Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Can you though? I hear this argument and it makes sense, but then I see that even judging has ruined what should be an obvious sport in ski jumping. I don't know all the ins and outs of the sport, and like most people I become an expert watching it once every four years or so. It seems obvious though...come down the ramp and whoever goes the furthest wins, right? Have a look down the results from a couple days ago:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-olympics/25830854
Its just not sensible. I'm sure that a ski jumping purist would be able to rationalize this, but honestly how do people jump further and finish out of the medals? Does it really matter what the style points are? We don't have the garbage in things like high jump or long jump, so why here? To me, and my completely amateur uninformed opinion, judging just makes the results murky and potentially questionable. In a day and age where medals are worth millions of dollars they shouldn't be handed out based on obviously subjective measures. |
There you have it. You really can't declare a sport you watch for 15 minutes, "garbage". The same as I can't watch a Flames game for a period and understand the game.
Again, before criticizing something I still say one should try to learn more about it.
Obviously jumping the farthest counts for the most points but not every jump is the same. Points aren't just awarded for style but to also correct for wind, ramp position and proper technique. The points ensure an even playing field. You still notice on the list, the guy who jumped longer got the highest points. The also don't show the first jump so you argument is not valid.
Also, jumps aren't ranked to the centimeter. It's very difficult.
If you want to see people hurl themselves off a jump with little regard for style, safety or technique and more emphasis on distance I suggest checking out Flying Ski Jump, which is not an Olympic event because it requires different hills.