There was a FRONT PAGE ARTICLE on synchronized swimming in this morning's WaPost. I am baffled. Why this is considered a sport worthy of Olympic grandeur is beyond me, but then again there are many of the 28 sports at the Summer Olympics worthy of reconsideration.
Yes, yes. I realize that these women are great athletes, that it takes incredible wind and body control to do what they do. Yes, yes, yes. It is difficult and I can't do it. But then again, I can't do "Cirque de Soleil" moves either, and you don't see trapeze artists in the Olympics. What I can or can't do should not be a determinant of Olympic worthiness.
What Olympic Events do you feel are worthy of reconsideration?
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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12 comments:
Dude, synchronized swimming is not easy-those are real athletes out there. (Synchronized diving is even cooler). I say get rid of the trampolining-I couldn't believe that was an actual Olympic event when I tuned in the other day.
Get rid of everhthing except track and field and wrestling.
Doc
PS Oh yea, keep women's beach volleyball!
Can't go that far, Doc.
ummm how about the obvious...EQUESTRIAN events. What a joke this group of competitions is. Take for instance "dressage."
Often described as horses performing ballet (i could stop here), dressage has changed little since the Renaissance. The term stems from a French word for training, and European cavalrymen developed the idea for use on the battlefield and the parade ground. The horse performs set movements, or tests, in response to its rider's subtle aids and signals. The event is conducted over three rounds. In the first two, horse and rider perform a set routine of dressage movements, including passages, pirouettes and piaffes in a walk, trot and canter. The third round is freestyle, with routines individually choreographed and performed to music.
The scoring is done by judges who evaluate how well the horse executes the moves. During the Olympics four days are devoted to dressage.
Call me crazy and even common, but there is nothing Olympian about Equestrian events. The horse does all the work.
Events that should be added - Parkour www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeqHj3Nj2c and Sepak Takraw www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXmjOMUdsPY.
Can't agree Tim. One of the things about Olympic events and their legitimacy to me is how long they've been there. All the martial/military events have been there a LONG time, and as a good conservative, that earns them points to me.
Anything that is scored by a panel of judges.
Hmmm....not a bad point, Ben. But there are sports like figure skating that have been in the Olympics a LONG TIME, once again, gaining my conservative esteem....
Equestrian "athletes." Really? athletes???? To your point:
Points for longevity. Ok, I can see that, but shouldn't activities (I will not give it credit for being a sport) lose points for being ridiculous? For me, the Olympics is about demonstrations of athletic prowess - specifically requiring mastery of one's own body in the establishment of that prowess. Being able to signal a horse to conduct a series of trots, canters, spins just doesn't pass muster for me...nope, nada, never.
Announcer: "Lord Fontleroy has been masterful throughout this dressage routine...he executed a never-before-seen croupade, capriole, ballotade sequence. He is assured of the gold...oh no, oh no, it appears that Fontleroy's champion horse WindDancer broke wind in front of the judges table while executing a routine piroutte...what a shame."
I want to get rid of everything that wasn't on the program in the 1896 inagural games of the Modern Age in Greece from the summer Olympics. Back to basics, people.
I think we should add "poll vaulting", where the competitors read a poll then perform rapid athletic position changes to vault themselves up the next poll. Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, all representing the United States, would have to dominate the international field in this one. We'd sweep for certain. PS I'm still cyber challenged in emerging from the anonymity column. - Mudge
Trampolines? Beach volleyball? BMX racing? Snowboarding? What's left for the X-Games now that the Olympics seem to have incorporated the formerly "cutting edge, alternative" sports?
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