By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
South Korea's television coverage of the Beijing Olympics has featured South Korean athletes and Michael Phelps.
Korean broadcasters' policy of focusing coverage on domestic athletes has neglected plenty of big Olympic matches.
Since the Olympics started on Aug. 8, local broadcasters have replayed Korean athletes' gold medal performances time after time. If viewers change channels, they'll likely find more clips of swimmer Park Tae-hwan and judoka Choi Min-ho winning gold medals.
Even during times when South Korea is not involved in Olympic events while eye-catching games are taking place, broadcasters continue to show replays of Korean highlights again and again and again.
As a result, many Korean sports fans have never had a chance to watch football stars like Brazil's Ronaldinho or Argentina's Lionel Messi, called the ``next Diego Maradona,'' waltz down the pitch.
The two megastars led their teams in a semifinal clash Tuesday, but Korean broadcasters did not schedule coverage of the event.
Tennis and basketball make additional cases for coverage.
Prior to the Olympics, tennis had been one of the most anticipated sports in the Games because of its top-tier players, such as Roger Federer of Switzerland, Rafael Nadal of Spain and Venus and Serena Williams of the United States.
However, tennis fans in Korea, who had looked forward to seeing those players, did not get much of a chance to watch them. About the only significant match that was televised in Korea was a semifinal between Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Many viewers weren't even informed that Federer lost in the quarterfinals, while Korean player Lee Hyung-taik's final Olympic match was not on the air, either.
As for basketball, the U.S. men's team, comprised of star players from the National Basketball Association (NBA), has drawn worldwide interest. The Americans have a 5-0 record in Beijing, including a historic opening game against a Yao Ming-led Chinese team, which was expected to be the most watched basketball game in history.
But Korean broadcasters declined to cover it, running their regular programs instead.
Their lack of coverage might have reached its climax Monday night.
When pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia set a world record of 5.05 meters, no Korean stations were interested in showing her new mark.
SBS showed the Russian clearing her first attempt of 4.70 meters, but suddenly stopped its coverage before Isinbayeva took a shot at the record, choosing to run a popular miniseries instead.
``We want to watch top-tier athletes' skills at the Olympics, but it is almost impossible,'' a viewer said.
``It is not comprehendible for three broadcasters to skip the world record-chasing match to run drama and talk shows.''
About the only non-Korean athlete to receive coverage is Phelps, who won eight gold medals to break Mark Spitz's record for the most at a single Olympics.
However, if the American had not competed against Park in the men's 200-meter freestyle and was not chasing a record, his events might not have gotten much coverage from Korean stations, either.