The folks at NBC do a reasonable amount of shutting up between talking; they also do something else, which my boyfriend absolutely hates and I kind of enjoy: they show, in moments before races, short fun interviews and documentary blurbs about the featured American athletes, so you get a glimpse of the personality behind the physical achievements.

Oh, and one more thing; it's somewhat bizarre to see Olympic coverage in the US, the main medal factory, comparing to Israel. Whereas in Israel the coverage is very cosmopolitan (except in the few sports where Israel has a realistic shot at a medal), in the US the focus is dominantly, not to say exclusively, on American athletes - to the point that if an American does not win a race one doesn't have a clue who did.