New Sports At The Olympics

sinbaadi

Teetonetal said:

Can't wait for climbing. It is a really exciting sport that is highly skillful. Perfect Olympic fodder.

Tennis, Football, Baseball, Golf etc should be nowhere near the Olympics.

Absolutely agree on climbing.

I've been bouldering and lead climbing for a few years and really got in to going to watch comps, some of which we've participated in, a bit like doing the "fun run" part of the qualifying round, really.

We've been looking forward to seeing Shauna at the Olympics for what feels like ages, she's the GB climbing figurehead for sure. 

If anyone really wants to see what being on another level looks like though, at least in Bouldering, check out Janja Garnbret.

 The format has already been changed for Paris games, which makes sense.  Speed is such a different discipline that it shouldn't be lumped in with Lead and Bouldering.

Grumpyrocker

EricTheWeary said:

I have a very clear, if largely disliked, view that anything involving non interactive turn taking is not a sport - darts, high jump, long jump, shot put, etc. These are forms of exercise or pastimes. 
I also dislike anything that is essentially rich people's hobbies so that includes anything involving a yacht, horses and most winter sports ( probably all winter sports but I haven't gone through a list). 
Squash is fine but to make it more authentic the scores should be cross tabulated with that month's new car sales. Surfing needs to be in shark infested waters otherwise who cares. 
The number of types of cycling races need to be reduced, there's just too much of it, and no velodromes only canal paths with the odd surprise Staffie cross jumping out the bushes. All cyclists must be able to demonstrate that they can change a tyre using two old desert spoons to qualify.  

There are plenty of parts of the world where winter sports are just sports. And not just for the rich. It's just here in the UK skiing is associated with the moneyed jetting off to their chalet in the Alps. 

Legionreturns

UnclePsychosis said:

It would be interesting to see what the programme would look like if the entire concept was revisited.

If they based it on the original ideals of the Olympic motto of citius, altius, fortius (faster, higher, stronger) that would instantly sack off loads of currently included events. 

not_the_dj

My rules:

Running, jumping, swimming, throwing and lifting for the Summer Games. 

Various forms of sliding for the Winter Games. 

No team sports, all just individual events. 

Sadly I’m unlikely to become leader of the world, or even just the IOC, but if I was...

axisus

Baseball is a boring game played by about 2 countries. I totally don't get its inclusion??? Oh yes, same as Basketball, so the Americans can guarantee another Gold.

All the rest should be OK.

Squash was mentioned. I used to play in a squash team many years ago. Loved the game but it's not a great spectator sport at the highest level - endless rallies with a tiny ball whipping around at speed, difficult to follow it on TV. Much better to watch at general club level. Still, I think it SHOULD be included in the Olympics. It's insulting that a great game with high skill levels, played all around the world is ignored but they have total crap like Synchronised swimming and Dressage.

Philly_Q

axisus said:

Baseball is a boring game played by about 2 countries. I totally don't get its inclusion??? Oh yes, same as Basketball, so the Americans can guarantee another Gold.

There's probably one other random country where it will turn out to be massive, like basketball in the former Yugoslavian countries.

euan

The best Olympic sport is the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

axisus said:

Baseball is a boring game played by about 2 countries. I totally don't get its inclusion??? Oh yes, same as Basketball, so the Americans can guarantee another Gold.

There's probably one other random country where it will turn out to be massive, like basketball in the former Yugoslavian countries.

Top ranked national team seem to be Japan. Mostly seems to be played in the Americas ( Mexico, Puerto Rico, USA,etc) and Far East ( Japan, South Korea,wtc) plus Australia and New Zealand. Not much going on in Europe or Africa. 

Probably not hard to see why the Japanese might want it at this games. 

According to Only Connect this week there has never been an Olympics in Africa. So much for the rings of the continents. 

Teetonetal

EricTheWeary said:

I have a very clear, if largely disliked, view that anything involving non interactive turn taking is not a sport - darts, high jump, long jump, shot put, etc. These are forms of exercise or pastimes. 
I also dislike anything that is essentially rich people's hobbies so that includes anything involving a yacht, horses and most winter sports ( probably all winter sports but I haven't gone through a list). 
Squash is fine but to make it more authentic the scores should be cross tabulated with that month's new car sales. Surfing needs to be in shark infested waters otherwise who cares. 
The number of types of cycling races need to be reduced, there's just too much of it, and no velodromes only canal paths with the odd surprise Staffie cross jumping out the bushes. All cyclists must be able to demonstrate that they can change a tyre using two old desert spoons to qualify.  

I have to take issue with winter sports!

