Reality TV: The Biggest Winner

Learned recently (but did not tune in to the premiere) that Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner is competing on the current season of "The Biggest Loser," seeking to regain his Olympian physique after a few years of snacking sans exercise. I found it interesting his inspiration to join the show originated in Oklahoma, according to this USA Today article.

It's also interesting to me that reality shows keep tapping Olympians as contestants. Gardner on "The Biggest Loser," Shawn Johnson on "Dancing With The Stars." Jonny Mosely on "Skating With The Stars." There are bound to be others.

Just wondering the extent to which the Olympic star-status serves as an inspiration for reality TV viewers versus turning the Olympians into sideshows.

It's great that the shows provide the Olympians with a post-athletic career source of income or building their brand. But at what cost to their elite (or recent/former elite) status?

Photo via PopTower.com

Action McNews!

I always get a chuckle when Tom Tomorrow includes the ACTION McNEWS! exclamatory "newscasts" in the great This Modern World cartoons.

Today a press release arrived from the media relations team for McDonald's, which announced a new McDonald's Champion Kids program through which some lucky youngsters and their parents may win a trip to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. I'll bite!

According to the P.R. correspondence, "To enter the contest, kids provide videos, photos and essays about what the Olympics values (Excellence, Friendship and Respect) mean to them."

Olympic medalist and "Dancing With The Stars" champ Shawn Johnson will be the official judge of the entrants, so anyone age 11 to 14 who wants Ms. Johnson to see them, here's your chance to enter now!

Photo via the McDonald's Champion Kids site

News of Olympic Parks, Press and Putin

The Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau (a.k.a. The Swamp) and other outlets report that a presidential advance team will embark to Copenhagen to "keep options open" for President Obama to speak to the International Olympic Committee. This is a tremendous boost for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid team, for sure.

Only 11 days remain until the big vote.

In other news, in New York, Olympic gold medalist and "Dancing With The Stars" champ Shawn Johnson took to the air on Fox News yesterday, talking about her support of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Her media training skills keep improving with each interview.

Back in Chicago, this past week's Olympic headlines were capped with the opening of the new Jesse Owens Olympic Park presented by Allstate. Long-term good news for the city. Read all about it.

And speaking of Olympic parks, here's some news about the London 2012 Olympic park getting some visitors.

Even the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic team had Olympic park news this week, with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visiting some big cats with IOC member Jean-Claude Killy. Meow!

Now Hear This

Saw some Tweets about this, and later read the news that Michael Phelps landed a new endorsement deal. Has it really been four months of "waiting in the weeds" since news broke of his adventures in South Carolina? (photo courtesy H2OAudio.com)

In other "news," this week's version of The Onion News Network has a quirky video feature on the latest in the world of gymnastics Olympic champion and "Dancing With The Stars" champion Shawn Johnson. I was chuckling until The Onion's broadcast crawl flashed a spelling error regarding Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas (d'oh! copy editing!).

On a more serious Olympic note, however, it was all business in Lausanne, Switzerland, this week as the four candidate cities for the 2016 Olympic Games presented their latest and greatest to the International Olympic Committee, as reported here by Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune.