Olympic Sports you don't like

[Chubb]

We've had a thread about sports you love watching during the olympics, are there any sports at the Olympics that you really dislike and think shouldn't be on the schedule?

Personally, I can't stand the Modern Pentathlon. There is a simple reason why. In the equestrian round the competitors are allocated horses randomly. Some horses are better trained than others. But the athletes who get the poorer horses always react so petulantly when the animal refuses to jump. I've seen many Modern Pentathletes hit or physically abuse the reluctant horse, and then they come on TV and complain about it. Such behaviour is firstly cruel to the animal concerned, who has no choice about whether to participate or not, and secondly ignores the fact that the allocation is random and an integral part of the sport. It flies in the face of the Olympic spirit. The IOC has talked about removing it before and I wish they would.

[Goughy]

Man, where to start.

You could wipe half of them out.

Lets start with big ones. Baseball goes. Handball goes. Beach Volleyball goes. Im torn on Water Polo and could go either way.

Anything that involved synchronization goes. Swimming and diving etc

Want to have different distances for different guns in shooting? Then combine them so, for example, a air rifle participant has to shoot at all different distances (rather than specialise in 1). Cut the number of medals available in shooting by a lot.

Swimming? Great talent and exciting, but it isnt a legit sport IMO if there are medals for different strokes. No medals for hopping or backwards running in track. Swimmers get from A-B as quick as possible with whichever stroke. Fantastic effort by Phelps but a track athlete could never match the tally because the opportunities are not there.

The walks (20k etc) ? GTFO

How many sports involving bicycles? road race, velodrome, BMX and different distances. Pick a bike event and go with it. How many different things can be done on a bike? Make them do them all on the same bike. The sport changes because the bike changes? Arse. It should be about the athlete.

Ping pong. It isnt a sport. It is a social activity. Badminton, Im torn on.

Oh and there are loads more that probably need to go before some of the above do.

[steds]

Equestrian. If this is an Olympic sport they should move Crufts into the Olympics, too.

[andruid]

Originally Posted by Goughy

Man, where to start.

You could wipe half of them out.

Lets start with big ones. Baseball goes. Handball goes. Beach Volleyball goes. Im torn on Water Polo and could go either way.

Anything that involved synchronization goes. Swimming and diving etc

Want to have different distances for different guns in shooting? Then combine them so, for example, a air rifle participant has to shoot at all different distances (rather than specialise in 1). Cut the number of medals available in shooting by a lot.

Swimming? Great talent and exciting, but it isnt a legit sport IMO if their are medals for different strokes. No medals for hopping or backwards running in track. Swimmers get from A-B as quick as possible with whichever stroke. Fantastic effort by Phelps but a track athlete could never match the tally because the opportunities are not there.

The walks (20k etc) ? GTFO

How many sports involving bicycles? road race, velodrome, BMX and different distances. Pick a bike event and go with it. How many different things can be done on a bike? Make them do them all on the same bike. The sport changes because the bike changes? Arse. It should be about the athlete.

Ping pong. It isnt a sport. It is a social activity. Badminton, Im torn on.

Oh and there are loads more that probably need to go before some of the above do.

Lots of countries play Handball, and Volleyball but because most are 3rd world they do not have the muscle to force them down the throat of the mainstream sports fan (Baseball, IPL) FYI

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by andruid

Lots of countries play Handball, and Volleyball but because most are 3rd world they do not have the muscle to force them down the throat of the mainstream sports fan (Baseball, IPL) FYI

Thats one of the strangest things Ive heard.

Name the 3rd world countries that lead the way in handball and beach volleyball? Fact is, they dont.

16 different nations have won medals in the history of Handball World Champs and all 16 have been European.

[BoyBrumby]

Gymnastics, synchronised swimming, diving of any kind, dressage, walking & beach volleyball would be first against the wall.

The latter seems to exist solely as a barely disguised masturbatory aid (no beach football in the Olympiad one notes), no-one can convince me that it's ever better to walk rather than run if time is a factor (& half the feckers break into a trot when they think no-one's looking anyway) & the first four clearly aren't sports at all. The medals are awarded entirely at the whim of judges, and their highest and lowest scores are disguarded as a safeguard anyway, which doesn't really suggest an exact science at work.

