
10
|
4
|
8
|
22
|
2
|  Russia |
9
|
10
|
7
|
26
|
3
|  Canada |
9
|
10
|
5
|
24
|
4
|  United States |
9
|
7
|
11
|
27
|
5
|  Germany |
8
|
4
|
4
|
16
|
6
|  Netherlands |
6
|
7
|
9
|
22
|
7
|  Switzerland |
6
|
3
|
2
|
11
|
The ski lodge where we stopped for lunch yesterday was absolutely quiet for twenty minutes, everyone glued to the television, as Norway went on to win another gold.
I had fun taking cross country ski lessons this week, which happened to take place in a quiet back field of the high school for elite Norwegian athletes.
This graphic covered a huge wall on the outside of the school and is a photo collage of all the students at the school who compteted in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Watching Olympic hockey in downtown Oslo, Norway v. Finland
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