It is not just the time difference that jeopardizes the great moment of union of the Olympic Games. With the genuinely sad loss of sport at the request of the BBC wall to wall feature, this year some moments just haven't been shown live to a mass audience.
In those cases, we seem to have missed a step in our traditional appreciation of the sport. The reaction and analysis come as instant spoilers, before many have had a chance to experience unscripted drama. You probably saw pictures of Tom Daley with tears in her eyes on the podium before you saw his four and a half triumphant somersaults.
Regularly appearing on a BBC One show in primetime remains the most efficient shortcut to ubiquity in our media landscape. But there has been a fracture in television consumption that can never be undone. It's impossible to remember the days when it seemed like everyone was tuned in as one, given that a grandmother, her middle-aged daughter, and her teenage granddaughter will all watch TV in different ways.
Hopefully, you were at least awake in time to catch Tom Pidcock. unexpected gold on mountain bike. Even then, the highlights of some other triumph may have turned your head overnight, a message from an excited friend that was just medal emojis, your toast popping up.
Phones have not killed the shared moment. There are few greater pleasures in modern life than spending an evening watching something lighthearted on TV with your phone while traveling at the same time, friends in a group chat, all trying to pull the same joke faster than everyone else. Admittedly, these nights tend to be less triathlon plus Eurovision.
But these Olympics feel like crossing a Rubicon. If we are not all seeing the same thing at the same time, what effect does it have on our understanding of the sport? Will we remember Adam like we do at Linford? Will our memories of Tom Daley differ depending on whether we saw him on the phone, tablet or 42 โscreen? If a cyclist falls in the dark of night without anyone looking, does he make a sound?
These questions may be moot given the growing sense that backlash, experts, and the dreaded 'viral moment' is now the true purpose of the sport. The competitive element is just grinding for the evocative emotional content mill.
As always, if you want to stay sane in a rapidly changing world, it's best to repeat this mantra: it's not better or worse, it's just different.
