Yet Another New Olympic Sport

[Crazyface]

Climbing. Yup! Climbing. Up rocks and whatnot. They've put in to be an Olympic sport. No matter how many times they say the word "sport" after the word "climbing" does NOT make it a sport. Christ what next Olympic rambling??????
There is , apparently, PROFESSIONAL, I kid you not, climbers. Paid people who climb up things! Just exactly what happens here???? Here's £100, just climb up that?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

The list goes on. Prancing about with a ribbon, riding a bmx around a track, riding a horse incredibly slowly (dressage), dancing in a swimming pool. All laughable excuses for a sport. Any pastime is having a go at getting in. It devalues the medal.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Dressage has been the Olympics for over 100 years now and it's very skillful to train and control the house in the way they do

Same with the syncronised swimming or the gymnastics etc - it's laughable people dismissing sports when it takes a lot of skill , energy , stamina to compete at the highest level and how does it devalue the medal

The good thing about sport and indeed in the Olympics is the vast wide variety of sports available to everyone to compete in the public eye and it needs the Olympics to gain support and indeed more competitiors - why do people immediately dismiss the idea of what these people do just because they don't like it ? There are a number of sports that I don't like but I certainly wouldn't dismiss their ability in that chosen sport nor dismiss the value of that sport to them

The definition of sport is quite clear - an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment

So yes dressage etc is a sport same with climbing or skateboarding or surfing or whatever sport they put in the Olympics.

 

[JohnnyDee]

It's always struck me that so many Summer Olympic 'sports' are little more than elitist piffle.

Sure, there are some real ones too, but so many seem draw from a small pool of global participants.

What about that one (been about for yonks too) where you schlep about with a rifle on your back stopping every once in a while to shoot at target. Doubtless skilful but I think I'd rather watch or take up herbaceous border-weeding on stilts than endure 2 seconds of that.:mmm:

 

[fundy]

It's always struck me that so many Summer Olympic 'sports' are little more than elitist piffle.

Sure, there are some real ones too, but so many seem draw from a small pool of global participants.

What about that one (been about for yonks too) where you schlep about with a rifle on your back stopping every once in a while to shoot at target. Doubtless skilful but I think I'd rather watch or take up herbaceous border-weeding on stilts than endure 2 seconds of that.:mmm:

What about that one (been about for yonks too) where you schlep about with a bag of sticks on your back stopping every once in a while to shoot a ball at a hole in the ground

 

[JohnnyDee]

What about that one (been about for yonks too) where you schlep about with a bag of sticks on your back stopping every once in a while to shoot a ball at a hole in the ground

True, the irony of it wasn't lost on me when I typed the post... but there is one helluva lot more of us than there is them.:thup:

 

[Lord Tyrion]

LP - It's absolutely fine that you rate dressage, rythmic gymnastics and synchronised swimming. Personally I don't. Having to work hard at something does not make it a sport with any merit in my eyes. A pastime, yes, sport no. Why not have the various dancing types in there, ballroom, latin, disco, freestyle etc? They work hard at it.

There is sport and there are pastimes. We will clearly not agree on which are which.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

LP - It's absolutely fine that you rate dressage, rythmic gymnastics and synchronised swimming. Personally I don't. Having to work hard at something does not make it a sport with any merit in my eyes. A pastime, yes, sport no. Why not have the various dancing types in there, ballroom, latin, disco, freestyle etc? They work hard at it.

There is sport and there are pastimes. We will clearly not agree on which are which.

The definition of sport is quite clear and dancing again can be classed as sport and it's not just about working hard

Whether you like it or not is all about opinions but they fall within the definition of sport and are governed by sporting bodies - you can disagree with that but it is a sport

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports

I don't rate the sports but I can appreciate the skill and work that goes into them - just as much a sport as golf or football or rugby etc

 

[Beezerk]

Dressage has been the Olympics for over 100 years now and it's very skillful to train and control the house in the way they do.

I got a semi reading that.

 

[JohnnyDee]

I think one of the things that used to needle me until we finally started producing world class athletes / sportsmen/women in significant numbers, was the jingoistic trumpeting of GB competitors who had won gold in the rarefied fields of Plus-four-attired-hopscotch or Formation Yak Fettling.

