Television sets tuned to NBC may be very common on Saint Louis University’s campus for the next several weeks.

The 2000 Summer Olympics started Friday, Sept. 15, and many students and faculty are tuning in to watch the competition.

“I think the Olympics are exciting, although it is disappointing to see the men’s gymnastics team not doing very well,” said junior Jammie Uzzle.

Senior Joel Geerling added, “I think it is cool that NBC is covering events 24 hours a day on NBC channels. That way I can watch more of the Olympics.”

The Olympics are being held in Sydney, Australia.

Because of its location below the equator, the summer season is the opposite of the United States, which is why the “summer” Olympics are taking place in September.

This is also a reason that a few of the students are unable to watch all the Olympic coverage they would like.

“I wish the Olympics had started earlier. I understand why they didn’t, but I am studying so much I can’t watch them as much as I would like to,” said sophomore Mya Turner.

Sophomore C.J. Hall added, “I am so busy with classes and studying that I can’t watch TV, let alone the Olympics. I wish they had started during our summer so I could have watched them. I am going to try to watch some of the track and field events, though.”

Freshman Sarah Prouhit added,” I don’t have time right now, but when I get time I will watch some of the swimming events.”

Some students and faculty aren’t going out of their way to watch the Olympics at all.

“I just don’t have any time to watch the Olympics,” said Marlene Neun, a professor in the communications department.

Freshman Eric Bell added, “I don’t really care about the Summer Olympics.”

Some students find a few things about the coverage of the Olympics annoying and frustrating.

“It is so annoying that all the events I want to watch, like gymnastics and swimming, are on late, usually after 9 p.m. The coverage also seems to ignore all the other countries. If the U.S. is not doing well, then we normally don’t get coverage of that event. We sure are seeing a lot of swimming though,” said Kristin Drennan.

Sophomore Casey Miller added, “The time delay is very frustrating. We know the results before we see the coverage.”

SLU also has a few students and faculty who are not cheering solely for the USA.

“I am trying to watch Italy in as many events as I can. They are doing really well in fencing and the American team is not good. We don’t see much coverage of fencing. I am definitely cheering for Italy and China before America,” said Fabrizzio Agosta, a graduate international student from Italy.

Dr. Alberto Galofr?, the Associate Dean of Curriculum at the Medical School, is from Chile and he said that he does cheer for America, but he likes to find out how Chile is doing as well.

He has to use the Internet to find out most of the information because NBC-TV coverage does not give him very much information. He had to call his mother in Chile on Sunday to see who won the soccer game between Chile and Spain. He was excited to find out that Chile won.

The 2000 Summer Olympics will be on NBC through Oct. 1. The next scheduled Olympics is the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.