Michael Phelps is certainly dominating the headlines, at least for these two weeks.

I heard an interesting conversation during some of the Olympic commentary the other night.  One of the broadcasters was despairing that swimming only comes into the spotlight and the public consciousness every four years.  “Why can’t we get Americans to be interested in swimming in non-Olympic years?”

The other commentator had a very good response.  In essence, when you watch swimming you can’t see the competitors’ faces easily so you can’t see the strain or effort, and you can’t see their bodies so can’t see the extension or a remarkable move or a unique technique. Even with the improvement in underwater cameras, the audience doesn’t have the connection with the athlete.  And that more than anything is what compels an audience.

As the commentator put it, as long as swimming takes place in water, it’ll be hard to get a strong viewing audience for it.

Lots of interesting communications implications: if you can’t see it, you can’t appreciate it.  And if you can’t appreciate it, you won’t support it.