Can’t say that I have seen too many spectators at the Olympics using
binoculars to watch all the action, but, understandably, the media does not waste a lot of coverage on scanning the crowds; it’s all about the athletes, as it should be. It may simply be that there has not been enough coverage of the fans to see any binoculars in use. For sure, unless it violated some security rule, I would carry at least a
compact binocular for all the events. It’s not like a binoculars have a flash, as with
digital cameras, to irritate and possibly interfere with the annoy competitors.
I would think, though, that fans at the bottom of every ski run would benefit from a binocular, to look back up the course and check progress of the race, just as the fans around the skating ovals would benefit on closer inspection of the action in skating.
Normally,
sports binoculars do not need to be waterproof, but, as anyone who has been watching the Olympics can see, there has been enough rain and snow to make a waterproof sports binocular a very good idea, indeed. I also like the idea of an individual eyepiece focus binocular, such as the
Steiner 8x30 Safari Pro, to avoid the need to focus the binocular in the cold weather and keep the action in focus at all times.
Okay, that’s what I would do at the Olympics and I have to say I am sorry to not be in Vancouver, right now, if for no other reason than to visit that great city and that part of the Northwest which I miss so much.