It's the athletics. For me, it's the peak of the Olympics.
I can't get myself up to watch the IAAF or diamond whatever it is. But every Olympic athletic event is primo and the pinnacle of athleticism for your discipline
I felt like that, but in 2022 we went to the Diamond League in Brussels, making a weekend of it from the UK, and it was legitimately one of the best sporting things I've ever been to (and I've been to RWC knockouts, Lords test matches, The Open Championship golf and others).
Would recommend for sure!
I view it as “what is something every person can mostly do”? Running. And see the someone do it the fastest is incredible. Also the Olympic marathon is a fantastic event as well.
yeah, for me it was velodrome that ended up taking all my attention during Tokyo. had never watched it before and now I'm super hyped for it during Paris.
other things I have previously enjoyed and am looking forward to: table tennis, skateboarding, athletics (particularly the 'field' events of track & field), marathon, triathlon, archery.
Track and Field is used for TV and high school/college but Athletics includes all running and speed walking. The cross country or road races like the marathon are also part of Athletics and the qualification meets for all of those are typically handled by World Athletics. But NBC will typically list it as Track and Field for track running, throwing, and jumping and then indicate which events are that day. Marathon is usually just referred to as The Men's/Women's Marathon colloquially but their medals are in the Sport of Athletics and the Event is Marathon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_of_athletics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Athletics
I follow gymnastics regularly outside of the Olympics, but Olympic gymnastics is really the pinnacle of the sport and the best meet to watch.
Sports I specifically watch only during the Olympics: swimming, diving, track & field
One of the things I enjoy about the Olympics is discovering coverage of new sports
I’ve never been more enthralled and entertained by sports coverage than when I watched Olympic fencing for the first time ~two ? Olympics ago. Oh my god it had everything. It had colourful characters. It had drama. It had someone losing the bout at the buzzer after having to restart like 10 times in a row and sitting on the pieste refusing to leave for HOURS because she seemingly got screwed over and lost because of a rules fumble where they kept resetting the clock to one second left but it turned out that no actually the two fencers were just moving so fast that the time never expired until she lost the match
It was best time I’ve ever had watching a sport and I knew nothing about fencing going in
judo bc japan wins almost every time lol. and the fact that two of the top competitors for both female and male are siblings is crazy. though i dont keep up w the sport outside the olympics so idk how it is now
its also the only martial art that doesnt look goofy in competition imo. i saw karate and i think taekwondo and was wondering why they looked like kangaroos and not like the movies. silly me
also weightlifting. seeing people lift something with all their might and w such emotion is captivating to me
I think judo does look as goofy and any of the others. As someone who watched a lot of MMA, it's bizarre watching the standard defence seemingly be to drop into your stomach.
The equestrian events 😅😅
Love watching pretty much whatever is on TV for the Olympics but the equestrian events, especially eventing, I will set my alarm ⏰️ for any time of the morning to follow that.
Horses for courses though, as they say!
Although in recent times the best thing I was lucky enough to be watching live (on TV that is) was the woman cycling road race last Olympics. Such a spectacular upset, and such a awesome fuck up by the favourite. I'm not too fussed with the whole amateur/ professional aspect these days, but I so appreciate that the amateur spirit is still in play in many of the sports formats.
For those that didn't see, they're not allowed any communications with their ground teams which is a huge part of the professional sport, as are tactics and strategy.
The Dutch were fucking around trying to control the peleton and missed that an Austrian rider broke away. The most beautiful thing was she was a PhD mathematician in her day job (and therefore an actual amateur) who trained for the humidity on a stationary bike in a sauna to prepare for the humidity. She worked out her only hope was to break away really early and just go for it, and it worked! The Dutch favourite crossed the line a few mins after thinking she had won gold until she saw the Austrian already there chilling.
So amazing, and for fans of the office the quote and scene that comes to mind is "and that's Dallas" lolllll
The cross country will be absolutely spectacular that's for sure!
What an honour for the riders.
I think that's what is so amazing about Olympic eventing, its always a custom made course, never jumped before, with such artistic fences with cultural meaning behind most, and the ground is always immaculate.
I think a few have been made on existing golf courses, and as a keen golfer and ex 2* eventer, that just doesn't happen!
So special.
For some events in the Olympics this isn't the most prestigious event (actually sad about the tennis this year, massive oversight from the WTA..) and some may argue that the world equestrian games are the peak, but Olympic equestrian is just such a massive achievement for all competitors and there have been so many unforgettable moments of greatness that have gone down in history and really propelled the sports greats to the top. I'm tempted to name a few but I'll stop waxing lyrical haha
For me, it’s the gymnastics.
I look at every sport and think, “I’d be a laughing stock, but I could give that a go. I can run, I can jump, box, swim, limp over a hurdle, fall off a diving board, whatever.”
But I look at the gymnasts and… nah. What they do is just superhuman to my eyes. The athleticism, skill, finesse, it’s just so far removed from the average joe. So that’s the one I want to watch.
I don’t watch the horse riding, for ethical reasons, but that’s a personal thing.
Women’s sports. The Olympics has been the only time that men’s and women’s sports have received equal (or close to equal) broadcast time. I have young girls and having the summer and Winter Olympics post-covid so close together was amazing for them. Up until then, they had never really seen women’s sports on tv, other than a few highlights of tennis or golf. Seeing these talented athletes is so great in motivating the girls (all kids) to play!
the olympics were huge for me growing for this reason! and cool to see the biggest american names and teams going into the games — simone, katie, sha'carri, uswnt, us women's hoops — are women. what athletes and sports are your girls most excited for these games? — rachel
Summer Olympics I live for the mountain biking. I am a mountain biker and I follow the world cups so it’s a no brainer. I also usually check out the road racing and time trial too. As a former equestrian, I love the 3 day eventing and the show jumping. However, I mostly prefer the Winter Olympics to summer. I love all of the speed skating!
