Unless you’ve been under a rock or something for the last week, you are probably aware that the Summer Olympics are in full progress in Beijing (and Hong Kong, for the equestrian sports). Now, as we all know, I have very mixed feelings about the Olympics, especially this year’s. But I really like the idea of the Olympic Movement. I love the concept of setting aside national differences for a few weeks every four years and competing against the best athletes in the world. (Although I wish they had sports I could compete in, like speed etymology and cat wrasslin’.)

So I’ve kind of loosely been following the Olympics news, which is kind of hard not to do if you read any news at all right now, and I have noticed a disturbing trend.

Here in the States, all any news outlet can talk about is Team USA. Team USA did this, Team USA did that, look at all these medals we are getting, isn’t Team USA just the best! We are so awesome!

And the thing is, a lot of the athletes competing for the United States are pretty darn awesome. They are talented athletes, and really interesting people. And I’ve met a few Olympic athletes in my time, so I feel pretty confident saying this. And I’m proud of them and their accomplishments, and I am glad that they are getting the honor of participating in the Olympics.

But I am also proud of athletes from other nations, and I want to hear more about them. Even when a news article does feature a foreign athlete, the news source manages to slip in some reference to Team USA. Usually a reference which points out that we are better. Like, “her training regimin, unlike that employed by Team USA, involved…” or “ultimately the whatever country national team doesn’t stand a chance against Team USA, but it sure is nice to see them try!”

Baxt, who watched the opening ceremonies, said that the commentary was making her writhe in her chair. “This country only just became a country! They’re so small! They are much smaller than the United States!  They won’t make it through the first round, so you probably won’t see them competing against Team USA, but their costumes sure are nice!” And, of course, when the American athletes stepped out, the commentator went into spasms of delight.

Here’s the thing. I thought that the Olympics was all about international cooperation. I understand that American news sources feel the need to report on the American athletes, because obviously Americans are interested in how their national team are doing. But would it kill the media to at least feature some information about athletes from other countries, and other teams? All the headlines are “Team USA Does This!” “Team USA Does That!” Team USA Creams Some Athletes From a Country You Have Never Heard Of!” “Oh My God Michael Phelps is So Cool!” “Team USA Rocks!” “Here’s Another Article About Team USA In Which Nothing Really Happens!”

When we aren’t talking about how awesome Team USA is, we’re posting “exposes” of all the stuff the Chinese faked at the opening ceremonies, just to emphasize the fact that they may have more medals than we do (since obviously the medal count is the only way to judge merit), but we’re still better, because Americans would never fake things at the opening ceremonies. Apparently it’s not enough to manipulate the schedule of events to fit things in with our prime time schedule.

I contrasted this with the Olympics coverage at The Age, an Australian news source, and I found a pretty fair mix of news. A lot of news about Aussie athletes, of course, but also some news about athletes from other countries, and matches between other national teams. The Age is talking about some of the political issues in the games, like a friendly exchange of hugs between a Russian athlete and a Georgian one, which kind of embodies the spirit of the games, and an inquiry into an Iranian athlete who may (or may not) have withdrawn from a match to avoid going up against an Israeli (not in the spirit of the games). The content is interesting, balanced, and informative. Sure there’s some Australian pride going on, but it’s nothing like the coverage in American papers, where you might be hard pressed to believe that any nation other than the United States is really competing.

Likewise with the Guardian, a British paper. There’s commentary about the Olympics, along with coverage of major events (and not so major ones). Unsurprisingly, the paper is keeping close tabs on British athletes, which is entirely reasonable, but again, news about athletes from other countries is also very present. I find the content at the Guardian far more dynamic and interesting than the “Americans first” coverage at sources like the New York Times.

If the Olympics is supposed to be all about International cooperation and friendship, why can’t American newspapers look beyond the American athletes for news? I’m feeling rather more ashamed than usual of our national media at the moment.