Why the Winter Olympics Are Better

Which Olympics is better, summer or winter? Obviously most of the arguments are for summer because they are more distinguished, older and often considered more popular. They have great athletes from all over the world with world wide recognition and the sports are simple and easy to understand, with very little extra equipment needed. For this reason as well, more people in more countries can compete and therefore the competition is almost always top notch. However, if you want excitement, speed, and pure entertainment, the Winter Olympics will suit your appetite.

While Summer holds fantastic events of worldwide attention, such as soccer, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, and track and field, the Winter Olympics have great events that will keep fans on the edge of their seats. Snowboarding, skiing, hockey, bobsledding, and so much more add to the entertainment of the Winter Olympics. Do not get me wrong, I love the Summer Olympics and enjoy watching it as much as the person, but the Winter Olympics just hold a special place in sports that I cannot deny.

I would choose watching Shaun White on a snowboard to Michael Phelps in a pool any day of the week. I know the chase for all those gold medals two years ago was an amazing spectacle combined with photo finishes and dramatics, but the sheer intensity of the Super Pipe is unquestionable. Watching Apollo Ohno crash four years ago but get back up and race harder in his next races was unreal. I could not even believe someone who has trained their whole life to be denied something so quickly over something so minor could have the desire to go back out and compete for something different.

Maybe that's what I enjoy. Maybe it is the fact that dreams can be fulfilled or broken with the slightest of mistakes or miscalculations. Maybe it's the fact that if the athlete is one inch to far or one inch short they lose that dream or snatch it. I'm not even a big winter athlete, I play sports that are primarily focused in the Summer Olympics, but watching the best athletes in the world do something that I simply just cannot do puts me beside myself. I sit there watching the Games with my eyes wide open and jaw open waiting for next crash or the next Miracle on Ice.