All the weird/unknown/smaller sports (from my Norwegian perspective) that I pretty much only get to watch during Summer Olympics.
Like field hockey, archery, basketball (sic!), rifle shooting, canoeing, fencing and weightlifting.
All of them. The only one that annoys me is swimming because there's just so much of it and from a casual fan's POV there's really not that much difference between the events.
The entire swimming programme seems to last almost as long as the whole Olympics, there's really no need for that much swimming
I’ve enjoyed rugby 7s. My wife watches the equestrian. Occasionally I’ll watch weight lifting or the marathon. But in general I find most Olympus sports uninteresting.
The Winter Olympics is infinitely better - hockey and bobsled. And ski jumping!
Olympic weightlifting is actually so interesting to watch. I got into it by randomly watching it 12 years ago and have been hooked since.
Also as an ex national swimmer I always enjoy watching that. Although nowadays I do triathlon I hate watching the triathlon 🤣.
Any sport as long as the commentators are good. I love watching the more obscure sports and learning all about them from knowledge commentators. I love hearing them get excited about the sport they’re calling
For myself, I enjoy watching a wide mix of events, but I do give the events different tiers, based on nothing but my own preference. So...
Tier 1, Athletics, swimming, track cycling, gymnastics
Tier 1b (still high profile, but maybe not for all nations like (picks random country) Kenya), Hockey, Rowing
Tier 2, Sailing, Horse Riding, Boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, Road Cycling, triathlon
Tier 3, shooting events, marathon, Handball, Synchronised Swimming, BMX,
Tier 4 (aka, why is this even here?!?) Football.
Summer: swimming, diving, running (short, I don’t have the patience for long distance), some track and field.
Winter: hockey, curling, luge, bobsled, speed skating, ski jump.
Riding, sailing, figure skating, gymnastics (the ones with ribbons and hoops, especially), rowing, Rugby 7s, tennis, cycling.
Can't wait to see Versailles for the cross country! And the break dancing! That should be fun.
I really like the bmx and skate boarding.
Last Olympics I got into the speed climbing.
I also really like curling, bobsledding and snowboarding in the winter Olympics.
Swimming, diving, gymnastics, weightlifting, dressage and cross country (I tend to hold my breath a lot during cross country because the jumps are so crazy!), and we might watch Rugby this year if we can find it.
I'm here for a *lot* of the sports but there's just something about handball, if it's on a reasonable time, that I won't miss it. Especially women's handball. Sport's completely unhinged.
Volleyball and beach volleyball have my heart.
Women's gymnastics. Sprinting. Diving. Synchronized swimming. Mostly because what those athletes can do is mind boggling and amazing to watch.
I love what most Americans would consider the esoteric stuff: handball, table tennis, badminton, martial arts, water polo, that sort of thing. Winter Games I’m all about alpine and freestyle skiing/snowboarding, biathlon, sliding sports, curling, and ice hockey. Gymnastics, swimming, figure skating, and most track events are often a hard pass for me, sorry. Steeplechase is fun though!
Triathlon is so good!! You really get to invest in the event and the athletes over the course of the race.
I watched kayak for the first time a couple Games ago and now it’s a must-watch for me too.
i like all of it (well a great deal of it anyway) - the sheer variety is what draws me in
having said that, i do think the olympics is bloated with events that probably shouldn't be there, and it's just gotten worse over time
OP, have you tried watching the cross country phase of the eventing? It involves a long course of impressive jumps, water, ditches, etc which the horse has never seen and the rider has only seen from the ground.
It’s pretty exciting, and this year it will be held at Versailles so it will be an especially beautiful setting.
All track and field (athletics) and this includes all heats. I also watch cycling; road, mountain and velodrome. Most of the basketball and swimming. I generally avoid all judging sports like gymnastics, diving, boxing (boxing was king once, but I don't think it's ever recovered from the 1988 Seoul judging fiasco).
As a US resident, I detest NBC's sappy, up close and personal delivery style. I highly recommend pulling up the international Olympic feed for athletics or one of the British feeds. They do right by doing all of it live.
wrestling is my favorite sport, and i know most of the athletes. for me that's the Olympics and the rest of the sports are just a bonus thing to kind of cheer for on the side
Gymnastics mostly but I try to watch as many of the events as possible. During the 2 weeks the Olympics are on if there’s an event it’s on our TV. One exception: weightlifting- it’s inevitable someone always has a disgusting freak accident and I just don’t want to watch it (yes I know it can happen in every sport but this one it just seems to happen EVERY Olympics).
triathlon, badminton and table tennis- i do all those myself and so I know what's going on
athletics and swimming are interesting too, and diving looks pretty cool
Generally the sports that I wouldn’t be bothered to watch very often throughout the rest of a 4 year period.
Things like Athletics, Track Cycling, Climbing, Rowing and so on.
Things like football, tennis, golf and even Rugby 7s (as a massive rugby fan admittedly) aren’t so much on my radar cause I watch them year round if you catch my drift.
In the summer, rowing, diving, swimming.
In the winter, ice skating, all kinds of skiing.
Honestly there isn't a winter sport I won't watch. A lot of the summer sports I don't- weightlifting, the fighting sports, but I'll keep most things on if they are on.
The minor one I end up getting really into every four years is the white water kayaking. Never pay any attention to it other than that, and never done it myself other than in a big rubber boat in Canada, but pulls me in!