Rich if you are British, maybe.

A way of life if you live in places with a proper winter. Ice hockey, skiing and cross country are all part of my kids sport lessons in winter as we live in a mountain region. The cross country track goes past my front door and is free

Perhaps England should have its own grey winter Olympics. Puddle jumping, moaning about the cold and tobogganing on 2mm of snow before it melts would be high lights.

merlin

I think they ought to include the "Handstand Flare Up Arse" category. England already has a champion...

EricTheWeary

kaypeejay said:

Many a happy evening has been whiled away in the pub discussing what is a sport with the criteria that is can't be sport if you can easily smoke a fag while you are doing it. Although rhythmic gymnastics might be better if one of the disciplines was smoking a fag while doing handstands or somesuch.

Many years ago my sister dated an Olympic athlete ( to be fair he probably wouldn’t have used the word athlete). Short, tubby bloke who represented Team GB ( or whatever they were called then) at some kind of pistol shooting. One of those events so dull it never got televised. 

I don’t remember him smoking but he could have easily had a drag between shots to calm the nerves. 

VimFuego

disappointed that despite numerous and vigorous letters, calls and midnight visits to the officials concerned, bum fights and hobo hunts are yet again not to be made Olympic sports.

proggy

I'd like to see them introduce Jousting.

Nitefly

Do they still have dwile flonking?

Kittyfrisk

VimFuego said:

disappointed that despite numerous and vigorous letters, calls and midnight visits to the officials concerned, bum fights and hobo hunts are yet again not to be made Olympic sports.

Jean Claude Van Damme would totally smash it. I may be able to find video evidence...

RobDavies

I love the olympics.  Not sure it’ll be quite the same without a crowd but let’s see….

Really enjoyed the BMXing last time out.   Darts and snooker aren’t bad shouts - they’re not much different to archery and shooting after all. 

Agree that football is a waste of time.  Maybe have a 5-a-side competition instead?  I remember the London 5-a-sides being a great night out before footballers got all precious. 

JayGee

proggy said:

I'd like to see them introduce Jousting.

You may or may not be serious about this, but I have a nephew who does jousting. It’s absolutely not staged (with the exception of theme park shows and the like which aren’t the same thing) and there are regular competitive tournaments. 

And yes, it would be absolutely frickin’ awesome as an Olympic sport…

Tannin

So we have basketball and now baseball as well because these are traditional American sports. Fair enough, but what about the popular up and coming modern American sports? I mean, where is the Twitter Pile-on event? Or the School Massacre  Medal?

proggy

JayGee said:

proggy said:

I'd like to see them introduce Jousting.

You may or may not be serious about this, but I have a nephew who does jousting. It’s absolutely not staged (with the exception of theme park shows and the like which aren’t the same thing) and there are regular competitive tournaments. 

And yes, it would be absolutely frickin’ awesome as an Olympic sport…

I was 100% joking when I posted that, But now you've told me that people still compete in it - I would love to see it as an Olympic sport. I'm going to have a look on YouTube, see if I can find anything.

Mattharrier

Regarding climbing, speed climbing is the most obvious, accessible and easily understood form of climbing - it's a race, pure and simple. It's very cool to watch when you only see the actual climbs, but I would imagine that watching it live there will be a lot of down time in between - this isn't really any different to 100m, 110m hurdles and so on so it should work. If it proves popular, there are other forms of competitive climbing that could be introduced (although the resulting upsurge in grass roots participation would potentially have a horrendous impact on the sport - access, littering, erosion, parking are all massive issues for a lot of crags and climbing spots as it is, and a large increase in numbers would absolutely amplify that).

Surfing is no different to any other sport that is scored by a panel of judges, other than the conditions being a factor. However, competitive surfing is well established and very successful so the protocols for dealing with this are there.

There will always be arguments about what should, and shouldn't, be in the Olympics - personally I think that professional sports people shouldn't be allowed in, but the fact is that viewing figures would drop massively. Certainly events like football and golf, at a professional level, have no place (in my opinion), but that's partly a matter of perception - athletics have their own, high profile, high value world and regional championships, and all of the top competitors are full time professionals, the only difference between them and footballers is they earn less, and spend less time in the tabloid press.

Regarding comments on winter sports being for rich people - going skiing is perceived to be expensive, but not everyone goes to a chalet in Meribel. If you're prepared to do your research, find bargains, and use less salubrious accommodation, a week's snowboarding can be had for the price of a week in Marbs or 'Beefa (and buying all of your kit second hand is the way to go). It can be fucking horrendously expensive if you pay for a ski in, ski out, full service chalet in a resort like Klosters though!