Hardest of these sports to make/medal at the Olympics

You guys are both idiots. How does comparing swimming to athletics make sense when we are actually talking about comparing swimming to running? There are not 24 running events in athletics. There are 13 running events if you count the hurdles and the relays.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

kkks wrote:

I'm not talking about compared to track. I'm talking about compared too ALL sports.

Swimming has the second most number of events, so if that was your point then you are correct. I don't see any reason to call names over it, though.

RunWild wrote:

I would say sprinting and distance running are equally difficult in to medal.

Maybe 200 on up, but the 100 meter dash is by far the hardest thing to medal in in all the Olympics. The World's Fastest Man is basically the centerpiece of the games.

hardest to easiest:

running

swimming

biking

triathlon

speed skating

cross country skiing

adding a connected commentI bet 90% of the Member Nations that use the "one non-restricted entry in an event" rule pick the 100meter dash.

Hardloper wrote:

RunWild wrote:

I would say sprinting and distance running are equally difficult in to medal.

Maybe 200 on up, but the 100 meter dash is by far the hardest thing to medal in in all the Olympics. The World's Fastest Man is basically the centerpiece of the games.

money talks wrote:

kkks wrote:

You could say the same for running. Especially considering how some events (5k/10k) are much easier to medal in these days than others. Swimming is definitely the hardest listed though. Those athletes start training in elementary school. Many runners don't start until highschool.

I hope you're kidding. Distance running is far and away the hardest to earn a medal because it's cheap, accessible, and lucrative, making it affordable to even third world countries. World-wide participation is off the charts compared to other more "exclusive" sports. More Africans may be moving away from the 5K/10K to the roads cause of money, but it's still far more competitive than it was in the Amateur days.

No, I'm not kidding. The average swimmer has a lot more training experience than a runner. More people participating doesn't make it harder. More people training for 5+ additional years makes it harder.

No, I'm not kidding. The average swimmer has a lot more training experience than a runner. More people participating doesn't make it harder. More people training for 5+ additional years makes it harder.

To suggest that swimmers have more training than runners is completely bogus. Runners train pretty much their whole lives. Their entire lifestyle may involve long distance running. Geb himself said so.

Secondly runners even in developing countries are starting to formally train earlier and earlier.

Finally more people participating does make it much harder. This ought to be a no brainer !

For example The United states always wins the softball gold medal at the Olympics because hardly any countries participate in the sport.

But they rarely ever won baseball gold because far more countries participate

Enrico Chiesa wrote:

To suggest that swimmers have more training than runners is completely bogus. Runners train pretty much their whole lives. Their entire lifestyle may involve long distance running. Geb himself said so.

Swimmers start swimming at around 6 years old and spend way more time swimming, than runners spend running. As young as junior high, swimmers can swim 2+ hrs in the morning and 2+ hrs at night.

Runners can't put that kind of time in.

Enrico Chiesa wrote:

Secondly runners even in developing countries are starting to formally train earlier and earlier.

STARTING to train earlier. Exactly my point. Swimmers HAVE BEEN training earlier. Thanks for backing me up.

I have no doubt swimmers put way more time into their sport than runners. Some of my best friends were on the college swim team, and even though we had way more success as a team, they were definitely putting in more hours. I shutter thinking about getting up at 5 am in the winter to jump in the pool for the morning practice. Cyclists get into the sport a lot later but it's similar - way more time dedication than running.

However, if you look at the number of medals won by Americans in swimming vs. running (I assume by running we're not counting field events), it is clear that if you're an American, it's easier to medal in swimming, way easier.

Sprints. No question. A few individuals are born with fastest man in the world potential. If you don't have it, you can train all you like, but it will never happen. It is more like a lottery (with drugs).

Rowing (summer), curling (winter).

100MH 110MHH

Please google Marianne Vos.

the right answer wrote:

hardest to easiest:

running

swimming

biking

triathlon

speed skating

cross country skiing

agree with this.

running - easiest to enter, high participation.

[big gap]

swimming - low participation, but low barriers to entry.

[big gap]

biking - lower participation and need to buy an expensive bike to be competitive.

the bottom three are in all extremely low participation, need equipment, and in the case of cross country skiing, need the right environment.

Ummmmmmm... we have some damn good female cyclists, for example

Kristin Armstrong - Olympic GOLD

Georgia Gould - Olympic BRONZE

Lea Davison - Olympic 11th

???

why not offer one where they might actually make money, instead of go to the olympics and maybe make $30,000?

easiest sports to make money are:

1) football, whichever kind is popular on your continent. Even if you can't play, you can still coach/assist/manage.

2) mma/combat sports for the same reason. People will pay big bucks to study at your dojo or gym.

3) baseball. Hard to make it to the majors, but you can get paid ok in the minors unlike most other sports.

Enrico Chiesa wrote:

To suggest that swimmers have more training than runners is completely bogus. Runners train pretty much their whole lives. Their entire lifestyle may involve long distance running. Geb himself said so.

Secondly runners even in developing countries are starting to formally train earlier and earlier.

Um, ever heard of Denis Kimetto?

There'd be Denis Kimetto's in swimming too, but y

*but you can't just up and start swimming 5 hours per day in your late 20s.

We are not concerned with our kids making money in sports, even though I was a low 3:40 1500m guy, that was still a long way off from making a living. We want to find activities that they can do for a lifetime, MMA - not so much... But thanks for the suggestion.