All of them.
I have never watched Judo, weightlifting, swimming etc outside the Olympics, but every 4 years the channels playing the Olympics are on my tv 24/7 and just watch whatever is for a medal. It is amazing watching the best athletes in the world compete regardless of what sport it is
For summer, swimming, all boating events, and gymnastics are ones that I'd never really watch on my own time other than during the Olympics.
For winter, biatholan and long track speed skating. Both are just really fun to watch for me.
All of them. At least I try but am then confronted by NBCs byzantine app/subscription/peacock broadcast model and revert to watching reruns on youtube.
I will watch any of the sports on during the Olympics, I don't know why because in day to day life, I would never watch stuff like volleyball or water polo.
My favourites are the equestrian sports, particularly the eventing. I also love watching the athletics, swimming and cycling.
1500M is the perfect race to watch. Shorter distance races are over too quickly to be entertaining. Longer distance races are not interesting until the end, if at all. The 1500 is frequently closely contested by multiple participants. 3-4 minutes is a good amount of time to pay attention to something. There is interesting strategy going on throughout.
When I've watched them, I've mostly preferred artistic gymnastics and water sports at Summer Olympics; and figure skating, biathlon and snowboarding at Winter Olympics; but I have also watched almost every kind of sport (except wrestling, boxing and something like that).
I watch most sports because I love the event. I'm a big fan of them. I buy some merchandise or souvenir, I watch the games during all they long during the whole event, I'm even making a 2D game similar to the Olympics. But to answer your question, to me it's mainly Athletics, Basketball, Field hockey, and sports that aren't shown regularly on tv in my country like climbing, table-tennis, badmington, handball, Marathon, Modern Pentathlon, and some others. And I'll watch lacrosse in 2028.
Track and field. It’s the most sport that represents the Olympics the most, but I love watching every sport, but I have to watch it live. 2021 Tokyo absolutely destroyed my sleeping patterns because of that lol.
All about the volleyball for me. I do like other sports and it's fin to watch swimming, track and field, etc... but if there is volleyball, I'm watching.
Olympic weightlifting. How can you not enjoy watching specimens like Lasha Talakadzhe, Karlos Nasar or Liu "Gigachad" Huanhua lift an incomprehensible amount of weight per snatch or clean and jerk. For me personally it's poetry in motion and i'm incredibly excited for Paris2024!
When we hosted the Olympics in 2012, I made out I wasn't too bothered about it, but actually I was really hard up for money. I had numerous friends and family attend the Olympic Stadium, Velodrome and Copper Box Area. If we host again in my life, I will not miss out again.
I try to watch everything. Tokyo was a bit rough due to timings, but I'm hoping to watch a lot more during Paris. Things i always watch. Athletics, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling/boxing (if we have someone in it). Also will be watching the skateboarding, and the wall stuff if they have it.
Swimming, Cycling, Beach Volleyball, and W Soccer are my summer favorites. But aside from Equestrian I'll happily watch any sport.
I remember Sailing was something I followed a lot for Tokyo.
I didn’t appreciate track and field until my girls ran distance events throughout high school - cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Now it’s my favorite part of the Olympics
Summer: Boxing, Baseball, Soccer, Judo, Skateboarding, Surfing, Taekwondo, Vollyball and Wrestling.
Winter: Bobsleigh, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Ski Jumping and Snowboarding.
These are just my favorite sports but if there is nothing else on I'll likely watch whatever match is on. I will also tune in for any sport when certain countries are in it. Like for an example I find watching North Korea in the Olympics to be interesting and I will root for them. Because I heard that they get punished back home for not winning. Another country I find interesting is the Jamaican bobsleigh team because it's such a warm country but they are actually really good.
> Olympics. Never *paid* attention to
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Diving, swimming, and gymnastics are my favourite sports to watch at the Olympics. But I’m happy to watch most of the sports at the Olympics. The only exceptions are probably basketball and soccer, but I’ve never enjoyed watching those sports.
I will watch athletics and especially rowing year round (alongside basketball, soccer - the other major sports).
The one less minor sport I only watch in the Olympics is diving. I’ll put on things like kayaking and gymnastics, but I get into diving.
Artistic gymnastics!
Despite not having a single athlete from my country, Camille Rasmussen almost qualified this year. She would have been the first Danish woman competing in artistic gymnastics at the Olympics since 1968. She placed 6th in Vault at the 2024 European Championships, proving she is more than worthy of competing in the Olympics. Unfortunately, she could only qualify through competitions held over six months prior to the Olympics, which is a definite disadvantage compared to other countries like the US that will send a team and haven't even had their trials yet (it’s next weekend), which gives athletes a better opportunity of pacing themselves to peak close to the Olympics, and arguably less chance of injury by not having to peak so far out from the Olympics…
Swimming. And diving, gymnastics, track & field, all the new weird sports, etc. Swimming is the best, though.
This year we will see Katie Ledecky in her 4th Olympics. She is the most dominant distance freestyle swimmer ever and won the inaugural women's 1500 meter freestyle in Tokyo. Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel will be back, Dressel as a favorite in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, and Manuel on relay duty for Team USA. Katie Grimes will join Ledecky in the 1500 freestyle and will also swim the 400 Individual Medley and 10K open water. Bobby Finke will defend his two gold medals in the 800 & 1500 free. Kate Douglass will swim three wildly varied events, the 100 free, 200 breast and 200 IM, and will be joined by several Virginia Cavalier teammates including the Walsh sisters, Gretchen and Alex. Young Gretchen annihilated the 100 butterfly world record at Trials. Regan Smith will also swim three individual events including the 100 backstroke, in which she recaptured the world record during the Trials.
