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Cricket in Olympics

Faisal1985

International Vice-Captain
Cricket gets Olympic approval | Cricket News | Global | Cricinfo.com

Personally feel it would be a great achievement for the game of Cricket to be part of the 2020 Olympics.

Its about time that we started thinking out of the box and promote the sport in other major markets such as U.S. or even South America.

But i do wonder if T20s in Olympics would be more like another T20 World Cup since all int'l sides would want to be part of it and win it....
 
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Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Don't think an Olympics T20 competition would be particularly high priority for international teams, but the main thing is to showcase the sport to a new audience and T20 at the Olympics would do a very good job of that.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Pretty much agree with Scaly. In "cricket" nations the Olympic status is just the cherry on the icing, but it could help spread the gospel in other countries.

Take cycling over here; barely ever warranted a mention outside of the Tour, but since we had some success at the Olympics (well quite a fair bit, actually :cool:) it gets reported on regularly now. The Olympics does raise sports' profiles.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Some counties have a pot of money purely for developing Olympic sports. Cricket would gain massive funding around the world (in addtition to raised profile) if it was admitted.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Why? Winning an Olympic Gold Medal is probably one of the biggest honours you can get in life.
Only for certain sports. I doubt any tennis player would rank an Olympic gold over a GS title. Think it'd be the same for cricket; it'd be nice, but would hardly compare to regaining the Ashes or the Border/Gavaskar trophy.
 

wfdu_ben91

International 12th Man
Only for certain sports. I doubt any tennis player would rank an Olympic gold over a GS title. Think it'd be the same for cricket; it'd be nice, but would hardly compare to regaining the Ashes or the Border/Gavaskar trophy.
Not a matter of ranking it over, but equal. To say that you're an Olympic Gold Medalist has got to be one of the most humbling things one can acchieve, no matter what sport.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Not a matter of ranking it over, but equal. To say that you're an Olympic Gold Medalist has got to be one of the most humbling things one can acchieve, no matter what sport.
Disagree. It's the pinnacle for some, no doubt (athletics and swimming, certainly), but for football, for instance, it hardly registers.
 

slugger

State Vice-Captain
i bet you d be hard pressed to find any medalist giving up their gold once they've got one, regardless of which sport.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
I think perhaps not a big deal for Australia, or England, but subcontinental teams win almost zero medals at the Olympics - if you remember how big a deal it was for one guy to win a random shooting event last time, you'll realize it. In the Subcontinent, you can bet your ass it'd be a HUGE deal for teams to win it - much bigger than any world cup or bilateral series or Test championship could ever be.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Presumably the WIndies won't be allowed to compete?
Competed as separate countries on the one occasion cricket made the Commonwealth Games, so would guess it'd be the same in the Olympics.

Obv be problems with England/Scotland/Ireland and GB/Eire too.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Sri Lanka, in its history, has two total medals (one silver and one bronze). Pakistan, in its history, has ten total medals. India, with one billion people, has a total of 20 medals. Bangladesh has never won a single medal.

Remember, that's in their entire history.

I think people don't realize the magnitude of what a gold would mean to those countries.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Well hockey's an Olympic sport and both India and Pakistan have proud histories of success and how's that doing when compared to cricket on the subcontinent nowadays?
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
We're not talking about if it will get funding from the Indian government - that's highly doubtful. Cricket already has the interest and participation. We're talking about how much the players and the public would rank it compared to other achievements in cricket.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Sri Lanka, in its history, has two total medals (one silver and one bronze). Pakistan, in its history, has ten total medals. India, with one billion people, has a total of 20 medals. Bangladesh has never won a single medal.

Remember, that's in their entire history.

I think people don't realize the magnitude of what a gold would mean to those countries.
In the last Olympics which were the 3 largest countries not to win a medal of any sort?

1. Pakistan
2. Bangladesh
3. Philippines
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Exactly. It's a big deal. Hence my point about both players and public ranking an Olympic Gold over any bilateral series win or a world cup. It's a matter of huge national pride.

Australia and England probably couldn't care less. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka would have an almost national holiday if they won a Gold in the olympics - at a sport they were legitimately interested in.

I mean, Abhinav Bindra - you remember how much attention he got, right? Even on this site....
 

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