Do people care about the Winter Olympics?

The Olympics is one of the most-watched sporting events that millions look forward to every two years, alternating between Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. This year's Winter Games took place on Feb. 4–20 in Beijing, China. When people think about the Olympics, the Summer Games are usually what first comes to mind that can dim the light of the Winter Games. 

In this year's games, some sports were Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, curling, and ice hockey. Traditionally, these are not the flashiest sports that Americans are used to watching, compared to the Summer Olympics, which raises the question: Do people even care about the Winter Olympics? 

The TV ratings is one question that can be answered, as the Winter Games saw a huge decline from 2018. When most people have more time to watch television on the weekends, the primetime list of games is what sells. But this year it saw one of the lowest audience views ever in the history of the games. 

This is a sad situation because television networks save the more exciting sporting events for the weekends to gain more viewers. Even with the effort made certain networks did not earn the views and revenue wanted. 

The doping scandal gained attention during the Games, but for the wrong reasons, as 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was the center of it. Valieva failed a drug test but could still compete in the games. 

According to https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/Winter-olympics-explaining-the-kamila-valieva-doping-scandal-that-is-clouding-the-russian-figure-skater/, athletes felt, as they did not take the needed measures to make sure that everyone had a fair shot in games when concerning the drug policy, particularly the former U.S. Olympic skater Adam Rippon. 

"This situation is super unfortunate, and it's also unprecedented that someone with a failed doping test is allowed to compete in the Games. It is a complete slap in the face to every single athlete who comes here and completes clean," Rippon told CBS news. 

According to https://au.sports.yahoo.com/Winter-olympics-2022-calls-russian-ban-horrific-scandal-234447675.html, the ruling did not please British Olympic Association (BOA) chief executive Andy Anson either, as he wants legal action. 

"The Valieva stuff is horrific," Anson told Yahoo sports. "I don't think we can pretend that it's anything other than that. The investigation into everyone around her needs to be thorough and go as deep as possible because what happened there was just completely unacceptable."

We can also take away the safety of others being put at risk by the Olympics in Beijing. Before the Olympics, China experienced an omicron outbreak that could have put people traveling to the country at risk. Unfortunately, in the times we live in today, it's hard to avoid COVID altogether. Still, one way it could have helped is by moving the Olympics to another country with better COVID numbers to look out for the health of athletes and fans. 

The Olympics are always enjoyable to watch, but these theories make you wonder if the Winter Olympics are on a decline and if people actually care for it.