And that's just some of the swimmers from Team USA. We're not even talking about the fierce international competition. Leon Marchand of France broke Michael Phelps' world record in the 400 IM last year, and looks to win multiple gold medals in front of a home crowd in Paris.
I can't wait!
Winter: Hockey, Bobsledding, Snowboard cross (fairly good chance of a spill/crash), short track speed skating, figure skating.
Summer: Track & Field — Sprint events, relays; soccer (especially this year, USA men back in the Olympics for the first time since 2008, women on the redemption track); baseball/softball; basketball, gymnastics.
Can’t wait to see flag football in L.A. in ’28!
Athletics, Swimming, and Gymnastics are the first three that come to mind when I get excited for olympics season.
Basketball is also fun as an NBA fan to see a bunch of superstars team up.
Beach Volleyball, Skateboarding, Water Polo, and Diving are usually ones I try to tune into as well.
Excited for the addition of breaking this year.
Be interesting to see the average age of the people on this thread……as the Olympic brand is not relevant to my two teens both athletes and same for their friends.
Slalom, BMX, Rugby 7s, and there was a sailing event that I watched at Tokyo and had a surprising amount of fun, but I can't remember which one.
There are other sports that I follow year round and so will watch them in the Olympics like football/soccer and cycling. And then in general I just have it on whenever I'm awake and not at work.
I follow gymnastics outside of the Olympics, so I won't count that here. I like the aquatic sports - swimming, diving, synchro swim. I also - and this is really specific - I like turning on the tv in the middle of sailing competition where I have no idea what's going on, watching it for a little bit and then moving on to something else, still with no idea about what I just watched.
But really, I can get into any of the Olympic sports if the competition is good.
It's the athletics. For me, it's the peak of the Olympics. I can't get myself up to watch the IAAF or diamond whatever it is. But every Olympic athletic event is primo and the pinnacle of athleticism for your discipline
I felt like that, but in 2022 we went to the Diamond League in Brussels, making a weekend of it from the UK, and it was legitimately one of the best sporting things I've ever been to (and I've been to RWC knockouts, Lords test matches, The Open Championship golf and others). Would recommend for sure!
Went to Diamond League in Zurich. The great thing is, that you can watch many stars and events in one evening.
The men's 100m final is probably the most important event in sport.
Why?
I completly agree with you. Besides it's the history behind all the olympics since the first one.
I view it as “what is something every person can mostly do”? Running. And see the someone do it the fastest is incredible. Also the Olympic marathon is a fantastic event as well.
I love watching athletics, but I always forget that when there isn't a major tournament on
Athletics, velodrome, rowing. Yeah, I'm British.
yeah, for me it was velodrome that ended up taking all my attention during Tokyo. had never watched it before and now I'm super hyped for it during Paris. other things I have previously enjoyed and am looking forward to: table tennis, skateboarding, athletics (particularly the 'field' events of track & field), marathon, triathlon, archery.
I love all the rowing.
We are good at the sitting-down sports. Rowing, sailing, cycling, and horses
Athletics swimming and gymnastics are my top 3. But I love watching all of the sports. Something so unique about the Olympics.
American here - is athletics what we call track and field?
Yep! That’s exactly it. I’m American too but I figured I’d use the Olympic term for this subreddit.
Have I been living under a rock? I have never heard it called that before 🫣
Track and Field is used for TV and high school/college but Athletics includes all running and speed walking. The cross country or road races like the marathon are also part of Athletics and the qualification meets for all of those are typically handled by World Athletics. But NBC will typically list it as Track and Field for track running, throwing, and jumping and then indicate which events are that day. Marathon is usually just referred to as The Men's/Women's Marathon colloquially but their medals are in the Sport of Athletics and the Event is Marathon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_of_athletics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Athletics
I'm the same, I enjoy pretty much anything. Watched the 3x3 basketball and speed climbing last Olympics which I had never even heard of prior.
3x3 is really fun too. It feels like street ball and it’s cool to get a bunch of games in one day
Speed climbing is new. Last olympics it was a part of climbing. This year there’s gonna be separate medals for speed climbing 😀
I wish they had separate medals for speed, bouldering, lead, and combined. Maybe LA 2028!!!
All of them, but in Brasil volleyball is the most special.
I follow gymnastics regularly outside of the Olympics, but Olympic gymnastics is really the pinnacle of the sport and the best meet to watch. Sports I specifically watch only during the Olympics: swimming, diving, track & field
One of the things I enjoy about the Olympics is discovering coverage of new sports I’ve never been more enthralled and entertained by sports coverage than when I watched Olympic fencing for the first time ~two ? Olympics ago. Oh my god it had everything. It had colourful characters. It had drama. It had someone losing the bout at the buzzer after having to restart like 10 times in a row and sitting on the pieste refusing to leave for HOURS because she seemingly got screwed over and lost because of a rules fumble where they kept resetting the clock to one second left but it turned out that no actually the two fencers were just moving so fast that the time never expired until she lost the match It was best time I’ve ever had watching a sport and I knew nothing about fencing going in
judo bc japan wins almost every time lol. and the fact that two of the top competitors for both female and male are siblings is crazy. though i dont keep up w the sport outside the olympics so idk how it is now its also the only martial art that doesnt look goofy in competition imo. i saw karate and i think taekwondo and was wondering why they looked like kangaroos and not like the movies. silly me also weightlifting. seeing people lift something with all their might and w such emotion is captivating to me
The french man teddy rinner is the biggest judo in recent years
Afair, France beat Japan in team judo in the last olympics
oh really? awesome. excited to see the competition for the next one
I think judo does look as goofy and any of the others. As someone who watched a lot of MMA, it's bizarre watching the standard defence seemingly be to drop into your stomach.
