BBC Olympics

Four years ago, we were living in England during the summer Olympic games, and we fell in love with BBC Olympic coverage.  This year, in the US, we are denied the option of watching the Olympic games aside from the filtered and censored version allowed us by the communist major TV network.

Luckily, Tim can still log into work in England and pick up a British IP address.  From there, we can access all the BBC Olympic coverage we came to love four years ago.

And I tell you, my friends, it has been wonderful.

Sunday morning, we were enthralled by live women's weightlifting, in which a short Kazakhstani woman won gold, then broke the world record by lifting 131 kg over her 53 kg body.  Last night, we watched the taped coverage of men's gymnastics, with British commentators going crazy with excitement as the British team won their first medal in gymnastics in 100 years.  We have also watched swimming and rowing and diving and archery, and we can see what we want without being interrupted by advertisements, and without having the coverage cut off once the US has done their thing with no care for the other countries or athletes involved.  With the BBC, you really get a sense for the whole competition, although you miss out on the fuzzy back stories with the tender glowing gold lighting that the US TV network has put together.  And with British commentators, the performances are "massive" and "brilliant", rather than strong or amazing.

Ah love.

Apparently, you can purchase access to a British IP address for somewhere between $5 and $15 per month, depending on your location.  Even if you have to buy a year's subscription, it's probably worth it just for the Olympics.