Yep the backstory stuff is annoying and main reason I have issues watching the Olympics. Just cover the events and have a dedicated website where you can learn about everyone’s backstory if you actually want that info - not just the select hard luck cases the producers think we should know and care about that burns 10 minutes of screen time each time.
It’s painful. I enjoy watching the sprint events in track and field. I only watch after the live event has been recorded by me. I can then watch 3 hours of programming in a couple minutes.