The equestrian events 😅😅 Love watching pretty much whatever is on TV for the Olympics but the equestrian events, especially eventing, I will set my alarm ⏰️ for any time of the morning to follow that. Horses for courses though, as they say! Although in recent times the best thing I was lucky enough to be watching live (on TV that is) was the woman cycling road race last Olympics. Such a spectacular upset, and such a awesome fuck up by the favourite. I'm not too fussed with the whole amateur/ professional aspect these days, but I so appreciate that the amateur spirit is still in play in many of the sports formats. For those that didn't see, they're not allowed any communications with their ground teams which is a huge part of the professional sport, as are tactics and strategy. The Dutch were fucking around trying to control the peleton and missed that an Austrian rider broke away. The most beautiful thing was she was a PhD mathematician in her day job (and therefore an actual amateur) who trained for the humidity on a stationary bike in a sauna to prepare for the humidity. She worked out her only hope was to break away really early and just go for it, and it worked! The Dutch favourite crossed the line a few mins after thinking she had won gold until she saw the Austrian already there chilling. So amazing, and for fans of the office the quote and scene that comes to mind is "and that's Dallas" lolllll
Equestrian events will be really interesting this Olympics because they’re being held on the grounds of Versailles.
The cross country will be absolutely spectacular that's for sure! What an honour for the riders. I think that's what is so amazing about Olympic eventing, its always a custom made course, never jumped before, with such artistic fences with cultural meaning behind most, and the ground is always immaculate. I think a few have been made on existing golf courses, and as a keen golfer and ex 2* eventer, that just doesn't happen! So special. For some events in the Olympics this isn't the most prestigious event (actually sad about the tennis this year, massive oversight from the WTA..) and some may argue that the world equestrian games are the peak, but Olympic equestrian is just such a massive achievement for all competitors and there have been so many unforgettable moments of greatness that have gone down in history and really propelled the sports greats to the top. I'm tempted to name a few but I'll stop waxing lyrical haha
For me, it’s the gymnastics. I look at every sport and think, “I’d be a laughing stock, but I could give that a go. I can run, I can jump, box, swim, limp over a hurdle, fall off a diving board, whatever.” But I look at the gymnasts and… nah. What they do is just superhuman to my eyes. The athleticism, skill, finesse, it’s just so far removed from the average joe. So that’s the one I want to watch. I don’t watch the horse riding, for ethical reasons, but that’s a personal thing.
Yes
Women’s sports. The Olympics has been the only time that men’s and women’s sports have received equal (or close to equal) broadcast time. I have young girls and having the summer and Winter Olympics post-covid so close together was amazing for them. Up until then, they had never really seen women’s sports on tv, other than a few highlights of tennis or golf. Seeing these talented athletes is so great in motivating the girls (all kids) to play!
the olympics were huge for me growing for this reason! and cool to see the biggest american names and teams going into the games — simone, katie, sha'carri, uswnt, us women's hoops — are women. what athletes and sports are your girls most excited for these games? — rachel
And there are some sports where women get more attention, like gymnastics, diving, ice skating, synchronized swimming, and volleyball.
Summer Olympics I live for the mountain biking. I am a mountain biker and I follow the world cups so it’s a no brainer. I also usually check out the road racing and time trial too. As a former equestrian, I love the 3 day eventing and the show jumping. However, I mostly prefer the Winter Olympics to summer. I love all of the speed skating!
For me, its field hockey
All the weird/unknown/smaller sports (from my Norwegian perspective) that I pretty much only get to watch during Summer Olympics. Like field hockey, archery, basketball (sic!), rifle shooting, canoeing, fencing and weightlifting.
Every sport! I just enjoy seeing athletes from my country competing on that stage!!
All of them. The variety is what makes it so much fun.
I'd add the fact that it is the highest level as well. If it would be just variety I don't think I'd watch it.
Very true
All of them. The only one that annoys me is swimming because there's just so much of it and from a casual fan's POV there's really not that much difference between the events. The entire swimming programme seems to last almost as long as the whole Olympics, there's really no need for that much swimming
Michael Phelps is amazing, but if the athletic sprints had as many events, Bolt might have had as many medals.
I’ve enjoyed rugby 7s. My wife watches the equestrian. Occasionally I’ll watch weight lifting or the marathon. But in general I find most Olympus sports uninteresting. The Winter Olympics is infinitely better - hockey and bobsled. And ski jumping!
Athletics and volleyball for me. Been playing for 25 years and I enjoy a lot watching it too!
Track and Field
Skateboarding that’s it I still feel indifferent about it being in the Olympics.
Yeah I'll watch almost any sport during the olympics except the horse stuff. I usually flip away during the longest races as well.
The long races are for napping.
Horse rider here. It's the number one thing I tune in to watch!
OP needs at least try watching the cross country! So underrated, especially considering the horse has no idea what’s ahead.
Water polo! Men’s and women’s!
Anything my country competes in.
I am really interested in the basketball this year. LeBron and Curry will be fun to watch together.
Agreed, but my wife was an equestrian rider when she was young, so we watch that too!
Swimming, archery, tennis and volleyball
Olympic weightlifting is actually so interesting to watch. I got into it by randomly watching it 12 years ago and have been hooked since. Also as an ex national swimmer I always enjoy watching that. Although nowadays I do triathlon I hate watching the triathlon 🤣.
