I liked triathlon and swimming equally, but picked swimming because there was way more of it. He needed to have one last category of swim/tri, that would have been my real vote..

I'm a swimmer. Even when I quit swimming and switched to cycling / tri's, I always looked forward to watching swimming at the Games most of all sports. More racing, more intensity.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I am soccer crazy. Really soccer crazy. I mean I was into soccer before it was even a thing in the US. Guess what? Soccer versus football and I watch football.

The Olympic triathlon coverage was simply not very compelling.

Men's race: The Browlees are winning. They are still winning. One Brownlee is going to beat the other Brownlee. Oh, and there are also 48 other people in the race.

Women's race: There's a race going on. Here's a fluff piece. Here's some Badminton. Since we left, two people have broken away.

For me, it was Swimming versus Track and I voted track because I had no interest in backstroke or breaststroke.

The Olympics for me are more about watching what I don't get too many opportunities to. I enjoyed watching Water Polo and rowing for that reason. Swimming, triathlon, T&F, and cycling was very entertaining for me as well, but they are sports that I am involved in and pay attention to throughout the year. It's nice to have a new interest for a few weeks.

And there was Beach Volleyball...

I thought the Triathlon races were not entertaining at all save for the few minutes Nicola kept pace with Gwen. They were both unbelievably predictable (save Henry's 3rd) and just a fore drawn conclusion. Not having Javier there had a massive impact on the men's race and made it so boring. The hill killed any chance of a breakaway on the bike as nobody was able to get a meaningful gap at all.

Swimming had so many crazy results. Canadian women getting more medals than ever before, Singapore winning a medal ahead of Phelps, watching his all time medal tally and seeing history being made, so on and so forth. This is partially due to the sheer volume of events and also due to the friendliness to spectators.

For those reasons I clicked on Swimming but Athletics had lots of interesting results as well.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

The triathlon races were interesting, in that it is my sport, and I recognize a lot of the people racing. But not very "exciting". I remember a couple years ago them talking about a relay event, or some kind of super-sprint. That would be very exciting to see.

I think it's a combination of triathlon being a crap spectator sport, not-so-great coverage in general and the fact that (at least for the men's race, still need to watch the women's on the DVR) it wasn't very strongly contested. The Brownlees are incredible athletes, but the end was pretty much watching two men run a 10k. Even for triathletes watching a triathlon, that's boring.

Swimming, T&F, even the cycling races were genuinely fun, entertaining things to watch and weren't foregone conclusions well in advance of the actual end of the races.

I marked "Other". Looking back, I spent a lot of time watching and enjoying rugby 7s, water polo, swimming, judo and track cycling. I thoroughly respect ITU style racing but am not particularly entertained watching it. I found the open water races more entertaining. David K

Hello Mark Lemmon and All,

Why not triathlon??

Triathlons come across as a long difficult slog .....

How often do you need to say ...... "in a minute Dear, I can't leave now and miss these next 2 minutes" .... when watching video triathlon?

More like ..... sure I will build you that cabinet, stain it, mount it when dry, so I can be done in a few hours ...... to watch the race finish.

Other sports ...........

Closer finishes, breakaways, obstacles to overcome, team efforts, palpable perceived competition, athlete public personality (as in 'professional' wrestling. or boxing, or football), and recognition of the very short viewer attention spans.

If we built a new format triathlon would they come?

I suspect I (we) would hate the revised races at first ....... but some triathlon races could be staged to incorporate these elements to make more exciting viewing.

On the other hand triathlon races sell out for participation ............ so why fix it if it is not broken? ............. from a participation viewpoint.

How many people play football?

Is watching sports events wasting time when you could be training or spending time with your family?

Would you rather be watching or playing a sport?

Maybe we are asking the wrong question .... are triathletes more fit and healthier than football or other sports watching fans?

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

I can not get the ST polls any more due to a change in my laptop so, JOOC, what were the results of the poll??? I don't even know what all the choices were. Thanks. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

20%
Triathlon
22%
Track & Field
35%
Swimming
14%
Cycling
9%
Other

Your dream came true. Swimming won because every triathlete likes swimming the most.

I voted for Track & Field.

You get a lot of events in a short time and they are always compelling. From seeing the world's fastest combined with the endurance of the longer races and excitement of the relays, it's just good viewing.

Swimming would be my second choice for the same reasons.

I thought the triathlons were exciting but there was only 2 races and the swimming and track offered more. It's not a slight against triathlon.

With the question being "What was your favorite to spectate among the Rio sports?" and the horribly boring tri races, I am surprised tri was able to get even 20% of the vote. T&F had Bolt going for 3 straight 100m and 200m golds, Swimming had Phelps swimming in the Olympics for the last time, and the domination by Ledecky. Going into the Olympics, I was looking forward to seeing the tri races, the men's marathon, and catching some sports like handball, water polo and volleyball. Looking back, I really enjoyed the whitewater kayaking, T&F and swimming. Having to pick one, I chose swimming.

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Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour

There must have been an error in the poll. I didn't see rhythmic gymnastics listed . . . .

That said, I love triathlon. Reading about it. Talking about it. Doing it. But watching it!? Meh . . I did tune in for the women's race and I was pretty excited to watch Gwen run everyone in to the ground. But as mentioned, results were predictable especially when Javi Gomez dropped out. Now . . that said . . if they add the mixed team relay . . that is some fun s__t to watch!

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Pete Githens
Reading, PA

This is what you meant:

...had Phelps swimming in the Olympics for the "last time"...

Why is baseball losing popularity? It;s long and boring. Same with triathlon.

Swimming and track events are less than 4 minutes long and are exciting the entire time.

I was watching the women's triathlon race with my girlfriend and one of her friends.... and I felt bad because it lasted almost 2 hours. Can't see anything during the swim, the bike is all drafting, and the run is still 30+ minutes long with no excitement until the closing 2 kms.

Thanks for the info; surprised but glad to see swimming winning by a substantial margin. I "fixed" your last statement for you. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

What is the purpose of this poll because it looks like a bunch of BS to me. It is obviously skewed to whatever whoever wants to see. There are a lot of much higher rated events that fit in other. Put women's beach volleyball up there and you would have an overwhelming result in that favor. Or go here.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/...ports-survey-ranked/

Swimming and track and field rank just short of beach volleyball in being the best event. Cycling is way down the list.

Which would you rather watch? Hot chicks sweating in the sun in bikinis, jumping up and down. Or tiny dudes in spandex.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden