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This is the first year that I’ve seriously watched the Summer Olympics since 1996. I’m not entirely sure why, although it’s clear to me that the Beijing Games have been hyped by the American media to an extent we haven’t seen since the Centennial Olympics in Atlanta. Whatever the reason, I’ve rather enjoyed the routine of heading straight for the couch after work and watching coverage late into the night, and I’ll be sad to see the Games go.

It has me wondering: what is coverage in other countries like? In what ways would it be similar and different from American coverage? Presumably, every nation prefers to focus as much as possible on its own athletes; NBC airs the occasional human interest story about foreign athletes, but the vast majority of the focus is on Americans, and I imagine most countries follow this pattern to whatever extent the event outcomes allow.

More than simply focusing on Americans, however, NBC’s coverage seems to revolve around particular Americans; individuals, much more than teams. Sure, many Olympic sports are fundamentally solo events, but even events which truly require all-around team performances — swimming relays, for example — are covered as part of larger narratives about individuals. Whether it’s about those, like Michael Phelps or Shawn Johnson, who were identified as centers of media attention before the Games began, or athletes like Nastia Liukin, whose outstanding performances have led NBC to weave them into the tapestry of its coverage, the story of these Olympic Games has been anchored by heroes.

Indeed, it’s been more than just American heroes; Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has been second only to Phelps in the grandeur of his coronation. There are a few exceptions, of course: USA Basketball, in their quest for redemption, and the beach volleyball duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, in their incredible dominance, have surely been recognized for their team success. But by and large, my observation has been that Olympic commentators have been much more interested in the message of heroism than that of, say, teamwork or sportsmanship.

On some level, this is just the nature of sports coverage, at least in the United States. You only have to see a few ads for ordinary sports telecasts to realize that phrases like “Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers” or “Eli Manning and the New York Giants” are the rule, not the exception. Olympics coverage follows this rule to the letter, except for the occasional need to appoint heroes whom uninitiated audiences can adopt as their own. But seeing this rule applied on the international stage begs the question: is this obsession with the singular, unrivaled champion uniquely American?

It doesn’t appear to be. While the ethos of individualism and self-reliance does feel especially central to American identity, the urge to identify paragons of excellence seems to know no national or cultural boundaries. From Gilgamesh, Arjuna, and Hercules, to Jesus, Beowulf, and even Superman, every mythology I’ve ever studied has been deeply influenced by what I would argue is the fundamental human need for a hero. Even those modern societies whose fundamental tenets revolve around the glorification of the collective seem to have needed cults of personality, whether Stalin, Castro, or Mao, to survive.

On the other hand, it is difficult to ignore our intuition, supported by anecdotal experience as well as by research such as that of Stanford cultural psychologist Hazel Markus, that American (or more broadly, Western) culture values, even exalts, the individual in a way that Eastern societies simply do not. Indeed, nowhere was this phenomenon more apparent than the captivating Opening Ceremony of these very Olympics, in which director Zhang Yimou used enormous choruses of performers to great effect. Elaborate choreographed sequences like the tai chi segment, which featured 2,008 masters of the Chinese martial art, brought to bear what most would agree is a guiding principle in traditional Chinese culture: the power of the many.

Which brings us back to the question that started us down this path: what is Olympic coverage in other countries like? Does commentary in Eastern nations demonstrate the same glorification of individual achievement displayed by America’s NBC, or does it take a different approach? Is the title of John Williams’ classic anthem (and the title of this post) a true expression of the Olympic spirit, or is it merely a reflection of his personal cultural background?

I honestly have no idea. Do you?