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Why is one sport an Olympic one and another not?

weltweit

weltweit

Well-Known Member
Apparently after London 2012 Windsurfing will cease to be an olympic sport. But pretty much wherever there is water people windsurf don't they?

And beach volleyball, that is surely less popular than windsurfing. Surely.

Obviously Football, Tennis, Basketball and Cycling are going to be vital Olympic sports because they are played pretty much everywhere.

But Grecko Roman wrestling?
 
Greco-Roman wrestling is pretty big in the States, Eastern Europe, Central Asia etc. Tennis, football and golf can fuck off. Road cycling doesn't really have a place either, tbh.
 
If an Olympic medal is the pinnacle of your sporting endeavours, then it should be an Olympic sport. All the others can FRO.

Can't wait for the Golf in 2016. Stronger, Faster Higher, Closer to the Pin...
 
Ted Striker said:
If an Olympic medal is the pinnacle of your sporting endeavours, then it should be an Olympic sport. All the others can FRO.
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I'm with this^

Football has got the World Cup & the other local continent-ish ones.

Tennis is the same, with Wimbledon & what have you on the different surfaces.

Golf has got The Open or whatever it is.

Cricket has got it's thing.

Baseball has got America.

Etc.
 
I think for a sport to be in the Olympics they must have an International governing body, that IGB needs to be recognized by the IOC and must also apply to become an Olympic sport.
 
I expect they just want stuff that people and (perhaps more importantly) sponsors, will be interested in.

The event is a just big advert these days.
 
Yes golf and Ruby sevens are being added for Rio 2016.

I always thought the Olympics was all about amateur sport :confused:
 
Onket said:
I'm with this^

Football has got the World Cup & the other local continent-ish ones.

Tennis is the same, with Wimbledon & what have you on the different surfaces.

Golf has got The Open or whatever it is.

Cricket has got it's thing.

Baseball has got America.

Etc.
Click to expand...

Most of (well, presumably all) the Olympic sports have World Championships though...
 
Judging by the reaction here and other places, they should just feature sports where the competitors have good bods and wear very little clothing.
 
The Boy said:
Was just meaning they shouldn't be Olympic sports. They don't really bring anything, and their are other competition with greater prestige in those sports.
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Well the cycling brings an opportunity for people to actually watch a sport live.
 
bi0boy said:
But winning the Olympics is generally considered superior to winning a world championship in athletics, swimming etc..
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By who? I mean I agree with you, but I don't follow athletics outside the Olympics. It might be that my opinion of Olympic athletics has a similar basis to Mr Bond's opinion of Road Cycling. Certainly a lot more prize money in World Championship athletics, while Olympics bring sponsorship (or maybe that's skewed by Bolt's charisma). Brings a lot of publicity, but does that mean you're considered a superior runner? World champs provide a more practical test in some ways too - you might only get one or two chances as a serious competitor in some Olympic sports, whereas World Champs is year-on-year ability.
 
weltweit said:
Apparently after London 2012 Windsurfing will cease to be an olympic sport. But pretty much wherever there is water people windsurf don't they?
Click to expand...
It seems less and less and kite surfing more and more - and kite surfing will replace windsurfing as an Olympic sport.
 
bi0boy said:
But winning the Olympics is generally considered superior to winning a world championship in athletics, swimming etc..
Click to expand...
Highly debatable, if not just plain wrong. There are lots of complaints about the fact that the Olympics restricts the number of competitors from each country. That doesn't happen in World Championships, so it's a more genuine competition.

For most fans of the particular sport, I bet they are more bothered about their World Championships - or even some other event -than they are about the Olympics. But its the Olympics which introduces the sport to other people, which can change them from being a minority interest to mainstream attention. It can also bring individual athletes to much wider attention, and thus more in sponorship, but from a sporting perspective, other comps have the advantage.
 
Fruitloop said:
: synchronised diving - why?
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I think the test should be: is it something you'd do for fun or maybe to keep fit? If yes, it's a sport and has potential to be in the Olympics. And maybe also the classical events like gymnastics.

But if it exists solely to have competitions, ie synchronized diving, synchronized swimming etc, I say give it the boot.
 
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