in order for a sport to be in the olympics in the first place, it needs to be played and represented by a certain number of countries. So any sport that’s in the olympics is a well-played sport. Maybe not in the USA, but keep in mind we only make up 1 of about 200 countries in the world.
Curling is idiotic and should not be in the Olympics. That is not a sport. Maybe it’s a skill, but any sport that requires beer drinking at the end of participation should not be in the Olympics.
Uh oh! Prepare for the wrath of Jonnyo!
Walking is by Far the most fundamental physical activity.even if you are a great runner I cannot believe you would not be impressed by a 1.17 20 km walk or a 3.35 FIFTY km walk. these are current records.Maybe you should stick to something you actually know.
Just because its not popular in your country, it doesn’t mean that they are not popular elsewhere. An example is handball, which is HUGE in Europe or archery, which is really big in the Asian countries.
Someone else mentioned Diving was not a sport… that it was a skill… Id like to see you go through 6 months of dive training and then hear what you think of wether its a sport or not.
Archery is SUPER huge in Wisconsin and MN area…yeah…all they need is some booze, a snowmobile and some camoflage wallets…
Please…would you be considered a cheat if you gave your competitor some coffee? God forbid he has the shakes…
Wait, if freaking BOWLING an olympic “sport”? I sure as hell hope not.
Well, here in the US, discuss/javalin/etc constitute the ‘field’ part of ‘track and field’ and Track and Field is the MOST popular sport in American High Schools
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Unfortunately the total number of sports and total number of athletes in the official, actual games that matter are fixed. So maybe the problem is that sports you do like aren’t added or have been dropped to make room for those you don’t.
So maybe this tradition can change. I suppose it’s easier now that you have an unlimited number of cable channels to cover the sport here in the US rather than just one like when I was growing up.
Also - you are aware that each Oly has ‘exhibition’ sports - I think they are up to the host country committee. Perhaps some more favored sports can be made standard ‘exhibition’ sports?
Walking is by Far the most fundamental physical activity.even if you are a great runner I cannot believe you would not be impressed by a 1.17 20 km walk or a 3.35 FIFTY km walk. these are current records.Maybe you should stick to something you actually know.
Oh, relax. What I know is that race walking doesn’t interest me. I never claimed to know anything about the activity itself. I never even said anything about its worth as an activity or a sport. Yet another post by someone who doesn’t know how to read. Frankly, I mostly included it because I had just read the ESPN article about it so it was in my head. Seriously, it just seems silly to me. I don’t really care one way or another if it’s in the Olympics, but I wouldn’t miss if it disappeared.
And I never said I wasn’t impressed but now that you mention it, no, I’m not overly impressed. Probably that’s because I’ve never tried it myself. Perhaps I would be if I ever did, but that’s not the point anyway. I was really impressed by the guys I saw do a 20" limbo but that doesn’t mean I want to watch it during the Olympics.
I’d be more interested in watching backwards running. Not that it’s actually a sport, but I think they would be fun races to watch.
Archery and Fencing are very traditional sports in some countries although I’ve seen these “athletes” and they don’t exactly look fit on our - from a triathlete point of view - “standard” athlete definition. Not many muscles, looks or care with food and health. But I wouldn’t remove those. Javelin, Hammer and Discus goes back in years as beeing part of the track&field competition so it would be strange to not having those. These ones I don’t think they will ever leave the Olympics program.
But… I would agree in some team sport like handball and specially soccer: with all the money already envolved in the sport of soccer - Real Madrid is set to buy Cristiano Ronaldo for 85 Million euros!! - is there any point of having a U23 contents at the olympics? It’s giving away media coverage to probably the most globally overpaid sport in the World. For me, Olympics should be a individual competion. Not polo, handball, voley, etc. Instead, they are missing out sports like… Duathlon. That would be huge in a Olympic event with wild competition and trully amazing athletes.
Indeed. I’m sure the original poster was not aware, but there’s a whole world outside the US borders.
I don’t see why marbles should not be in the Olympics, if curling is there already. Here goes an opportunity for some Olympic gold for my country of birth. I used to make pocket money from that thing as a kid - that qualifies as being a “professional athlete”. Well, semi pro, OK.
I just don’t understand why they dropped the 100 km TTT - I guess some federations couldn’t afford to by and ship that many aero bikes.
Sports with subjective scoring systems should not be Olympic sports in my opinion.
Events where the winner went fastest, jumped highest, scored the most points, are fine. These types of events include cycling, triathlon, curling, archery, track and field etc.
Subjective events should not be included as the result is based on a judges interpretation of the competitors performance. These events include pretty much all gymnastics, diving, syncronised swimming, and arguably dressage.
We need more female track cycling events as the equality between male and female medals currently sucks.
"Subjective events should not be included "
I’m always amazed by this viewpoint, especially considering that gymnastics in particular has always been a part of the modern Olympics.
The original program in 1896 included the following: athletics(T&F), cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, tennis, and wrestling.
It’s good for starting a debate though 
I don’t really have a problem with gymnastics, but it’s a good example of a subjective sport, as most people know what it is.
The local high school track meet that I am involved in organizing always has a huge field for the boys javelin event and decent sized fields for shot and discus … so I’m not sure how they are unpopular sports. The throws are highly technical events are require a lot of hard work and training to do well. Also, unlike judged sports, there is always a definite winner.
I tend to agree with you. I prefer events that adhere to the Olympic motto of “Swifter, Higher, Farther”, no the subjective “Better”.
I think of “Sports” more in the terms of athletic contests, and not “Games”.
What fencers are you looking at that you do not think they are in shape??? I was a college fencer and it is a VERY intense sport. All fast twitch. You end up with legs that are developed in different ways due to the stance and lunging…
the sport is HUGE in Germany, Italy, Hungary…
yeah, the US is not the whole world…
Cat- Did you participate in the Olympic Festival when it was in St. Louis?
On the topic: Why is there always some idiot who posts that all sports he/she does not like should not be in the Olympics every time it is an Olympic year?
You do realize that Klep is Portuguese and probably has a good idea of how things are in Europe, right?
no, unfortunately not…
Did spend the summer after freshman year of college training in NY with a hungarian coach who wanted me to go for '88 games - other things distracted me however…