In article blueyonder.co.uk>, pah@invalid.invalid
says...

So football and cycling are minority interest sports? Then there's also
swimming, hockey, judo and weightlifting.

There seems to be some sort of effect by which in many places people see
the Olympics as a track and field meet with some other stuff going on
around it. So I'm quite happy to accept that there are large numbers of
people who watch the opening and closing ceremonies and some of the
athletics and believe they have watched everything that matters about the
Olympics. Just as it's a certaintly that should a British track and field
athlete get a bronze medal they will be lauded to the skies in the media
whereas if, as is expected, Vickie Pendleton picks up multiple gold
medals in the track cycling it may make a footnote on the sports pages of
the broadsheets. Yet in a few weeks time the same British athlete could
break a world record and not have it noticed in the UK.

It's got absolutely nothing to do with the level of interest in the
sports, and absolutely everything to do with the mindless sheep effect
that has vast numbers of people interested in tennis for a fortnight
during Wimbledon and in cycling for three weeks during the Tour de
France, and then completely unaware of the sport's existence for the
following twelve months.