Real-time Spectacular Spectator Streaming: Olympic Edition

Couch potatoes rejoice!  The Olympics are here.

Actually it is 12-hours away on the other side of the globe in Beijing China.

Normally you would have to wait for tape-delayed broadcast of your favorite sporting events and compeitions from the Oylmpic host country wherever it may be.  Usually that means waiting for prime time evening TV for hours and hours of TV coverage to watch until the wee hours of the morning.

But this is 2008 and the Video Internet has really arrived.  This means you can AUGMENT your nightly watching MORE video all day. . .Here’s a list of place to get your Olympic fix live through streaming video online.  Real-time cheering.  Real-time viewing. . .

Our old reliable WIRED Magazine has compiled a Wiki article listing the best places to procrastinate online during the Olympics [some may be location restricted based on where your ISP is accessing the sites]:

• BBC Sports. 6 streaming with on-demand highlights and interviews
• CBC Olympics. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation supplemental live, on-demand coverage, interviews, specials, etc.
• CCTVOlympics.com. CCTV in China and Macau
• Cox High Speed Internet.
  Cox customers can access 2,200 hours of 25 events streamed live, plus
  replays, highlights, including daily recaps, montages, commentator
  analysis and athlete-specific clips.  Find this on NBCOlympics.com via
  a link from the Sports page on www.cox.net
• Cycling Fans.Resource list of more video streaming sites online
• NBC Olympics. 4 live streaming channels plus THOUSANDS of on-demand video segments
• TV Tonic. various Olympics sporting highlights
• Watch Olympics.  Various user-generated video streams from the site
• YouTube. 3 hours of video each day : highlights, daily wrap-ups, [no live coverage]
• Yahoo7. Australia’s portal with live, on-demand coverage, interviews, specials and features

You may have regretted planning your trip to Beijing (or not) after seeing the opening ceremonies, but now you can live the actions live!  Don’t forget to thank Al Gore for inventing the Internet!