Having some background in diving and being around my younger brother's national/international dive meets, I can say that the scoring tends to be very close and consistent across divers and meets. It would be neat to do a statistical study on that, but from experience the scores tend to be fair. Obviously there can be errors made by the judges, but I don't think that makes diving not a sport. I would make the comparison to how it was before the advent of touchpads in swimming- the fact that the result of the meet depended on the judgment of a person with a stopwatch didn't make the sport "horse shit".
I can't speak to other judged sports but I'd imagine those also have competent, consistent, and fair judges.

We should just let all the judges watch each dive in slow mo.

Ski Jumping where they get marks for style, what a joke, who jumps furthest wins, but no judges give marks for style, poofters.

Surfing was just added for 2020, and I'd already like to see it removed.

What a stupid idea it is to add a sport that requires a distinct, and relatively rare, natural phenomenon to an event that regularly occurs in places where that phenomenon does not exist.

I always thought the medal round game against the ussr was the miracle on ice. The gold medal game was against Finland

I agree with golf, but mostly because the golfers don't seem to care. I really like Olympic soccer, and I am not a soccer fan. I feel like it is next to the world cup. You did not mention Hockey, but olympic hockey is great! The NHL players love going home to play for their home countries and unlike basketball, hockey is competitive on the national level.

To me it is a shame they axed wrestling in favor of any of those sports however. I do not like wrestling, but to me the sport screams olympics and I feel like it may be the nail in the coffin for the sport.

Oh, I guess wrestling got reinstated... woops.

I like that the men's Olympic soccer is U23, mostly. You get to see upcoming players and teams that are not the same as the World Cup.

Yeah I like Olympic hockey as well, much more competitive globally.

Doh! There's goes Canada's only hope of a gold medal

Trolling are we?

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

Correct. Miracle on Ice against the Russians was the opening game of the medal round, and they beat Finland two days later for the gold. They were losing to the Finns after the second period and Herb Brooks spoke only one sentence to the team in the locker room: "You lose this game, you'll take it to your fucking graves!" and the rest is history.

As to the OP, I'd get rid of rhythmic gymnastics, golf, tennis and the extreme sports.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I agree with you here. I think most of his list is pretty close to what I would get rid of and keep, but like you I would leave the martial arts and also the gymnastics. I think that is a big part of the Olympics and it really is the pinnacle of the sport. Watching what those guys and girls can do is unbelievable.

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Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

I grew up in a host city, Montreal, where we paid dearly for years for the enjoyment of the rest of the world by our misguided tax money being spent on useless infrastructure that we as athletes never even got to use. Soooooooooo, since my family cross subsidized the rest of the world's eyeballs with some of our tax money, I am more than glad if other cities are equally stupid and want to pay for my enjoyment....I suppose in a small way I have a bit of moral high ground having lived through the aftermath of being a family from a host city. But yeah, it is a bit hypocritical to enjoy the Olympics on someone else's dime especially when poor people are being de prioritized in terms of basic services in their city/country to pay for a global party, but I guess its how the world turns.

But hey Peter Uberroth figured out a way to host the LA Olympics and make money....why can't anyone else pull that off?

^^^^This.

.....plus any sport that gives points for "artistic impression".

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
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This will show my US bias but I've always thought if your sport has a bigger event then your out.


Basketball out
Cycling (road race) out
Soccer out
golf out
Tennis out



(Yes I know it's an American homer pov)

Olympics should be for the weird sports to get their 4 mins of fame every 4th year- table tennis, biathlon, diving, rowing etc.

What's even dumber to me is what each sports allows for the teams to compete. I think soccer has u23 for men's but women gets its stars.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

What team did the USA beat in the final?

You said it perfectly!

Any activity that includes the use of music as an integral part of the sport.
As pointed out before, anything that is judged.
Anything where men wear a costume, sparkly things or chiffon (figure skating).
Shooting (but not biathlon in the Winter Olympics, that sport is awesome!), archery, badminton.
I agree with the swimming event post that said to exclude all swimming events except freestyle.
Race walking.
Opening ceremonies.
Closing ceremonies.

http://lmgtfy.com

Sweden.

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Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

What is interesting with the 1980 hockey tournament is that it had no final.
Many think the USA beat the Soviet in a final. Mostly because the story has grown since 1980.

Basketball, Men's Cycling Road Race and ITT, Golf, and Tennis have to go.

Women's cycling in the Olympics still makes sense.

Women's soccer in the Olympics is OK. They could drop the men's tournament (U-23 but you can have 3 older players and a player's club can refuse to allow their players to participate in the Olympics). But other than the World Cup, the Olympics is about the only time people pay attention to women's soccer.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

You can do better than that, and although Finland was taken over by Swedes some time ago, in 1980 when the Finland team got the silver medal it was well past the time of ancient Swedish rule.

As a minimum, you should know that the finish line of the first continental US Ironman in Lake Placid is around 200 feet from the ice where the USA won that 1980 Hockey Gold Medal (not to mention the finish chute is the same won where Eric Heiden got his 5 Gold medals in speed skating.

Dev

Yes the USA beat Finland in the last game. But Soviet got the silver medal.

The tournament did not have a final. People have a tendency to forget that

Get rid of swimming, running, wrestling, gymnastics,... He'll get rid of Everything except half pipe snowboarding, team handball, and bmx.

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