The Storytelling Magic of the Olympics: Drama, Glory, and Triumph
How the Olympics draws fans in just like our favorite movies, books and TV shows
The Olympics is, at its core, a global event where the absolute top athletes from around the world compete against each other to prove who is the best in a variety of sporting events. It’s entertaining on its own for those of us who are not top athletes (or athletic at all). Fandom exists for the Olympics the way it exists for other sporting events, yes, but I would argue fandom exists in the same way it does for fictional storytelling. The way we consume the Olympics through media coverage, be it online, through social media, on television, or through print publications, is akin to how we consume fictional content. We even get angry when the realities of time zones plus the immediacy of international news over social media “spoils” the ending of one of our favorite events. As humans, we love a good story: a main character who has a big want or something to prove, a clear layout of the obstacles in their way, and their path to glory. And we want to experience the entire journey from start to finish.
Recently, Netflix dropped the first two episodes of a docu series called Simone Biles Rising, a story about top world gymnast, and competitor for the U.S.A., Simone Biles. The series starts with Biles’ historic performance in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she dropped out of the team and several individual events citing mental health issues. In short, she was suffering from “the twisties,” a condition where a gymnast cannot orient themselves while in the air. It is highly dangerous, even deadly. The first two episodes of the series shows Biles preparing to return to the sport and eventually go to Paris for the games in 2024, but ends there–for now–because the rest of Biles’ story hasn’t happened yet. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed the filmmakers about their approach to the series; director Kate Walsh spoke like any director: “‘I have many outlines,’ she says with a smile. ‘Whether the episodes will look like my outlines is to be decided.’” The rest of the story will be packaged for consumption in a way that is satisfying, no matter what happens at the Paris games.
As viewers, we live for this type of suspense. Olympic stories have inspired tons of biopic and fictional content: I, Tonya, Cool Runnings, The Boys in the Boat, and Miracle are as captivating as fictional counterpoints like The Cutting Edge. We look for happy endings, or sobering meaningful ones.
The Olympics has an uncanny ability to get viewers on board with the drama of any given event pretty quickly. In the Paris 2024 Olympics so far, the men’s U.S. gymnastics team final made headlines with a bronze medal win, because of one man that many viewers had never heard of before that night: pommel horse world champion Steve Nedoroscik, who was chosen for the team just for his skill in this apparatus. Steve diligently sat through every rotation on the gym floor, watching the other men on the U.S. team successfully nail their events. By the last rotation, the pommel horse, the entire world was ready for Steve to do his best with a lead up from the announcers, the internet, social media, etc. that would rival any action movie. Hours before, many casual viewers had never heard of this athlete. Now, the entire fate of the world (it seemed) rested on his extremely muscular shoulders as he was sent in to save the day and clinch a medal win. The world collectively watched him deliver a perfect routine, and minutes later, the men were confirmed to win the bronze medal, the U.S. men’s gymnastics Olympic team’s first medal in this event in years. Not only did he win, he broke a losing streak for the team since 2008 that meant a lot to viewers and American fans.
Soon, Nedoroscik’s Instagram follower count shot up and the memes were abundant. The one I loved the most was the comparison of him to Clark Kent. One of the most pervasive story tropes in modern storytelling is that of an average–almost unnoteworthy–man who has a superhero hiding underneath. For Clark Kent, Superman is literally hidden underneath his tie, button down shirt, and glasses. Similarly, Nedoroscik, just like Clark Kent, peeled off his glasses right before getting on the horse to deliver a heroic performance and medal-winning routine.
Why do we connect so fiercely with Olympians? A recent article in Fast Company examined Olympic fans vs. sports fans that follow athletes and teams regularly, with their fandom part of their everyday identity (think Yankees, Lakers, Dallas Cowboys). For sports fans who follow teams regularly, the stories within those fandoms with those athletes are ever-evolving. I’m not really a sports junkie, so I compare it to being a Swiftie vs. simply a fan of Taylor Swift’s music: when a new album drops, Swifties delve into the lore of past albums, current and past events in Taylor’s life, and the current tour to make sense of what the new music means. But a casual fan might just enjoy the music. And they might get really into it for a while–until the next album drops and they move on. That’s how many folks watch the Olympics: they don’t know about the ins and outs of the sport, the international competition landscape of that sport, or even the athletes’ names. But by the end of a two-hour broadcast, that sport might be their new personality. Until the next Olympics, of course. (I say this as a former 15 year old who had never heard of female gymnast Dominique Moceanu before the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, but after the Magnificent 7 won the gold, I had a life-sized poster of her on my wall until I went to college.)
The Fast Company article references political scientist Benjamin Anderson’s idea of “imagined communities” where feeling part of a larger group, whose members you don’t personally know, is grounding as a citizen of a particular nation. This phenomenon plays out in team sports fandoms: if you see a random person walk by you in the same team logo jersey, tee or hat that you might also be wearing, you inevitably have a moment of connection with that stranger. For the Olympic games, the broadcast network NBC Sports tries to replicate that feeling for viewers, at least in the United States, in a nationalistic way, showing American athletes in premiere events like swimming, gymnastics, and diving in prime time broadcast coverage. The coverage itself is not neutral; it’s meant to highlight the American athletes and their stories through commentary and taped packages about their journeys to the games. It’s giving Main Character Energy x1000.
This kind of coverage may be disappointing for some–and certainly with internet, streaming, and social media access, viewers can find more neutral coverage of the events they love. But watching specific athletes and events in a particular way feels more like reading a great book or watching a thrilling movie: it is storytelling and entertainment vs. straight news. The emotional investment of viewers is necessary for the Olympic games to mean something to future athletes as well as viewers who look forward to watching every four years. It is worth noting that for two weeks every two years for the summer and winter games alternately, the international spotlight isn’t just on conflict and politics, but unity through athleticism, triumph, and team spirit. We look to stories for inspiration, human truths, and entertainment–and the Olympics delivers on these every time for every person watching in every corner of the world.
So the next time you find yourself becoming a human encyclopedia in a matter of hours about a particular Olympian or sport, think about why you’re drawn in. Chances are it’s the same way a great book sucks you in from the first page, or a TV series has you hooked and on the edge of your seat by halfway through an episode. Stories are the way humans make sense of our world, and the Olympics is one of the most fun, satisfying, and inspiring ways we get to engage.
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