It's great that we now produce real top-of-the-tree competitors in 'mainstream events', although the banging on about successes in odd backwaters (no pun intended) still seems alive and well in our media.

 

[SteveJay]

To play devil's advocate, I suggest equestrian "sports" are more in keeping with the Olympic tradition....ancient Greece and the origins of the games than some modern sports.

I am no fan of horse riding and agree with some earlier comments, but many would not consider golf to be an acceptable Olympic Sport......me and Rory included it seems

 

[Tongo]

All sports are ultimately futile and just someone hitting / kicking something, running or jumping etc. They become important because of what they mean to people. Just because they don't mean anything to some people doesn't mean they should be derided.

It also helps to put aside any class / elitist prejudices. A few years ago I watched quite a bit of polo and absolutely loved it. Couldn't care less who had what and how much. Just enjoyed the sport, the skill on show and the sound of 8 horses at full flight.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

There are sports I don't like (dressage being one of them), but at least the Olympic committee are trying to keep things fresh. Just think how about sporting events stagnate to the same old thing every time.

 

[Hobbit]

Climbing. Yup! Climbing. Up rocks and whatnot. They've put in to be an Olympic sport. No matter how many times they say the word "sport" after the word "climbing" does NOT make it a sport. Christ what next Olympic rambling??????
There is , apparently, PROFESSIONAL, I kid you not, climbers. Paid people who climb up things! Just exactly what happens here???? Here's £100, just climb up that?

So you know how competitive/speed climbing is structured? As for fitness; you'll struggle to find fitter people than speed climbers.

Now if you were talking about synchronised drowning... what's with this sticking your arm up in the air, putting on a plastic smile and........................................................................................................ sinking?

 

[GB72]

I may be wrong to many but in my eyes anything where the winner is based on opinion is not a sport. That includes ice dancing, synchronised swimming, diving and anything else where the result is a matter of opinion and not a matter of fact.

 

[jp5]

I may be wrong to many but in my eyes anything where the winner is based on opinion is not a sport. That includes ice dancing, synchronised swimming, diving and anything else where the result is a matter of opinion and not a matter of fact.

Football? Golf? Rugby?

All have referees making judgements on play which can ultimately affect the outcome.

In fact something like gymnastics / diving with a panel of judges is arguably less susceptible to individual opinion (e.g. football).

 

[GB72]

Football? Golf? Rugby?

All have referees making judgements on play which can ultimately affect the outcome.

In fact something like gymnastics / diving with a panel of judges is arguably less susceptible to individual opinion (e.g. football).

Not at all. There is opinion in refereeing I agree but there is a clear result on the pitch indicated by score and there is a definitive requirement on how to score be it goal, try or number of shots. In The events I mention the result is a score based on opinion, the opinion of a panel of judges. If the criteria for judging were precise, every expert would have the same score but this often proves not the be the case.

 

[LIG]

I may be wrong to many but in my eyes anything where the winner is based on opinion is not a sport. That includes ice dancing, synchronised swimming, diving and anything else where the result is a matter of opinion and not a matter of fact.

But isn't it a fact that a belly flop is less graceful than a swan dive?

Although my personal opinion is that any sort of cannonball is better than all other dives. :whoo:

 

[jp5]

If the criteria for judging were precise, every expert would have the same score but this often proves not the be the case.

Could say the same about the refereeing of any number of sports.

Sports judged by a panel of officials are no less of a sport than those with scores / times etc.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I may be wrong to many but in my eyes anything where the winner is based on opinion is not a sport. That includes ice dancing, synchronised swimming, diving and anything else where the result is a matter of opinion and not a matter of fact.

you are most definitely not wrong mate any sport where its based on opinion rather than clear winner shouldnt be in the olympics .
let them have their own opinionated games and leave us with the winners games.
what the hell sychronised swimming dressage gymnastis boxing diving and the such are doing there in the first place i really dont know .
yes the participants have taken years to hone their skills but for what ,someone to say youre good ,but they were better.
what happened to stronger faster higher ?