W31 - Insights from the Tokyo Olympics

I've been watching a lot of Olympic events recently and have two insights.

1. In the span of one Olympic Games, the video industry has been revolutionized.

The first immediate result is that I've watched many niche events this year. The last Rio Olympics were in 2016, when watching was still largely done on TV and relied on CCTV's live broadcasts. Now it's on apps with on-demand viewing; you can clearly see schedules and data, and each event has highlights available. The cost of watching less popular sports is extremely low.

The second immediate result is that the sense of experiencing a match has diminished, especially for major ball sports. Take the recently concluded European Championship: watching football used to have ritual — big-club matches were like a candlelit dinner — but short videos have turned every match into fast food consumable anytime, anywhere. Watching for two hours versus two minutes feels completely different; the quick-consumption version lacks lingering satisfaction. Coupled with a different historical backdrop for this tournament, overall interest in matches is less intense — or perhaps the people around me have simply aged.

2. The watchability of competitive sports = technical skill + tactical depth.

Having watched many events I had only heard about before, I've found that truly watchable sports combine technical skill and tactical depth; only when both are present can a sport become widely popular across cultures and regions. (Barrier to entry and cost also matter.)

What is technical skill? It's when you watch a trampoline event for the first time and exclaim, “Wow — trampoline can be done like that?” The playground version suddenly seems amateurish.

What is tactical depth? I still remember a Sunday semifinal in men's singles badminton: Chen Long versus Kento Momota. Facing an aggressive player like Momota, whose attacks come fast, Chen Long's coach told him during a timeout to treat the match as a whole, not to be dragged into an early attrition battle, and to stick firmly to his own tactics.

Solo small-boat events like sailing or canoe slalom and flatwater sprint demand high technical skill from athletes but lack tactical depth; spectators don't need to think, they just enjoy the display. Conversely, team sports like handball or water polo require tactical sophistication to win, but the fundamental skills are less dazzling, so watching them for long can feel tiring.