I really dont understand this mentality.....just because something is different than "your" normal, hardly means it isnt important in other parts of the world. This what the Olympics are all about....allowing a stage to showcase your best against their best in ANY event deemed worthy, and let the chips fall where they may.
I see your point, but I think the point most people are making is that the line drawn in the sand might be getting washed away.
I know the IOC has criteria for what makes an Olympic sport.
Hot dog eating has become an international competition. How long before it meets that criteria?
I mentioned poker already... ok, maybe not an athletic endeavour, but it wasn't long ago Bridge was being peddled as a demonstration sport. Why not poker?
I just think the fact that people are really good at something shouldn't make it pass as a legitimate Olympic event.
Just some amusing discussion I guess. I do like CaptainCrunch's suggestions. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympics, but those items would make them even more enjoyable!
I think if you add a horse we can call it the ultra-modern pentathalon! I am still partial to weaponry!
Well if you watch the first 15 minutes of Top Secret you can get a taste of Skeet Surfing.
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I already said this in another thread but equestrian shouldn't be an Olympic sport. It is a leftover from an earlier time. It is very elitist, the richer you are or the more people you know dictates how well you will do because you will have access to a great horse which makes the difference. It's not a level playing field at all.
And you don't think that the best swimmers, the best track athletes etc don't get the best coaches? they don't get the best sponsorhip? they don't move to where the best facilities are? Wake up.
I had a daughter in competitive swimming. From 6 years up, they are already screened and move on to the best class of swimming.
If you want to be the best, you need the best of everything. You can have all the skill in the world but unless that skill is matched with the best people and facilities , that skill is all for naught in most cases.
And you don't think that the best swimmers, the best track athletes etc don't get the best coaches? they don't get the best sponsorhip? they don't move to where the best facilities are? Wake up.
I had a daughter in competitive swimming. From 6 years up, they are already screened and move on to the best class of swimming.
If you want to be the best, you need the best of everything. You can have all the skill in the world but unless that skill is matched with the best people and facilities , that skill is all for naught in most cases.
It is so much more dependent on the horse though. Do you really think a 61 year old person should be able to win an Olympic medal? I always picture the Olympics as an athletic competition maybe I'm wrong it isn't meant to be that because a 61 year olds should not be able to win a medal.
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Originally Posted by The Ditch
It is so much more dependent on the horse though. Do you really think a 61 year old person should be able to win an Olympic medal? I always picture the Olympics as an athletic competition maybe I'm wrong it isn't meant to be that because a 61 year olds should not be able to win a medal.
So its an age issue? If the winner was 26 then it would be OK?
Its so ridiculous to claim it isnt a skill because the guy was 61 when he won a medal. There can be a difference between athletic and skill....hell should they get rid of shooting/archery/fencing too? Those aren't as "athletic" as running 200 M but they sure as hell take a special skill set.
Maybe hockey shouldnt be taken as seriously as an athletic endeavour anymore either...I mean Gordie Howe was 52 when he played his last full season in the NHL.
So its an age issue? If the winner was 26 then it would be OK?
Its so ridiculous to claim it isnt a skill because the guy was 61 when he won a medal. There can be a difference between athletic and skill....hell should they get rid of shooting/archery/fencing too? Those aren't as "athletic" as running 200 M but they sure as hell take a special skill set.
Maybe hockey shouldnt be taken as seriously as an athletic endeavour anymore either...I mean Gordie Howe was 52 when he played his last full season in the NHL.
Age is just the by product of my original argument. The horse plays such a huge part in it that he can win at 61. Like I said, it's not a level playing field between all the equestrian competitors.
Why don't we start adding poker tournaments and shed-building and just about anything that requires a skill of some sort.
At least ballroom dancing was taken out. Yeesh.
You obviously have never sailed in rough waters or a storm. I never heard anyone claim that sailing was not a sport! Get a life man. I suggest you try it. I agree Sychro swimming, softball, baseball, and tennis should go. I liked BMX, excellent new sport. There were some comments about the 61 year old equestrian.
I bet he(Ian Miller) is much better shape then a fatso like David Wells of the Blue Jays. There already is enough tennis, its overexposed and not interesting at the Olympics.
You obviously have never sailed in rough waters or a storm. I never heard anyone claim that sailing was not a sport! Get a life man. I suggest you try it. I agree Sychro swimming, softball, baseball, and tennis should go. I liked BMX, excellent new sport. There were some comments about the 61 year old equestrian.
I bet he(Ian Miller) is much better shape then a fatso like David Wells of the Blue Jays. There already is enough tennis, its overexposed and not interesting at the Olympics.
You obviously have never sailed in rough waters or a storm. I never heard anyone claim that sailing was not a sport! Get a life man. I suggest you try it. I agree Sychro swimming, softball, baseball, and tennis should go. I liked BMX, excellent new sport. There were some comments about the 61 year old equestrian.
I bet he(Ian Miller) is much better shape then a fatso like David Wells of the Blue Jays. There already is enough tennis, its overexposed and not interesting at the Olympics.
I bet you he'd be dead before he got to first....if he even managed to hit the ball.
Should we start a pool?
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You obviously have never sailed in rough waters or a storm. I never heard anyone claim that sailing was not a sport! Get a life man. I suggest you try it. I agree Sychro swimming, softball, baseball, and tennis should go. I liked BMX, excellent new sport. There were some comments about the 61 year old equestrian.
Haha... well if you read between the lines (or at least my later posts), I never claimed sailing didn't require skill. Never said it wasn't a sport. But what exactly makes it Olympic calibre? Who pays attention to it? Sailing afficianados like yourself? What makes sailing different than hang gliding, for instance? And why are there several different categories of sailing in the Olympics? Why can't they narrow it down to one?
Like I say, mountain climbing is grueling and intense, people from all countries partake in it, let's make it an event!
But I'm still partial to the hot dog eating.
BTW, the get a life comment was a little much. You know nothing about me!
Second, there is no limit on your speed, provided what you do classifies as a walk (one foot on the ground at all times, straight leg while in contact with the ground).
Third, the sport may be nothing in the Americas, but it is HUGE in Europe and Asia and has more following world wide than many other Olympic sports.
Fourth, race walking is judged to make sure people don't break the rules (like football, hockey, basketball, etc.), not judged for quality of performance (like gymnastics, synchro swimming, diving, etc.).
Fifth, rules for judging state that the person must look legal to the naked eye, so they may look like they are cheating if you look at slow-mo, but they aren't breaking the rules if it still looks (to the naked eye) like they are not lifting or bending the knee.
Finally, race walkers go further (20k and 50k) than most of you have ever gone in your life and probably faster too.
My wife is a race walker, provincial champ, and she enters running races to beat the runners. She just did 27k training today and can get speeds around 5 mins/k. The 50k gold medallist did it in something like 3:45. Any of you run a marathon in that time? Well he went 7.8k further...
You don't have to like the sport, switch the channel, you have choice. It may look funny, but it is more of a sport than at least 50% of the Olympic events (archery, shooting, equestrian, synchro anything, badminton) and has a higher world wide audience than many other sports (see previous list).
The complete lunacy of some a$$hat Belgium Euro Veggie hotdog bs artist.
Everyone who dominates their sport, everyone brags. And brag they should, they put in more time, more effort, or just simply had more skill than the losers. What Bolt did was pure, not some Saudi we will sell you oil and then stab you in the back tomorrow routine - the IOC and most world bodys make me completely and utterly sick.
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