Star spangled success

A clean sweep in the snowboarding was a US highlight

Scandal and patriotism have helped make these Winter Olympics a big success in the USA, writes BBC Sport Online's American reporter Kevin Asseo.

After the previous Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, nearly slipped under the radar screen in America, the Games have made a comeback.

In numbers far greater than in 1998, televisions throughout the nation have been tuned to NBC, to watch the daily happenings from Salt Lake City.

America's increased interest in these Games is thanks in no small part to an overwhelming sense of nationalism following last year's terrorist attacks.

The biggest Olympic scandal in years has also helped.

Of course, there is also no 14-hour time difference to contend with, as there was for the Nagano Olympics.

As expected, the Salt Lake City Olympics have given America an outlet for flashy displays of patriotism, which is just what the country wanted during these troubled times.

Scandal

A healthy dose of pride and nationalism has been boosted by a record number of American medal winners at just the halfway point of the Games.

But possibly more important to the popular success of these Games than any other factor has been the one thing that has everyone in America talking - the figure skating scandal.

Since the pairs competition that uncovered impropriety among the Olympic judges, the Salt Lake City Games have moved from the sports section to the front page of nearly every newspaper.

Casey FitzRandolph wins gold for the US in the 500m speedskating

Not since American skater Tonya Harding ordered the clubbing of rival Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 Winter Games has there been an Olympic scandal of these proportions.

Best still to come

Despite no US involvement in the judging fiasco, the American public has followed with rapt attention every sordid detail and breaking development.

For several days, NBC's television coverage resembled that of an all-news network, with press conference after press conference taking the place of event coverage.

The Olympics has achieved its success in the States even before the two events expected to be the most popular.

If Michelle Kwan can win women's figure skating gold, and the men's ice hockey team can duplicate the victories of the 1960 and 1980 US teams, the 2002 Winter Olympics may be remembered in America as the best, and certainly the most-watched, ever.