According to NBC research, the Olympics are one of the few televised sporting events watched by as many women as men. Oddly enough, the Times reports this morning, the women are really into Michael Phelps and other swimmers and also into gymnasts like the medal winners pictured on the far left there. Sensing a theme, Chevrolet is targeting women with an ad "featuring a shirtless hunk who irons, scrubs a toilet and makes reservations for an anniversary dinner." Well, that's fairly puke-y. Women aren't tuning into the summer games just for beefcake and male athletes, after all. Some advertisers are running more enlightened commercials:

... myriad spots during the Games feature women athletes past and present, like Cheri Blauwet, Nadia Comaneci, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Kerri Strug and Dara Torres.

Wow, that's a fair number of high-profile women athletes. Could women spectators perhaps be enticed to watch them compete between Olympiads on channels now jam-packed with men's football, baseball, basketball and hockey? Perhaps! But considering women have been known to heavily consume the Olympics for at least four years now, if not decades, and that women's sports remain a microscopic part of sports television, the idea is something of a dream. So enjoy the miraculous Olympics while they last, women.

[Times]