Silly Olympic Sports

Ribbon twirling?



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And baseball got cut. I'm still bitter.

That's the way the world is going ...and that's all I should say.

What type of sport is that.

Dont they do that in musicals nowdays?:banghead:

Whatever it is, there is talent. Do I consider it an Olympic sport? Not really, but it is talent and quite beautiful.





Tom

I watch all I can, but I have to draw the line at that one.

WOW, that is talent but a sport? no but is pretty cool to watch...

Now if they were on ice skates, now that woould be cool...

It's nice, but not a sport. Kinda like cheerleading.



I also think Equestrian should be removed... The horse does all the work.

Its called rythmic gymnastics. not my thing but you have to watch what they broadcast. they are doing a horrible job this time around. same crap on tv over and over.

it's not even close to gymnastics.

I agree...It's talent, and artistic, but a sport? I think not.



In the same way that Ballet is not a sport, or Ballroom Dancing is not a sport, painting is not a sport, Billiards is not a sport, but other things that we consider sports are not in the Olympics....Like Golf, Bowling, Skate Boarding, or BASEBALL?

BMX came 40 years too late for me to make the team.

After the female beach volleyball the rest of the Olympics just don't make it !!

Steve,



Search Women's water polo team photo, you may change sports.

Ping pong?

The only real Olympic sport is synchronized swimming.

Richard L, golf is in the Olympics starting in 2016.



Yes, it definitely sucks that baseball and softball were dropped. Some which could/should have been dropped instead:

--rhythmic gymnastics

--synchronized swimming

--badminton

--table tennis

--equestrian

--synchronized diving

--team handball

--all swimming events involving strokes other than freestyle

--any "team" event where the "team" score is simply the sum of the scores from the individual team members, and as such no true "teamwork" is involved (example--team events in gymnastics)

--any rowing event involving a coxswain



Also, they need to modify the so-called "medal count". Any count which considers, for example, the accomplishments of the Canadian swim team (3 medals, a silver and two bronze) to be greater than the combined accomplishments of the US men's and women's basketball teams (2 medals, both gold) is inherently flawed. First of all, in team events, every team member gets a medal, and every one of those medals should be counted in the medal count. Assuming that the US basketball teams each have 12 members, that's 24--not 2--golds. Secondly, the sports that give out only one or two golds (basketball, soccer, volleyball, etc.) should have their medals weighted higher than those who give a medal to nearly every competitor (swimming, track, etc.)

Bill V, I agree. I was watching Dressage and, never having seen it before, when the commentators were talking about form I didn't realize that the actual event had started. Prancing around on a horse in a box. I suppose the equestrian events were appropriate for London, as they were as pretentious and haughty as the British are, but I was informed that the "reason" for Baseball being dropped was that too few countries play it. I can't believe that more countries have competitive horse riders in the 21st century than play baseball.



I could stand to see fewer swimming events, for the first week or so of the Olympics I felt that swimming was all NBC was showing.



I think that the Decathlon needs to be revamped. Supposedly winning the Decathlon means that you're the "greatest athlete in the world", but Eaton has gotten far less coverage than athletes like Gabby and Phelps, which seems wrong. Phelps was great and all, but IMO "the most decorated Olympian" < "the greatest athlete in the world". There's also something wrong with having to do 10 grueling events over 2 days and getting a medal with the same "weight" as some guy who wins at ping-pong.

I agree about some of the events are more artistic than really being athletic endevours. I don't think the number of metals won or how they are counted really matters.



The Olympic spirit is about the athletes, but it is a huge money maker for everybody else. The country/city hosting the Olympics makes hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales, concessions, souvenirs, and all the tourism created by the Olympics



Then the TV networks that pay for the exclusive rights to broadcast the events in their home country, who in turn, charge huge fees for commercials aired during the Olympic broadcasts.



Then to add insult to injury, the US athletes must pay taxes on the medals they earned !!! How crazy is that?? I saw a TV broadcast where they showed the various taxes that must be paid for each medal won. I don't remember all the medals, but each Gold medal required the athletes to pay over $8,000 in taxes....?? They said Michael Phelps tax bill for medals he won at the London Olympics was over $50.000.



That kind of puts a damper on my enjoyment of the Olympics when everyone is making money except the athletes...and they have to end up paying taxes on the medals they won.



....Rich