Olympic Swimming Qualifying Coverage Slanted

The other day I was watching the Olympic qualifying swimming trials for the American team on the Versus Channel, which I believe is affiliated with the NBC network.  They were running heat after heat, with most of the participants naturally doomed to miss out on the few available spots on the Olympic squad.  In one women's heat, the announcers (and cameras) focused in on one aspirant, a favorite to get to the Olympics.  But she performed poorly on the qualifying heat and missed out making the team (at least in that particular event).  Instead of reporting on the unexpectedly successful swimmers, though, all the announcers could do was spotlight this one more well-known contender (even though she failed).

I wonder how someone would feel who, after all of the training and sacrifice that culminates with trying out for a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team, actually succeeds in a nationally-televised qualifying race...and is then virtually ignored by the announcers and cameras.  I suspect, perhaps, the on-air "experts" really only know about a few of those trying out, and if someone outside the "loop" slips through, they really can't talk about them because of their sheer ignorance.  So they conveniently ignore them, the way I see it. Until, I suppose, they eventually get filled in on the particulars about the new "sensation"...