[Majin]

Equestrian and sailing are the biggest offenders for me.

[steds]

Originally Posted by Majin

sailing

GAGF. Highlight of the games.

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Gymnastics, synchronised swimming, diving of any kind, dressage, walking & beach volleyball would be first against the wall.

The latter seems to exist solely as a barely disguised masturbatory aid (no beach football in the Olympiad one notes), no-one can convince me that it's ever better to walk rather than run if time is a factor (& half the feckers break into a trot when they think no-one's looking anyway) & the first four clearly aren't sports at all. The medals are awarded entirely at the whim of judges, and their highest and lowest scores are disguarded as a safeguard anyway, which doesn't really suggest an exact science at work.

I fight with gymnastics all the time. Its doesnt fit my normal definition of a sport but there should be something for people that do the amazing things they do.

The most fantastic athletes.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Goughy

I fight with gymnastics all the time. Its doesnt fit my normal definition of a sport but there should be something for people that do the amazing things they do.

The most fantastic athletes.

I wouldn't argue it takes a great amount of skill & athleticism, but so do (say) ballroom dancing, tightrope walking or the trapezee & there're no Olympic gold medals awarded for those.

There's subjectivity in a lot of sports (referees in football, judges in boxing, etc) but with gymnastics it's all about the judging.

[andruid]

Originally Posted by Goughy

Thats one of the strangest things Ive heard.

Name the 3rd world countries that lead the way in handball and beach volleyball? Fact is, they dont.

16 different nations have won medals in the history of Handball World Champs and all 16 have been European.

For the Reccord I played both Volleyball and Handball (I was on the second team) when I was in high school in Kenya) and both games a fair bit more popular with rural schools. Both these sports are big enough in E.Africa to warrant a competitive regional schools While obviously we do not have the machinery to crank out teams that can challenge the Europeans their global penetration far greater than sports like say cricket or even Rugby.

[Sanz]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

with gymnastics it's all about the judging.

So is diving. At least with Gymnastics it is fairly easy to deduct points for mistakes and even as a layman you can fairly easily differentiate between good and better performances.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Sanz

So is diving. At least with Gymnastics it is fairly easy to deduct points for mistakes and even as a layman you can fairly easily differentiate between good and better performances.

You're preaching to the choir:

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Gymnastics, synchronised swimming, diving of any kind, dressage, walking & beach volleyball would be first against the wall.

The latter seems to exist solely as a barely disguised masturbatory aid (no beach football in the Olympiad one notes), no-one can convince me that it's ever better to walk rather than run if time is a factor (& half the feckers break into a trot when they think no-one's looking anyway) & the first four clearly aren't sports at all. The medals are awarded entirely at the whim of judges, and their highest and lowest scores are disguarded as a safeguard anyway, which doesn't really suggest an exact science at work.

[GIMH]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Gymnastics, synchronised swimming, diving of any kind, dressage, walking & beach volleyball would be first against the wall.

The latter seems to exist solely as a barely disguised masturbatory aid (no beach football in the Olympiad one notes), no-one can convince me that it's ever better to walk rather than run if time is a factor (& half the feckers break into a trot when they think no-one's looking anyway) & the first four clearly aren't sports at all. The medals are awarded entirely at the whim of judges, and their highest and lowest scores are disguarded as a safeguard anyway, which doesn't really suggest an exact science at work.

This is the key for me. I would get rid of anything where you don't prove yourself the best but rather some fat old blokes decide you are worthy of gold.

Goughy's post was fantastic, didn't necessarily agree with it all but well made points!

The one is swimming is very true, Phelps is a great athlete but I was making the same point about running backwards last week.

Didn't Ballroom Dancing actually feature one year? Remember reading it was going to, but perhaps they shelved it.

Oh, and aside from agreeing on the judging aspect, my choice? Get rid of the football. Even if we had a team, the whole U23 with 3 over-aged players thing is just a joke. The Olympics should be the pinnacle of each sport, they will never be that in football.

[PhoenixFire]

Agreed, having Football in it is a joke, as is the billions of different swimming events, scrap backstroke and butterfly