There are a lot of sports in the olympics were the "elite" part better describes their finances. Sadly, I was unable to get into equestrian or sailing and had to settle for a common man sport like Ironman.

On the other side of the spectrum I could enthrall you with Eric the Eel's 100m solo freestyle swim at Sydney of 1:52:72 in his preliminary heat when the other 2 competitors false started. Most of us could have won that heat! :)

Not replying directly to you but in that vein.

I think a vast majority of the competition you actually see on TV in the Olympics shows truly elite folks in their chosen sport as has been stated, even sports a lot of us don't understand like equestrian and shooting. (I am not arguing the costs associated with many sports, though). On the Eric the Eel/Eddie the Eagle angle, I understand the "everyman" human interest angle that broadcasters want but I think those sport federations are just sitting there averting their eyes that their rules for nationality and qualification were able to be gamed enough to let these obviously unqualified people in. Olympic tourism is a real thing and if you think the "I did an Ironman" achievement crowd are out of line with tattoos, imagine if that personality got into the Olympics!

No one @ me with things like "small countries deserve equal opportunity at entry" and "if they qualified, they are good enough" because those intentions are absolutely good and in line with the Olympic movement. But man have they been exploited to some comedic effects since those '88 Calgary games.

With the 2024 Paris olympics I heard they thought about having a sort of open marathon. I assume the elite would start first and then others could also run the course so it's not impossible. If so, I'm there. Not sure about getting the rings tattoo though :)

stevesimpson wrote:

But reaching the Olympics is one of the most difficult feats in sports. It's an elite group of athletes that devote their life to being the best in the world. Finishing an ironman is reserved for anyone with $600 to spend.

You're joking, right? Even without the examples below, the restrictions on number of people from 1 country in a sport leaves out a lot of the best athletes. Norwegian XC skiers and Swiss mountain bikers in particular get screwed.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2018/02/20/587356461/how-an-average-american-skier-managed-to-scheme-her-way-into-the-olympics
https://www.theringer.com/olympics/2018/2/21/17033340/winter-olympics-random-athletes-countries-loopholes

This is similar to how countries determine who can get a pro card for triathlon. In some countries there seem to be lower standards, very visible if you check Thorsten tri ratings before a race and their predicted times are far from what an age grouper overall winning time would be.

If you are lucky to be born in Monaco you have higher changes of participation. Of course for most sports there are still criteria that need to be met.