SNL skit still makes a splash
BEIJING – Barred from wearing suits that made them look like waterproof Christmas trees, the Spanish team took a different tack: Gangsta.
They marched onto the deck at the Water Cube in costumes embroidered with a menacing cartoon character across the front and back, his cap backward and carrying a stick in a threatening manner.
Somewhere, Martin Short is smiling.
This is synchronized swimming, a sport that requires as much strength, stamina and skill as any in Beijing – but still draws snickers from those who believe the gelled-up hair, caked-on makeup and outlandish suits are better suited for a Vegas show than an Olympic pool.
A hilarious “Saturday Night Live” bit from 1984 is usually a convenient starting point for any discussion with the uninformed. Adorned with noseclips, Short and Harry Shearer played brothers who dream of being the first males to compete at the Olympics in synchronized swimming.
“You would be surprised,” said Andrea Nott, who competes for the United States in both the team and duet events. “That was more than 20 years ago and people still say, ‘Hey, I saw the ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit.’ ”
Her response?
“We do it because we love it and there’s enough satisfaction in it for us,” Nott said. “If some people think it’s (silly), well, they don’t have to watch it.”
Spitz draws coverage
The athlete who received the third most amount of attention by news organizations during the first week of Olympics competition didn’t do much.
He’s Mark Spitz, the American swimmer in the news simply because Michael Phelps was en route to breaking Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics.
Phelps drew nearly 27 percent of all the coverage, with gymnast Nastia Liukin second at 4 percent, according to a report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Composer hears work
Peter Breiner is a busy composer and he wasn’t much interested in watching the Beijing Olympic Games. But then the calls and e-mails started coming in.
His daughter was certain that the Chinese were using his orchestrations of the world’s national anthems. He even heard from people who are not his fans. That’s when Breiner started watching the medal ceremonies. He says he is “100 percent positive” that the Beijing Olympic Committee is using his work – without attribution, permission or compensation. Breiner’s publisher, Naxos Rights International, has attempted to discuss the matter with the Chinese but so far to no avail, who say all the songs used were orchestrated by Chinese musicians.