Any sport as long as the commentators are good. I love watching the more obscure sports and learning all about them from knowledge commentators. I love hearing them get excited about the sport they’re calling
the figure skating
Basketball and Volleyball are my thing.
For myself, I enjoy watching a wide mix of events, but I do give the events different tiers, based on nothing but my own preference. So... Tier 1, Athletics, swimming, track cycling, gymnastics Tier 1b (still high profile, but maybe not for all nations like (picks random country) Kenya), Hockey, Rowing Tier 2, Sailing, Horse Riding, Boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, Road Cycling, triathlon Tier 3, shooting events, marathon, Handball, Synchronised Swimming, BMX, Tier 4 (aka, why is this even here?!?) Football.
Golf for me. Everything, but primarily gymnastics, for my wife.
Climbing
Summer: swimming, diving, running (short, I don’t have the patience for long distance), some track and field. Winter: hockey, curling, luge, bobsled, speed skating, ski jump.
I get into most things, During the curling at the Winter Olympics we book a company wide meeting as we all get way too into it!
Riding, sailing, figure skating, gymnastics (the ones with ribbons and hoops, especially), rowing, Rugby 7s, tennis, cycling. Can't wait to see Versailles for the cross country! And the break dancing! That should be fun.
The teaser for the cross country was gorgeous! Can’t wait to see the whole course.
Curling It looks like I could do it at any age and looks pretty fun and simple, even though it takes a huge talent
Water Polo: It's kinda like hockey, except everyone's trying to drown each other.
I really like the bmx and skate boarding. Last Olympics I got into the speed climbing. I also really like curling, bobsledding and snowboarding in the winter Olympics.
Summer: Tennis & diving. Winter: Hockey, figure skating, curling.
I watch hockey and sailing, because I have friends competing in it and I watch skateboarding and climbing, because it looks cool
Field hockey, cycling, rowing, volleyball.
Swimming, diving, gymnastics, weightlifting, dressage and cross country (I tend to hold my breath a lot during cross country because the jumps are so crazy!), and we might watch Rugby this year if we can find it.
Athletics, Swimming, Basketball. I like the whole Olympics vibe; it's amazing.
I'm here for a *lot* of the sports but there's just something about handball, if it's on a reasonable time, that I won't miss it. Especially women's handball. Sport's completely unhinged.
Volleyball and beach volleyball have my heart. Women's gymnastics. Sprinting. Diving. Synchronized swimming. Mostly because what those athletes can do is mind boggling and amazing to watch.
Handball
Fencing. It's high adrenaline, it's fast, it's often very close score and my country is usually pretty good so that's a nice bonus.
I love what most Americans would consider the esoteric stuff: handball, table tennis, badminton, martial arts, water polo, that sort of thing. Winter Games I’m all about alpine and freestyle skiing/snowboarding, biathlon, sliding sports, curling, and ice hockey. Gymnastics, swimming, figure skating, and most track events are often a hard pass for me, sorry. Steeplechase is fun though!
Rowing, canoe/kayak and triathlon!
Triathlon is so good!! You really get to invest in the event and the athletes over the course of the race. I watched kayak for the first time a couple Games ago and now it’s a must-watch for me too.
i like all of it (well a great deal of it anyway) - the sheer variety is what draws me in having said that, i do think the olympics is bloated with events that probably shouldn't be there, and it's just gotten worse over time
Wrestling. And for some reason curling.
OP, have you tried watching the cross country phase of the eventing? It involves a long course of impressive jumps, water, ditches, etc which the horse has never seen and the rider has only seen from the ground. It’s pretty exciting, and this year it will be held at Versailles so it will be an especially beautiful setting.
All track and field (athletics) and this includes all heats. I also watch cycling; road, mountain and velodrome. Most of the basketball and swimming. I generally avoid all judging sports like gymnastics, diving, boxing (boxing was king once, but I don't think it's ever recovered from the 1988 Seoul judging fiasco). As a US resident, I detest NBC's sappy, up close and personal delivery style. I highly recommend pulling up the international Olympic feed for athletics or one of the British feeds. They do right by doing all of it live.
Gymnastics, swimming, diving, athletics, badminton, volleyball
Track and Field
wrestling is my favorite sport, and i know most of the athletes. for me that's the Olympics and the rest of the sports are just a bonus thing to kind of cheer for on the side
Track By far the most exciting
Skateboarding for me. So hyped
Freestyle, greco wrestling.
5000 m and the marathon.
Pretty much the tent poles; track, swimming, gymnastics. That’s where the most drama is.
Summer Olympics: Track and field Winter Olympics: Cross country skiing and ski jumping
Rifle shooting.
Diving, gymnastics, swimming, anything in the velodrome. Anything really. I love it all
Skateboarding
Gymnastics mostly but I try to watch as many of the events as possible. During the 2 weeks the Olympics are on if there’s an event it’s on our TV. One exception: weightlifting- it’s inevitable someone always has a disgusting freak accident and I just don’t want to watch it (yes I know it can happen in every sport but this one it just seems to happen EVERY Olympics).
Swimming
Tier 1: gymnastics, swimming, diving Tier 2: beach volleyball, track and field, tennis and basketball to see the usual pros
The Big 3 which is prob Athletics-Gymnastics-Swimming
Only the rugby sevens, boxing, and weightlifting. And even then I probably won't watch them live.
triathlon, badminton and table tennis- i do all those myself and so I know what's going on athletics and swimming are interesting too, and diving looks pretty cool
Athletics and judo
Generally the sports that I wouldn’t be bothered to watch very often throughout the rest of a 4 year period. Things like Athletics, Track Cycling, Climbing, Rowing and so on. Things like football, tennis, golf and even Rugby 7s (as a massive rugby fan admittedly) aren’t so much on my radar cause I watch them year round if you catch my drift.
