Maybe it’s a function of the economy. Perhaps it’s about the availability, via the Web, of competition from seemingly any moment at any venue at the Beijing Olympics.

Maybe it’s about family dynamics, or the ages of the competitors and their children, siblings or friends.

But I have done stories on consecutive days on adult women who competed for the U.S. team, here in Beijing, and in both cases … the athletes had no one here to see them in their first Olympic moment. And I find that almost painfully sad.

Perhaps the sampling of Olympians I’ve had, over 20 years, has been unrepresentative. All those people I interviewed who had at least a few people coming to see them — and often had way more than a couple. Up to a dozen. Even at these Olympics.

Wrestler Marcie Van Dusen counted a dozen. Taekwondo kid Charlotte Craig’s family doesn’t have much money, but her parents will be here. John Dane III, the 58-year-old sailor, is in double figures with relatives, too. Maybe they’re the exceptions and no longer the rule.

Whatever it is, until talking to Brenda Shinn of Riverside on Sunday and Valerie Gotay of Temecula today, I had never, ever talked to an American athlete with no one dear to them watching them compete. In person.

Certainly, it’s expensive to come here. Late airfares were going for $1,400 or so. Housing at a decent hotel can set you back $200 a night.

The U.S. economy is shaky, too. People are worried about spending money they might need if they lose their jobs. The exchange rate of the dollar to foreign currencies is shaky, too.

Still, and all … it couldn’t have been cheap to go to Seoul in 1988 or Barcelona in 1992 or Sydney in 2000 or Athens in 2004 — and every athlete I spoke to had someone there. Every one.

This is new and different and melancholy, to me.

I know about it because I always ask, for stories I’m doing. Readers often like to know who from Back Home is there. And when I’m covering an athlete, I often look for pods of people cheering, because sometimes it’s fun and informative to go over and chat with the brothers, sisters, coaches and best friends.

For both Shinn and Gotay, though, I didn’t notice anyone shouting for them. No one wearing T-shirts and waving American flags.

I didn’t notice because there wasn’t anyone.

Neither of the women — one 46, the other 34 — seemed sorry for themselves in the least. Maybe I’m just projecting. Maybe alone is the best way to do the Olympics, with nobody around vying for your attention and time. Total focus. All Olympics, all the time.

I don’t believe that. But perhaps that’s how it works.