Shower scene

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Watching the televised diving on the Olympic network in Beijing, it is obvious the directors are going for one thing, and one thing only.

Shower scenes!

After every dive, the cameras follow the divers to a shower behind the diving boards. There, while still wearing their suits, the divers spend several seconds in the shower, sometimes using a washcloth, other times rinsing their hair.

There has been a Internet buzz about the televised scenes, with most folks either celebrating their allure or complaining about their lack of taste.

Though it seems everybody agrees on one question.

Why on earth do divers climb out of the pool and into a shower?

‘It’s for their muscles,’ said Wenbo Chen, a U.S. assistant. ‘The pool is warm, the air is cold, they take a shower to keep their muscles loose for the next dive.’

So the showers are important for the competitors but mean nothing to the competition.

Therefore, televising them is nothing but a weak excuse to stick sex into the Olympics while exploiting the athletes who are just trying to get loose.

There must be a better way.

Isn’t that why they invented beach volleyball?

-- Bill Plaschke

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