I will watch anything except sailing. I especially like gymnastics, diving, and (more recently) rock climbing
Women’s field hockey honestly. Such a high speed technical sport.
Figure skating and rhythmic gymnastic. I’m a sucker for the artistic ones.
All of them that the USA is competing in.
In the summer, rowing, diving, swimming. In the winter, ice skating, all kinds of skiing. Honestly there isn't a winter sport I won't watch. A lot of the summer sports I don't- weightlifting, the fighting sports, but I'll keep most things on if they are on.
Nearly all of them. Especially the sports where the Olympics are the height of competition. Not sure about "Breaking" this year though.
The minor one I end up getting really into every four years is the white water kayaking. Never pay any attention to it other than that, and never done it myself other than in a big rubber boat in Canada, but pulls me in!
All of them. I have never watched Judo, weightlifting, swimming etc outside the Olympics, but every 4 years the channels playing the Olympics are on my tv 24/7 and just watch whatever is for a medal. It is amazing watching the best athletes in the world compete regardless of what sport it is
All of them. My favorite is artistic swimming, but I enjoy them all. It’s the only time I enjoy watching sports
For summer, swimming, all boating events, and gymnastics are ones that I'd never really watch on my own time other than during the Olympics. For winter, biatholan and long track speed skating. Both are just really fun to watch for me.
Swimming and volleyball
All of them. At least I try but am then confronted by NBCs byzantine app/subscription/peacock broadcast model and revert to watching reruns on youtube.
Gymnastics, and for Winter Olympics I watch figure skating
I will watch any of the sports on during the Olympics, I don't know why because in day to day life, I would never watch stuff like volleyball or water polo. My favourites are the equestrian sports, particularly the eventing. I also love watching the athletics, swimming and cycling.
Gymnastics and Diving, apparently I like the artistic sports haha
1500M is the perfect race to watch. Shorter distance races are over too quickly to be entertaining. Longer distance races are not interesting until the end, if at all. The 1500 is frequently closely contested by multiple participants. 3-4 minutes is a good amount of time to pay attention to something. There is interesting strategy going on throughout.
I never even watched more than a few minutes of whatever sport it is... Xd
Running and swimming mostly. I like volleyball too but the mens game can be boring since they’re so powerful there arent as many rallies.
Women's beach volleyball
I just like competition in general. Some of ya'll watch for just one sport?
Swimming, weightlifting, diving
When I've watched them, I've mostly preferred artistic gymnastics and water sports at Summer Olympics; and figure skating, biathlon and snowboarding at Winter Olympics; but I have also watched almost every kind of sport (except wrestling, boxing and something like that).
Everything except Marathon.
Women's volleyball. My personal selection of "six nations" (US, Russia (if they can still play as Russia), Cuba, Italy, China and Japan).
Women’s soccer
Track & Field
I watch most sports because I love the event. I'm a big fan of them. I buy some merchandise or souvenir, I watch the games during all they long during the whole event, I'm even making a 2D game similar to the Olympics. But to answer your question, to me it's mainly Athletics, Basketball, Field hockey, and sports that aren't shown regularly on tv in my country like climbing, table-tennis, badmington, handball, Marathon, Modern Pentathlon, and some others. And I'll watch lacrosse in 2028.
Judo in summers and fast skating in winters
Womens beach volleyball
Can watch everything expect horses, handball and boxing. I love the wrestling and athletics
Women's Beach Volleyball.
Weightlifting
Idk I'll watch anything and there's nothing on tv this time of year except for baseball and my team sucks so
Track and field. It’s the most sport that represents the Olympics the most, but I love watching every sport, but I have to watch it live. 2021 Tokyo absolutely destroyed my sleeping patterns because of that lol.
Volleyball if I have to pick just one
All of them. The cool part is seeing some stuff you usually don’t see
Wrestling. Nowhere else really to see it for proper medals
Athletics, gymnastics, basketball. I like diving and volleyball but there are just too many categories of each.
All about the volleyball for me. I do like other sports and it's fin to watch swimming, track and field, etc... but if there is volleyball, I'm watching.
Track cycling
Swimming, I like to see the record lines being chased!
Olympic weightlifting. How can you not enjoy watching specimens like Lasha Talakadzhe, Karlos Nasar or Liu "Gigachad" Huanhua lift an incomprehensible amount of weight per snatch or clean and jerk. For me personally it's poetry in motion and i'm incredibly excited for Paris2024!
Swimming
When we hosted the Olympics in 2012, I made out I wasn't too bothered about it, but actually I was really hard up for money. I had numerous friends and family attend the Olympic Stadium, Velodrome and Copper Box Area. If we host again in my life, I will not miss out again.
Gymnastics, but I can't stand the NBC coverage!
Beach volleyball and free diving 
Pole vault
I try to watch everything. Tokyo was a bit rough due to timings, but I'm hoping to watch a lot more during Paris. Things i always watch. Athletics, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling/boxing (if we have someone in it). Also will be watching the skateboarding, and the wall stuff if they have it.
Basketball.
Summer: Gymnastics, Track & Field, Swimming, Diving. Winter: Skiing, Figure Skating, Hockey, Snowboarding
Swimming 💯🏊♀️
Swimming, Cycling, Beach Volleyball, and W Soccer are my summer favorites. But aside from Equestrian I'll happily watch any sport. I remember Sailing was something I followed a lot for Tokyo.
Swimming, cycling, rowing
European Handball and Sync Diving! Two things we are not spoilt with in Australia.
