dropglobalnews

Indeed, but I think it is attributable to our generally fragmenting attention economy. The Olympics was most meaningful when it was a collective event that we were all focused on together. When I was a kid that was the case. I remember sitting in rapt attention with not just my family but the whole neighborhood watching 100M sprints and other events. 

Now I would say a majority of people I know are paying little to know attention to the Olympics and are focused on a dozen other smaller things. The grandeur is clearly seeping away with each generation. The old world is dying and the new is still struggling to be born.

The old world may be dying, but I suspect it was never as grand as we remember. Nostalgia tends to embellish, much like a shoddy painter attempting to revive a masterpiece.