HOT TAKE.....
Why is it any different between the biathlon sprint and biathlon pursuit. No one trains specifically for either biathlon discipline.
The choice of what to give a medal for is arbitrary. Team figure skating is effectively Team gymnastics and no one argues that is a sham. Team figure skating his hurt thought that it isn't the total running sum of points instead of placement of each individual and eliminating countries for the last day makes come backs harder but that can be fixed.
Yes these events are made up to get ratings. But are they any more ridiculous than the Nordic combined or Alpine combined?
The argument that Morris and Lawes didn't participate in their sport before winning gold isn't really valid as they have trained their whole lives to be curlers and competed in what was a curling event.
For the Olympics to survive they need TV and Ticket friendly events that use existing infrastructure and add a minimal amount of athletes and coaches. If you don't have team figure skating in an existing arena how do you expect to pay for Ski Jumping that is used for 6 events.
|