Olympics & Insiders

This article first appeared in the Age on August 21

Who can't remember where they were and whom they were with when they saw Cathy Freeman winning the 400 metres 4 years ago? Or the look on Freeman's face when she realized what she'd just achieved? Moments like that are the pay off for watching what can be hours of not much with only the powerful motivator of perving to keep you going. (I have it on good authority that the Cuban women's volleyball team were particularly hot).

Apparently American audiences were up in arms about having to watch TV at odd hours during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. How cold would it have been in the middle of the night in an American summer? Not very. As anyone who got up at 3.30 a.m. last Sunday morning, on what was the coldest day in 25 years would know, they're a pack of wimps. At least the loyal were rewarded by the women winning gold in the 4 x 100m freestyle. Watching it the next day, as I did, was a pleasure but not the same as watching it as it happened.

There is nothing like live TV. I even like to watch TV dramas, like The Sopranos 'live' rather than watching the video the next day. There is the sense (possibly deluded) that this makes the viewing experience more authentic, a sense you are sharing the show with the thousand of others who are sitting on their couches, at their houses, watching it at the same time. The best television experiences are about a sense of community - and so it is with the Olympics. I watched the opening ceremony of this year's Games on a large screen TV when I was taking my niece to the museum last Saturday and a few of us stood around the foyer watching Greek Gods fly. The experience reminded me of Sydney during the last games, when people gathered to watch large screens in public places rather than staying at home. More obscurely, I watched a Butterfly heat at the Sth Melbourne market on an old television in a fruit and vege shop. Though with a group of strangers it didn't take long for us to stop surreptitiously squeezing the avocados and begin to chat.

There is another bonus to staying up through the night. It's a way of being a part of the team, of sharing the No Pain No Gain ethos. Unlike Jana Pittman you mightn't be about to run in the finals of the 400m hurdle this Thursday morning (Channel 7, 4.55 a.m.) soon after knee surgery, but by god you are going to be sleep deprived and cold.

If you haven't been up all night watching sport, or if you have and want to push on through the rest of the day, you should consider The Insiders (ABC, Sunday, 9.00am). The Insiders is a weekly show that gives you a thorough and sometimes amusing dose of current affairs. Barrie Cassidy might wear a cardigan but don't be fooled into thinking he can't give his interviewees a hard time, as Alexander Downer found out last week when Cassidy wouldn't let him dodge the implication of his comments that North Korean missiles could reach Sydney. Each week there are a couple of hard hitting interviews as well as a panel of three discussing the issues of the day. The revolving panellists include Piers Akerman, Andrew Bolt, Annabel Crabb, Malcolm Farr, Gerard Henderson, Greg Hywood, Samantha Maiden, Karen Middleton, Matt Price, Misha Schubert, Mike Seccombe, Brian Toohey and Virginia Trioli. On a good morning their biffos might even lead you to believe you are still watching the boxing.

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