The hierarchy of American athletics is simple—football, basketball and baseball are the sports to watch for most. But that all changes for a few weeks every four years, when the rest of the sports world is given the spotlight.
Questions about who will be the starting quarterback for a particular NFL team are dwarfed by the conversation about who will win the upcoming 100-meter dash. The news of NBA free agency signings are put on the backburner until the results of the most recent swimming races have been announced. The coverage of MLB, which is currently in season, paled in comparison to the news that two American teams faced off in the women’s beach volleyball gold medal game.
Moments like these from the 2012 Olympic Games in London had Duke athletes taking notes and getting excited for their respective upcoming seasons.
“With the Olympics, we’d all be talking about [it],” women’s cross country runner Juliet Bottorff said. “We’d ask each other, ‘Wow, did you see that race? Did you see how she looked? That girl looked amazing!’ It just helped to build momentum.”
Seeing former Duke track and field star Shannon Rowbury compete for the United States only added to the anticipation for this year’s Olympic games.
“I told everyone that I knew, ‘Yeah, that girl went to my school,” women’s cross country runner Madeline Morgan said.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt may have been one of the bigger storylines in London, but the success of American stars on an international stage drew a national audience. The U.S. volleyball teams, both on the hard court and in the sand, were among the most dominant in the Olympic Games. The women’s teams took silver on the hard court and both gold and silver in the beach volleyball competition.
“It’s cool to get a lot of hype around the sport,” volleyball middle back Christiana Gray said. “Most people know about volleyball, but they might not know the rules, see how fast it is, and for them to be able to watch the Olympics and see that, it gets them excited to see our games. I’m hoping that transition will be there for us.”
With the competition over and the Olympic medals awarded, the question on everyone’s minds is whether or not these sports be able to maintain such overwhelming interest in the months to come.
“I’m hoping there was so much visibility of [volleyball] on television, for the Olympics, for volleyball, that people really begin to enjoy watching the sport,” volleyball head coach Jolene Nagel said. “Hopefully we can build on this excitement for volleyball that has just been built in our country.”
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