Yet Another New Olympic Sport

[Hacker Khan]

I'm interested in seeing people compete against their peers.

I can't stand the stuff in the 'Olympics' which depends entirely on how fat the wallet is.

Dressage, in fact anything with a horse is just based on how much you spend on the best animal. I grew up with horses and riders and horsey based competitions: the winners were, almost without fail, the richest. They bought the best and had the time to play.

I know there will never be a level playing field and cash will bring advantages and I have no problems with that in the professional sports world but for me the Olympics should be about something else.

So basically that is just about every gold medal GB has won since the lottery came in in 1997 and transformed the number of golds we got from 1 in 1996 to around 30 in 2012. Most of which I would argue is due to the increased funding the lottery money provided, or basically how fat our wallet was in the sports we targeted.

Also the Olympics has been open to professionals since the mid 80s so that ship has sailed long ago, done a round the world cruise several times and has docked again.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Most sports have their World Championships and that should be enough.
IMO the Olympics have had their day, national willy waving contest now. Medal table based on the amount of money each country spends.

I feel that golf has missed on it's World Championship opportunity due to the rivalry between the USA and European tours.

 

[larmen]

IMO the Olympics have had their day, national willy waving contest now.

Oh, you are being controversial there! But not necessarily wrong.

What I am wondering is if it is sustainable. London overspent, Rio is struggling. And while cities are still applying for it the people living there are sometimes loudly against it. There was a referendum in Germany somewhere and they voted against bidding for it. In the long term, are we running out of hosts?

 

[Hacker Khan]

Oh, you are being controversial there! But not necessarily wrong.

What I am wondering is if it is sustainable. London overspent, Rio is struggling. And while cities are still applying for it the people living there are sometimes loudly against it. There was a referendum in Germany somewhere and they voted against bidding for it. In the long term, are we running out of hosts?

Basically that is happening now as quite a few countries are backing out of hosting the winter games and I think the one in 2022 was Beijing or bust. Will be interesting to see if they follow the FIFA route and hand one of the biggest sporting events on the planet to who can bribe them the most or who has the craziest despot in charge. Allegedly.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Most sports have their World Championships and that should be enough.
IMO the Olympics have had their day, national willy waving contest now. Medal table based on the amount of money each country spends.

I feel that golf has missed on it's World Championship opportunity due to the rivalry between the USA and European tours.

But I suppose that is better than it being based on how well developed the state sponsored doping program was. Every cloud and all that.....

 

[Foxholer]

I'm interested in seeing people compete against their peers.

I can't stand the stuff in the 'Olympics' which depends entirely on how fat the wallet is.

Dressage, in fact anything with a horse is just based on how much you spend on the best animal. I grew up with horses and riders and horsey based competitions: the winners were, almost without fail, the richest. They bought the best and had the time to play.

I know there will never be a level playing field and cash will bring advantages and I have no problems with that in the professional sports world but for me the Olympics should be about something else.

H'mm. Probably fairly true, but they have to have talent too! Managing characters like Ahlerich or Rembrandt take special people! And modern Dressage seems even more 'dramatic'!

Toddy still managed to win 2 Olympic Golds for Eventing on Charisma (Podge), who cost next to nothing!

 

[nickjdavis]

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.

Well that screws Boxing then.

Both fighters sill swing at the end of 3, 10, 12 rounds? Lets get the subjective opinions of three blokes sat by the ring as to how they saw the fight.

 

[paddyc]

Football,golf,tennis,synchronised swimming,climbing should never be in the Olympics.

 

[Papas1982]

I woulnt have any team events in it full stop. For me being an olympian is about claiming to be the best on the planet at something.

I also feel fir all our othe athletes , Murray is a great sportsman, but i'm sure if most people were asked to name an olympic event, tennis will be a long way down the list.

 

[User62651]

Olympics lost its way somewhere around 2000, far too many medals and events imo.

Swimming - reduce events and just have freestyle - backstroke butterfly and breaststroke are pointless, just swim the fastest stroke.

Get rid of completely - golf, rugby 7s, football, tennis, beach volleyball, basketball, BMX, modern pentathlon, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon.

Include - squash.

That would makle it more manageable and watchable and more like how it used to be where for those sports involved Olympic gold remains the pinnacle of achievement.

Cities that have already had the Olympics and therefore have infrastructure in place should be used in a rota rather than a new city most times.

We'll leave the winter olympics for another time but they've been devalued hugely by snowboarding and skier cross etc imo. Fun events yes but not olympics sports.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Olympics lost its way somewhere around 2000, far too many medals and events imo.

Swimming - reduce events and just have freestyle - backstroke butterfly and breaststroke are pointless, just swim the fastest stroke.

Get rid of completely - golf, rugby 7s, football, tennis, beach volleyball, basketball, BMX, modern pentathlon, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon.

Include - squash.

That would makle it more manageable and watchable and more like how it used to be where for those sports involved Olympic gold remains the pinnacle of achievement.

Cities that have already had the Olympics and therefore have infrastructure in place should be used in a rota rather than a new city most times.

We'll leave the winter olympics for another time but they've been devalued hugely by snowboarding and skier cross etc imo. Fun events yes but not olympics sports.

I'm sure the average age of someone who watches the Olympics on TV is over 50 now, nearly as bad as golf. So to engage the youth of today they will continue to introduce more youth orientated sports such as snowboarding, BMX etc.

 

[User62651]

But youth of today have loads of things already such as the X games and red bull tournaments for these kinds of extreme sports. Just seems training to figure skate or cross country ski race is brutal and takes years to perfect whereas a few long hairs turn up in their baggies, enjoy a doobie then do some halfpipe stunts and tricks on their snowboards or twin tip skis and wander off with an equally valued gold medal.
Dont get me wrong I'd rather watch the snowboarding than figure skating, just saying the level of dedication required to succeed in some of these new events seems much more casual and ad hoc, luck based rather than through difficulty/dedication which isn't quite Olympics for me...........I am a miserable old dinosaur though.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'm against bringing in these new fad sports plus the highly professional ones. I understand why the IOC have brought them in but the danger is that they will alienate the traditionalists whilst not grabbing the newer generations. If the young ones are brought in then the approach will have been proved to work. For me it means too many 2 bit gold medallists, summer and winter as maxfli65 has said but I fully accept that others will disagree.

 

[user2010]

Olympics lost its way somewhere around 2000, far too many medals and events imo.

Swimming - reduce events and just have freestyle - backstroke butterfly and breaststroke are pointless, just swim the fastest stroke.

Get rid of completely - golf, rugby 7s, football, tennis, MENS beach volleyball, basketball, BMX, modern pentathlon, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, hockey.

Include - squash.

That would makle it more manageable and watchable and more like how it used to be where for those sports involved Olympic gold remains the pinnacle of achievement.

Cities that have already had the Olympics and therefore have infrastructure in place should be used in a rota rather than a new city most times.

We'll leave the winter olympics for another time but they've been devalued hugely by snowboarding and skier cross etc imo. Fun events yes but not olympics sports.

Fixed that for you.:thup: