the future of olympic games?

I came up with this idea when I was skipping through the TV channels and I saw two chinese teams playing against each other in women's beach volleyball. I'm not sure whether it was even the finals or anything, but that is not the main issue here.

the fact is, asian nations are slowly but surely killing the competitive scene in olympic games. for example, russia used to be superior in gymnastics for many decades, but now the chinese 'new talents' are taking over the scene. from what I've heard, the russian TV channels have already refused to offer coverage of gymnastics, because what interest should a country have in broadcasting something that will not most likely bring any medals home, nor offers any excitement. the main issue is that for most europeans the asiates all look very much alike, and their names are often non-pronouncable. I don't think anyone interested in swimming, for example, would forget great stars like Ian Thorpe or Michael Phelps and either should they have problems recognizing him in a sports magazine.

no official statement has been made yet, but it seems that the olympic committee is already discussing removing some sports. nowadays olympic games cannot just be built on good will, no nation would be interested in hosting a big competition like this if they wouldn't get any income. the seating tickets in the stadium alone don't bring in enough money to cover the organizing, advertising, maintenance etc. most of the money still comes from selling coverage to other countries, and why would a television company buy something that will not be watched.

at the moment the problem is not too big, but this could easily move on to other sports as well. right now the other games are enough to cover for the smaller income of the less-interesting sports, but maybe during next olympics we will not have basketball or 110m hurdles anymore.