Olympics?

[andypat]

A grand total of 600 female boxers in the UK and the sport is into the Olympics.
Whats stopping Orienteering getting into the games? Participants must number singifcantly more than that. Women boxing takes place in 120 countries apparently. How many countries take part in Orienteering? Is that the problem.

Cant believe golf is considered a more apporpaite competitive sport than 'O' but maybe the TV money speaks loudly to the committee hem hem.

With GPS tracking etc, surely we cant be far away from knocking on the door of the Olympic village? Maybe the next time the Olympics are held in Oslo?

[ryeland of doom]

Sodding village fete. Leads to the arbitrary designation of sports as being second class.

Before we get in, perhaps some simpler, long established sports could also be considered.
Where is the hill running, cross country etc? Just running around in circles and the Marathon. (Thank goodness for the Marathon). Real running on real terrain please! Then all you need is a race where the runner decides where to go

[graeme]

Where is the hill running, cross country etc?

In the tender arms of the IAAF, who could put them in with relatively little difficulty (wouldn't count as a new sport). Whatever you think of BOF, at least we have our own Federation.

Cross country got dropped in the 20's because it is "not a summer sport". It doesn't involve frozen water, so it can't be a Winter Games sport either.

Sodding village fete.

[eddie]

money. golf and rugby have nope loads they get to schmooze the IOC. poor old squash have just pissed away $1million for sweet fanny adams

[Red Adder]

Only three things matter when getting a sport in to the Olympics - money -politics (ie national prestige via medals) and er - money. As the sport has up to now lacked televisual appeal it wouldn't attracted advertising revenue - ie wonga and the IOC wouldn't be having the Scando types taking all the medals - though stunning blondes and good scenery could be enough to sway some of IOC cabal, especially if we got rid of those silly full-body cover rulings (cf beach volleyball - perhaps if we changed the name to beech orienteering we could fool a few more IOC delegates).

And don't get me started on sports where someone can win 7-8 medals (is Phellps really worth 7-8 the recognition of the mararthon champs) or are awared for artistic impression.

[ba-ba]

Overheard at the after-party in Beijing (if there was such a thing)
Handball gold medalist: What did you win your medal for?
Marathon Gold Medalist: I ran for 42km in sweltering heat at about 3min/km pace for all of it before putting in a sprint-finish for the last few kms. I've been training for x years, running 160miles a week. What did you do?
HGM: I turned up and threw a ball to my mate for a few hours.
MGM: Arse.

[eddie]

with the greatest of respect the artistic impression medals are worth it. they put in a shed load of hours.

[Becks]

The guardian did a thing on taking on swimming, and interviewed a series of swimmers about their typical training week. We all know swimmers do a ridiculous number of hours, but the synchronised swimmers did even more.

I was almost tempted to review my entire opinion of it, but then realised I am far too grumpy for that and kept on thinking it was a load of rubbish.

[Red Adder]

[quote="eddie"]with the greatest of respect the artistic impression medals are worth it. they put in a shed load of hours.[/quote]


I don't question the skill, effort and committment of gymnasts etc - just remember the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Swifter, Higher, Stronger" -

I don''t see any reference to prettiest (artistic interpretation) - which is what the subjective judgements in these activities are and they lead on to all sorts of tactical voting - fine if you want the joke that is the Eurovision Song Contest but not for a sporting contest. Cheating aside I want to know that the winner is clearly indentified as the one who crossed the line first / through the stick the furtherest / scored most goals etc and not the 14 year old who appealed most to a bunch of quasi-independent judges.

[Kitch]

I was almost tempted to review my entire opinion of it, but then realised I am far too grumpy for that and kept on thinking it was a load of rubbish.

next time you get a chance try treading water underwater whilst sticking one leg in the air,
then consider the need to keep it absolutely stable, hold the position for several seconds before smoothly transitioning to something equally impossible whilst synchronising with a partner.

(btw, try not to drown, we'd miss your grumping)

what annoyed me was that the 2 sports receive more than ample media coverage anyway and both have tournaments that count for more than the olympics - plus golf is totally t*******h IMHO

[campervan]

Nah, I dont want O in the Olympics.
If you see what has happened to sailing as a result of media pressure then you would worry about the effect it would have on orienteering.
To be TV friendly the races have been truncated from 90 mins to about 40- tactically making starts more important and courses shorter. Boat design is also incredibly political, with a drive for overpowered overcanvassed skiffs which crash and burn but make good tv. The well built, well established boats like Tornado Catamarans or Flying Dutchmen classes have suffered as a result and are now struggling. Olympic boats are light and fast and fall apart after a limited life.
Orienteering appeal is in participating, not media representation and observing. My family has had three generations out at events this year. How many olympic sports could you do that at?

[The Loofa]

re the synchronised swimmers, I understand ballet dancers and opera singers put a lot of talent and training into their performance - at least there's no plans to put them in the Olympics. Where one person performs and someone else judges a score that's a no-no for me, even if its a shame about Tom Daley.

My other criteria for Olympic inclusion is that the Olympics should be the most important thing to that sport (e.g. athletics, swimming, rowing, triathlon) That would stop golf, but not necessarily rugby 7s. It would also get rid of tennis and (curiously) men's road cycling

[ba-ba]

rugby 7s at the 2002 comenwealth games was great fun to watch, and if footy is in the olympics, so should rugby.
As for Golf, I see it in the 'past-times' category along with snooker, darts, archery, shooting - all take skill but ain't a sport IMO.
As for scoring sports - Ski Jumping is partly scored which I find particulaly odd (Surely SkiO is close to an Olympics call up?)
Also, apparently in Modern Pentathlon (surely the most random selection of events ever - I think I remember Blue Peter explaining the shere randomness about it once - something aboiut a french soldier) in 2012 they will have to run and shoot at the same time - similar to Biathlon in the winter.

[mharky]

Why would you get rid of Men's Road Cycling?

Let me guess, it's not a grand tour, a spring classic or the world champs so it isn't important...

Did you see the start-list in Beijing?

The men's road race is a big deal, why else would Spain send Contador, Sastre, Friere, Valverde and eventual winner Sanchez?

[ba-ba]

Road cycling sometimes strikes me as a bit odd as a one-day race as you can only really pick the person whoi is the best all-around cyclist on a multi-day event taking in flat and mountains. A one-day race for championships often strikes me as a bit odd as, due the certain amount of luck, sometimes the best rider doesn't always win - a breakaway manages to stay away as there aren't really any teams to pull it back (like in tours), or it ends in a bunch sprint. Either way, the best rider doesn't nec. win the medal.
Then again, the lack of teams as strong as those in the tours makes it more mano a mano, so this cancels it out.

a worthless post if ever I saw one!