I recently posted a simple question on my Facebook profile: Which is better — Winter or Summer Olympics? Those who voted were very confident in their choice, making claims like “summer by a lot” and “winter for sure,” while others added colorful comments such as “figure skating is horrible” and “without the winter olympics we would never have been blessed with Cool Runnings.”
I figured summer would win in a landslide, but when the votes were tallied it was much closer than I thought. Summer had the edge, but barely. I didn’t scoff at those who voted for winter. I’m just jealous of them. I want to like the Winter Games more, I just find the Summer Olympics to be so much better. Here are four reasons why.
1. He won…I guess
For the most part, people like competitions in which there are clear-cut winners. Team A scored more points than Team B. Athlete X reached the finish line before Athlete Y. We don’t like our sports to include judges. Let them decide American Idol.
Unfortunately, a large number of Winter Olympic sports have judges, such as figure skating, snowboarding, and freestyle skiing. Subjectivity takes away from the viewing experience, because fans have to delay their excitement until the judges’ scores are posted. Unless a competitor does something that is obviously bad — i.e. fall — it’s hard for the average viewer to distinguish between two good performances.
2. You’ve never luged
Most everyone has ran, swam, played basketball, ridden a bike, and lifted weights. Perhaps not competitively, but you’ve done these activities. Raise your hand if you’ve ever been in a bobsled. Or if you’ve soared through the air, on skies, the length of a football field. Or if you’ve even thought about taking a broom with you to the ice rink to push around a chunk of granite. Yeah, didn’t think so.
Now, I’m not suggesting bobsledding, ski jumping, and curling aren’t worthy of being Olympic events, nor am I saying the athletes who compete aren’t incredibly skilled. But an overwhelming majority of people have no frame of reference for these events. What is a good score? A good time? A good distance? Even in the objective events, it’s hard to make much sense of what you’re watching.
3. Everyone can play
You don’t need wealth, or a particular climate, to compete in many of the summer events. All you need are shoes to train for track and field, water for swimming, fists for boxing. There’s a reason that 10 countries have more than 100 summer medals but fewer than 10 winter medals. If your country doesn’t get any snow, it’s sort of hard to train for most of the winter events.
The winter sports are also, generally speaking, more expensive. Renting ice time is very costly, and this likely prevents some of the poorer countries from participating in many events. The Olympic Games are supposed to be for all, right? The Summer Games promote this ideal; the Winter Games do not.
4. Big names left out in the cold
Make a list of your top five greatest Olympic champions of all time, using whatever criteria you choose. I’m only 23, but here are mine: Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Jesse Owens, and Usain Bolt. Of course I’m biased towards more recent competitors as well as American athletes, but I can’t imagine any list that includes a majority of winter athletes.
I’d be shocked if Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, or Apolo Ohno generate the buzz that Phelps, Bolt, and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh provided in the 2008 Summer Games. Simply put, the Winter Games lack the star power that the summer Games have.
I didn’t go with the more conventional five reasons because I’m leaving it up to you to either provide an additional reason why the Summer Games are better or to give a reason why I’ve got it all wrong, and that the Winter games are superior. Let me know in the comments.
The Sportswriting of Andrew Kahn 
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