TEALA KRAPFL STAFF WRITER
Many students watched in anticipation as the best athletes from around the world competed for an Olympic gold medal.
With a number of U.S. athletes in the running for gold, many Americans were anxious for the Winter Olympics to begin.
Jill Blanshan was excited to see what the athletes had to offer.
“I may or may not have had a countdown,” she said.
Blanshan watched as many of the events as she could in between meetings and homework.
It has been a running tradition for her and a close friend to watch the games together, but text messages and phone calls sufficed when they weren’t together.
Blanshan wasn’t alone in her Olympic excitement. According to TV by the Numbers, an average of 8.22 million people watched the U.S. hockey team defeat Canada on Feb. 21. This is just short of the 8.23 million that tuned in for election night coverage in 2008.
Harpreet Bhatti, a student from India, made sure to catch the game against Canada.
“It was really exciting to watch,” he said. “The U.S. in ice hockey isn’t considered to be very strong.”
But the U.S. hockey team skated to the finals this year but lost in the gold medal match, exciting Bhatti and others.
It seems to be stories like that which attract many to the games. It is the underdogs that come out on top and the surprise victories that draw in viewers, Blanshan said.
She said that knowing athletes overcame tragedies, like natural disasters or internal conflicts, to compete is very inspiring.
“I’m interested in the backgrounds of the Olympic athletes,” Blanshan said. “It’s such a different kind of competition.”
While many students cheered on the American athletes, students from other nations also cheered for their home country’s Olympians.
“I’ve been waiting for Vancouver 2010 ever since Torino [the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics],” Daniel Engeset said.
Engeset, a student from Norway, watched as much of the competition as his schedule permitted.
“I tune into the Olympics pretty much all the time,” he said.
Engeset kept a close eye on many of the Norwegian Olympians as they racked up medal after medal to finish fourth in the medal standings.
“Norwegians are pretty much all Winter Olympics fanatics,” Engeset said. “A lot of Norwegians travel to the Olympic cities.”
Martina Kacmarcikova, a student from Slovakia, said she and many other people back home get together to tune in to the games.
“I like the possibility of seeing some of the best athletes in the world competing against each other,” she said.
Kacmarcikova enjoyed cheering her country on in a number of events, but paid special attention to hockey.
“[Slovakia has] a pretty good team this year,” she said.
Slovakia lost the battle for a bronze medal in men’s ice hockey to Finland.
Aside from some good competition, Bhatti said that it’s interesting to see the host countries in a new light.
“If a country holds the Olympics, they become known all over the world,” he said.
“[After the 2008 Summer Olympics] people look at China in a different way than they did before,” Bhatti said.
Events like the opening ceremonies show off traditional aspects of a country, which Bhatti and Blanshan both enjoy watching.
“It’s interesting to learn about other countries we aren’t usually exposed to,” Blanshan said.
Although this year’s Olympic games have come and gone, many students are already looking forward to cheering on their country during the 2012 Summer Games in London and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.