Olympics - does anyone actually care anymore?

[Uppercut]

I don’t mind the expansion. It means those sports have a better chance of being funded back home.

Yeah I agree.

This is a bit of a sore spot for me. When we hosted the Olympics our sports funding model was completely overhauled because the government wanted to win as many medals as possible. Money was taken out of recreational and mass participation sports and poured into elite "academies" and the like. Thousands of pitches were shut, leisure centres were closed or privatised, and the number of people playing sports regularly plummeted, especially in poorer communities. The worst hit sports were minority activities with few Olympic medal opportunities. UK basketball was stripped dry and the money was given to the top 0.01% of cyclists. Given what's since come out we can probably assume that they used it to hire, uh, Pharmaceutical Gurus.

I know it's not really the Olympics' fault that governments will cynically exploit their medal structure for propaganda purposes, but it is always going to happen, so they could at least make it as inclusive as possible. If there can be 37 swimming events and 22 cycling events, there can be one skateboarding event.

 

[Line and Length]

Yeah I agree.

This is a bit of a sore spot for me. When we hosted the Olympics our sports funding model was completely overhauled because the government wanted to win as many medals as possible. Money was taken out of recreational and mass participation sports and poured into elite "academies" and the like. Thousands of pitches were shut, leisure centres were closed or privatised, and the number of people playing sports regularly plummeted, especially in poorer communities. The worst hit sports were minority activities with few Olympic medal opportunities. UK basketball was stripped dry and the money was given to the top 0.01% of cyclists. Given what's since come out we can probably assume that they used it to hire, uh, Pharmaceutical Gurus.

I know it's not really the Olympics' fault that governments will cynically exploit their medal structure for propaganda purposes, but it is always going to happen, so they could at least make it as inclusive as possible. If there can be 37 swimming events and 22 cycling events, there can be one skateboarding event.

I take your very valid point regarding funding. It's a pity we can't avoid the politics involved with sport.

 

[Shady Slim]

Yeah I agree.

This is a bit of a sore spot for me. When we hosted the Olympics our sports funding model was completely overhauled because the government wanted to win as many medals as possible. Money was taken out of recreational and mass participation sports and poured into elite "academies" and the like. Thousands of pitches were shut, leisure centres were closed or privatised, and the number of people playing sports regularly plummeted, especially in poorer communities. The worst hit sports were minority activities with few Olympic medal opportunities. UK basketball was stripped dry and the money was given to the top 0.01% of cyclists. Given what's since come out we can probably assume that they used it to hire, uh, Pharmaceutical Gurus.

I know it's not really the Olympics' fault that governments will cynically exploit their medal structure for propaganda purposes, but it is always going to happen, so they could at least make it as inclusive as possible. If there can be 37 swimming events and 22 cycling events, there can be one skateboarding event.

yknow to this point i've been an olympics gatekeeper with the sports but this is an incredibly well-put argument and you've shifted me

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Did anyone else not watch a single second of any event? It was more down to timing than deliberately avoiding it, and it seemed to come and go very quickly.

 

[wpdavid]

... but this is an incredibly well-put argument and you've shifted me

Welcome to my world.

 

[Furball]

Did anyone else not watch a single second of any event? It was more down to timing than deliberately avoiding it, and it seemed to come and go very quickly.

Now that crowds are back watching football, it's suddenly hard for me to give a **** about sporting events being played in front of empty stadia. Particularly when it's dubious as to whether the event should have been held in the first place.

For the same reasons, I didn't watch any of the Lions series either.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Watched almost everything on 4 screens on mute at work. Worked fine for me.

Better than being forced to listen to most commentary.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Sharon Davies is hoping to get a Gold Medal from 1980 as a result of an inquiry into the East German systematic doping programme. It's not like them having no breasts and displaying a moustache wasn't a major clue at the time.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Boxing and Weightlifting have been dropped from the provisional list for 2028, but Skateboarding is in.

 

[Line and Length]

Boxing and Weightlifting have been dropped from the provisional list for 2028, but Skateboarding is in.

Ridiculous. Kids' games taking the place of traditional combat and strength sports.

 

[Line and Length]

BTW. The Winter Olympics leave me cold (no pun intended). Several countries are boycotting these games by not sending diplomats and officials while the USA, and I believe others, aren't sending any athletes. I see a parallel with the 1936 Berlin Olympic games.

 

[GIMH]

Surprised to see Boxing gone

 

[_Ed_]

Surprised to see Boxing gone

Yeah, both of those are a bit unexpected (not that I really watch much of either of them). Skateboarding was obviously a hit in Tokyo, but I would have thought there'd be other sports that could have made way ahead of boxing and weightlifting.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

With boxing and weightlifting it’s about the way the sports are run rather than the sport itself. If they “get their house in order” they can still be added later.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Take Boxing and Modern Pentathlon to stop GB as we do well in them.

Or is it USA stopping Cuba doing anything at their Olympics?

 

[sledger]

Skateboarding is gun, and requires a huge amount of skill, absolutely right it should be included

 

[Shady Slim]

BTW. The Winter Olympics leave me cold (no pun intended). Several countries are boycotting these games by not sending diplomats and officials while the USA, and I believe others, aren't sending any athletes. I see a parallel with the 1936 Berlin Olympic games.

except here most of the boycotting countries have no moral leg to stand on here and the comparison between modern china and nazi germany is to my mind very inappropriate imho (not aimed at u specifically, all across the internet i have seen it being drawn

 

[Furball]

Wouldn't expect a CCP shill to say any different.

 

[GIMH]

except here most of the boycotting countries have no moral leg to stand on here and the comparison between modern china and nazi germany is to my mind very inappropriate imho (not aimed at u specifically, all across the internet i have seen it being drawn

Yeah they aren’t both genocidal regimes with aims of global superiority. Oh wait

 

[Shady Slim]

i stress that this very week the australian government went in to bat for apartheid, so let us not pretend there is any pretence of good faith in those boycotts