Pros competing in the Olympics.

[Detroit City]

What has the coverage been like at your end DC?

I don't know....haven't really watched. I'm more into the winter olympics and i barely watch those.

Are the Dream Team getting more than their fair share of air/pundit time?

most people don't give a shit about them unless they're playing games in the regular season over here or in the playoff. if the game don't count then it means little to americans

What sports are being focused on?

not many really, most of the olympic sports don't excite teh average american

 

[JTG]

I take people's points about pro boxers being excluded but in a competition such as basketball, what is wrong with the US sending their best team if it's within the rules? As pointed out, they only won bronze last time anyway (think Argentina are reigning Olympic champions). Do we want competitions that pit the best of each nation against the best of others or not?

You can just as easily argue that the 'amateur' athletes of British cycling, rowing, track and field etc have an unfair advantage over other countries because they have greater funding than those of much poorer nations.

As for the tennis, well it's been back in the Games since 1992 featuring all the best professionals that want to compete for a gold medal (not all do). I doubt it would make for much of a spectacle if it was only amateur players involved tbh.

 

[aylee]

Ive been rather sickened at the sight of Kobe Bryant and his team rolling into Beijing and the clamour and adulation surrounding them. Kobe Bryant?! That's fair!

And amongst others preparing to compete are Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Ronaldinho?! FFS!

Why not Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan? What are the boxing rules?

And of course Golf is being considered for an Olympic sport for the 2016 Games.

I know the IAAF allow paid GP races and invitationals, but the athletics World Champs is still an amateur event.

What is the IOCs criteria for what is deemed a 'professional' athlete?

I have got a lot of sympathy for this point of view. What is the point of having sports at the games where established professional athletes simply get to view it as just another tournament (or even one which is less worthwhile).

If you've got to allow professional athletes, then at least restrict it to young, less established ones .... make the football a proper U23 competition, the basketball restricted to those of college/university age and exclude (say) all the top 200 tennis players if you must have a tennis competition at the Olympics.

The Olympics is the main show for many amateur or at least relatively unfashionable sports .... I don't want to watch the same old people.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I think the difference with boxing is that pro and amateur boxing are essentially different sports. Pros box without head protection over a much longer number of rounds, and that's what they train to. There's no way you could run an olympic style competition on that basis, they wouldn't be able to complete enough fights - it would just be too physically damaging - and also the pros wouldn't be interested. They can only fight occasionally and they want the big fights with the money. With tennis it's just one more tournament in the bschedule.

 

[kyser_soze]

Not being funny, but as someone pointed out above, teams like China are essentially pro-teams anyway - they live and train full time, what's the difference? If a country wants to improve it's medal haul, invest in the training facilities as has been repeatedly demonstrated by Australia (which invests hugely in it's sport, and punches well above weight by population in the medal tables, as are S Korea so far), France when it won the World Cup, China itself, the old USSR teams etc.

It's not just that - does a Kenyan or Peruvian who has spent their entire life running 50 miles a day in heat/at altitude have a unfair advantage over a Euro who trains at sea level and gets to run full distance maybe once or twice a week?

 

[Melinda]

The tennis pros are getting 'mobbed' in the athletes village. Though I think only Nadal and a few others are actually staying in the village.

He has a good attitude

"People recognize me a lot in the village," Nadal said. "But they are sportsmen like me, no?
So if they ask me for a photo, I just do the photo. For me, it is a pleasure to be here."

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderp...l?id=f155fea3-cdb9-4fb7-9d9f-80a69f13f449&p=1

 

[Dr. Furface]

Not being funny, but as someone pointed out above, teams like China are essentially pro-teams anyway - they live and train full time, what's the difference?

As is the GB cycling team - massively funded by the Lottery, they are to all intents and purposes professional. It's no accident that we dominate the sport at the moment.

As for golf, it is a strong possibility that it will feature in the Olympics in 2016. It's possible that they could make it an amateur-only competition, but that would be at odds with the tennis and basketball etc - so they won't. I'm a big golf fan but I don't want to see it in the Olympics because, like the tennis, its 4 major tournaments (not to mention the Ryder Cup) will always be far more important to the players than winning an Olympic medal. However, in terms of fulfilling the Olympic ideals and values, then there is probably no better sport than golf, which exemplifies fair play, honesty, decency, adherence to rules and respect for traditions better than any other sport I can think of.