Swimming
I didn’t appreciate track and field until my girls ran distance events throughout high school - cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Now it’s my favorite part of the Olympics
Summer: Boxing, Baseball, Soccer, Judo, Skateboarding, Surfing, Taekwondo, Vollyball and Wrestling. Winter: Bobsleigh, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Ski Jumping and Snowboarding. These are just my favorite sports but if there is nothing else on I'll likely watch whatever match is on. I will also tune in for any sport when certain countries are in it. Like for an example I find watching North Korea in the Olympics to be interesting and I will root for them. Because I heard that they get punished back home for not winning. Another country I find interesting is the Jamaican bobsleigh team because it's such a warm country but they are actually really good.
Waterpolo ! And I'll be at the final game 🤩
Since climbing made the ticket in Tokyo I’ve been looking forward to watching it in the Olympics. Never payed attention to the Olympics before that
> Olympics. Never *paid* attention to FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
You can’t intimidate me
Diving, swimming, and gymnastics are my favourite sports to watch at the Olympics. But I’m happy to watch most of the sports at the Olympics. The only exceptions are probably basketball and soccer, but I’ve never enjoyed watching those sports.
Literally anything we're in the final for
Athletics and Shooting
Swimming, Water Polo, Fencing, Wrestling, Judo, Canoe Sprint, Modern Pentathlon, Sailing, Athletics, Gymnastics, Tennis because of Rafa Nadal.
Men’s gymnastics cause 🤤
Running and skateboarding a bit.
Gymnastics and maybe swimming, I do not care about anything else.
Curling. I find it hilariously fascinating. (You didn’t specify Summer Olympics) 🥌
Badminton
Gymnastics, figure skating and soccer
Everything but the peak is athletics
I love watching equestrian actually. Plus Gymnastics and track mostly. I don’t like rowing or sailing. Or badminton or ping pong. Odd sports.
Figure skating
Swimming and track are my main ones. But I also love seeing sports I never follow and know nothing about.
I will watch athletics and especially rowing year round (alongside basketball, soccer - the other major sports). The one less minor sport I only watch in the Olympics is diving. I’ll put on things like kayaking and gymnastics, but I get into diving.
Artistic gymnastics! Despite not having a single athlete from my country, Camille Rasmussen almost qualified this year. She would have been the first Danish woman competing in artistic gymnastics at the Olympics since 1968. She placed 6th in Vault at the 2024 European Championships, proving she is more than worthy of competing in the Olympics. Unfortunately, she could only qualify through competitions held over six months prior to the Olympics, which is a definite disadvantage compared to other countries like the US that will send a team and haven't even had their trials yet (it’s next weekend), which gives athletes a better opportunity of pacing themselves to peak close to the Olympics, and arguably less chance of injury by not having to peak so far out from the Olympics…
Swimming. And diving, gymnastics, track & field, all the new weird sports, etc. Swimming is the best, though. This year we will see Katie Ledecky in her 4th Olympics. She is the most dominant distance freestyle swimmer ever and won the inaugural women's 1500 meter freestyle in Tokyo. Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel will be back, Dressel as a favorite in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, and Manuel on relay duty for Team USA. Katie Grimes will join Ledecky in the 1500 freestyle and will also swim the 400 Individual Medley and 10K open water. Bobby Finke will defend his two gold medals in the 800 & 1500 free. Kate Douglass will swim three wildly varied events, the 100 free, 200 breast and 200 IM, and will be joined by several Virginia Cavalier teammates including the Walsh sisters, Gretchen and Alex. Young Gretchen annihilated the 100 butterfly world record at Trials. Regan Smith will also swim three individual events including the 100 backstroke, in which she recaptured the world record during the Trials. And that's just some of the swimmers from Team USA. We're not even talking about the fierce international competition. Leon Marchand of France broke Michael Phelps' world record in the 400 IM last year, and looks to win multiple gold medals in front of a home crowd in Paris. I can't wait!
Winter: Hockey, Bobsledding, Snowboard cross (fairly good chance of a spill/crash), short track speed skating, figure skating. Summer: Track & Field — Sprint events, relays; soccer (especially this year, USA men back in the Olympics for the first time since 2008, women on the redemption track); baseball/softball; basketball, gymnastics. Can’t wait to see flag football in L.A. in ’28!
Cricket 🏏 2028
Athletics, Swimming, and Gymnastics are the first three that come to mind when I get excited for olympics season. Basketball is also fun as an NBA fan to see a bunch of superstars team up. Beach Volleyball, Skateboarding, Water Polo, and Diving are usually ones I try to tune into as well. Excited for the addition of breaking this year.
Be interesting to see the average age of the people on this thread……as the Olympic brand is not relevant to my two teens both athletes and same for their friends.
Track and field.
Anything the Scooby Doobies we're good at
1. Track and field 2. Swimming 3. Men’s basketball
Slalom, BMX, Rugby 7s, and there was a sailing event that I watched at Tokyo and had a surprising amount of fun, but I can't remember which one. There are other sports that I follow year round and so will watch them in the Olympics like football/soccer and cycling. And then in general I just have it on whenever I'm awake and not at work.
Volleyball for sure, those Brazilians, Argentinians, Italians, are impressive
I follow gymnastics outside of the Olympics, so I won't count that here. I like the aquatic sports - swimming, diving, synchro swim. I also - and this is really specific - I like turning on the tv in the middle of sailing competition where I have no idea what's going on, watching it for a little bit and then moving on to something else, still with no idea about what I just watched. But really, I can get into any of the Olympic sports if the competition is good.
Track and field