Comments on: Can swimming ever be a mass spectator sport?

By: kayla

kayla — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:29:20 +0000

Well, in a way he’s right. He isn’t talking about swimming in terms of world wide popularity. He’s talking about the U.S. And the fact is, Americans couldn’t care less about swimming. It’s not perceived as a butch sport (despite the incredible strength and physique of the swimmers) and therefore doesn’t have the popularity for American football and basketball. It’s not like you’ll see a bunch of guys in a bar in the U.S. argue over whose better…Phelps or Thorpe or whoever. Also, swimming existed long before the U.S. became a country. It wasn’t “invented” in the States like basketball, baseball, etc. It’s not followed in the U.S. like it is in Australia. So, the U.S. vs. Aussie thing is not really that interesting in the U.S. outside of the U.S. swimming community (athletes, fans, coaches) etc. Swimmers in the the U.S. like Phelps are not usually idolized and hounded by the press like film stars (Phelps’ coverage is highly unusual but given his caliber it is reasonable) like swimmers in Australia like Rice and Thorpe. I think the writer was just stating the attitude Americans have towards the sport and giving reasons why.

By: Michael Khreuz

Michael Khreuz — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:32:16 +0000

Congrats to michael Phelps. Honestly though, NBC killed my enthusiasm as a fan of swimming.

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:21:14 +0000

Sean, What a load of cynical codswallop. Obviously, you’re not a swimming fan.
The USA-Australia swimming rivalry has few parallels in world sport but dumb-arse idiots like you don’t know that.
Swimming isn’t football, it’s not a week-in week-out event — it’s a blast every couple of years as world championships and Olympic Games sort the wheat from the chaff.
This is a sport you work up to like football’s World Cup and, no, it’s not always photogenic but that doesn’t diminish the athletes’ performance.
The Beijing swim meet was one of the best ever and I’ve seen them all since Tokyo.
And the best you can do is dismiss it with your poorly informed cynicism and prejudice.