Columnist Dean Juipe: ‘Forgotten Olympics’ near an end

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Most of the 11,000 athletes representing 199 countries and participating in 300 events have devoted their entire lives to performing and excelling in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney.

So this is not meant to be demeaning toward them. Their personal efforts and sacrifices will, hopefully, always be rewarded.

But you know how these Olympics are going to be remembered?

Well, that's a trick question of sorts because these Olympics aren't going to be remembered. It may sound coy, but it appears as if it has already been decided: The Sydney Games are going into the history books as the "Forgotten Olympics."

They'll be slighted, as if they had never occurred.

As for "why?" the reasons are many and only somewhat vague.

Perhaps at the top of the list has been the absolute lack of a completely stirring and endearing individual achievement, U.S. sprinter Marion Jones' feats notwithstanding. If anything, her accomplishments are at least marginally tainted by the drug controversy that has ensnared her shot-put throwing husband, C.J. Hunter.

A true -- and importantly, lovable -- superstar did not emerge in Sydney.

Worse, the drug situation stole headlines and became an immense distraction. It was impossible to ignore.

Not that many in the United States were paying much attention anyway. While the nightly broadcasts in this country on NBC occupy seven of the top 10 spots for the most recent week, overall ratings are down 36 percent from the Atlanta Games in 1996 and down 19 percent from the Barcelona Games in 1992.

The Sydney Games have garnered only a 14.6 share of the viewing audience, which is 9 percent below NBC's guarantee to sponsors and has resulted in the network running free "make-good" commercials to compensate the advertisers for their losses.

The U.S. was expected to experience something of a natural letdown, with the Games 17 time zones away after being here four years ago. But no one foresaw this type of significant decline in public interest.

That said, the Games have been huge from Australia's perspective and the Aussies appear to be having a wonderful time. In that respect, the concept of an international athletic competition and a goodwill festival that rotates sites around the globe continues to work.

Yet it could also be argued that the average sports fan finds the notion of an every-other-year Olympics a bit too much. Since separating the Summer and Winter Olympics in 1994 and having only a two-year interval between one competition or the other, the Olympics never seem to go away. Stories related to athletes or venues are filed without interruption, causing the typical reader or viewer to see the Olympics through a weary eye.

The scandals don't help either, such as Salt Lake City now having spent $4.2 million on legal fees to defend its indicted executives who are accused of bribing assorted International Olympic Committee members.

But, take heart. The Sydney experience is almost over.

Five hours of closing ceremonies Sunday will short-circuit everyone's memories.