Do people who go do the WINTER OLYMPICS consider themselves to be "REAL OLYMPIANS"?

answer man wrote:

I had lunch with Apolo Anton Ohno the other day

blah blah blah longwinded point

Obviously speed skating is more legit than luge.

imarunr wrote:

OP, have you ever tried cross country skiing? Do you have any idea how much fitness you need to be at the top in that sport?

Yes, I have actually raced XC skiing for fun, and I think it is worthy of the Olympic title. Not just for being taxing (which bobsleigh is, too), but for having very high participation (which bobsleigh does NOT). Do you even get the difference?

imarunr wrote:

Or how about the biathlon? Ever tried to hit a salad plate-sized target 25 meters away when your heart rate is north of 150bpm? I have. It's NOT easy.

I'm sure it is extremely hard. Again, not the point. Training to ride a horse standing up while shooting archery targets is probably hard, too, but I don't think it should be in the Olympics. Same for biathlon (which, like modern pentathlon, only exists for historical military reasons).

Can you read? You have missed the point so comprehensively that I question your literacy.

Being "scary", featuring "big time stunts" and "doing some awesome things" are not criteria for Olympic inclusion to my knowledge.

Any sport that is judged and not contested in someway, should be relabeled an 'art' - gymnastics, half pipe (skiing, snowboarding, or on a garbage bag), figure skating, etc.

Also, any sport you can compete in and not be effected by eating a McDonald's big mac, and 20 nuggets before the final should be relabeled a game - ie curling.

Bobsled and lug should is like the winter carnival. I'm more into water slides myself.

When are they going to add Slip'N'Slide and water slides to the summer Olympics?

Critical Thinking wrote:

rupp-certified slopesyle wrote:

Making the Olympics in these things, or medaling, is a miniscule accomplishment compared to doing so in running, swimming, cycling or most summer Olympic sports.

Like modern pentathlon or rhythmic gymnastics?

I think I've been clear I'd cut those, too.

Do you have an actual argument FOR the inclusion of skeleton in the winter Olympics, or are you just asking stupid questions?

food for thought... wrote:

Also, any sport you can compete in and not be effected by eating a McDonald's big mac, and 20 nuggets before the final should be relabeled a game - ie curling.

I heard an interview with a slopestyle snowboarder where they asked what she would be doing for the last two weeks before the games.

She said she would be hanging out and seeing tourist attractions in Italy.

She is a medal favorite.

Um, the people who run the Olympics wish to included those events. Seems like a perfectly legitimate argument to me. How many people really train at any of the events? How about pole vault?

The event by event post was pretty good but speed skating is definitely equivalent to cycling, not swimming.

Critical Thinking wrote:

Um, the people who run the Olympics wish to included those events. Seems like a perfectly legitimate argument to me. How many people really train at any of the events? How about pole vault?

You tell me. Do you know more people who have tried pole vaulting, or who have been in a bobsleigh?

Do you think more countries have national champions in pole vault, or in bobsleigh.

Don't bother answering. You're done.

The olympics is a joke in general. It hijacked several professional sports and imposed amateur-only world championships on them, diverting public attention and making it impossible for professionals to make any money. People don't realize how bad this really was. The great olympic legend Paavo Nurmi could have barely beaten the professional miler Walter George who competed 40 years before him, that's how far athletics was set back by the amateur bullshit.

Other sports like swimming were grabbed in their infancy by the olympics and prevented from developing professionally, so there is no pro version to contrast to the olympic version. But some pro sports were established enough to resist olympic domination. Boxing fans would not tolerate their sport as an amateur quadrennial event. Soccer, baseball, football, tennis - which people care about and will pay to see every year - all of them easily dwarf their olympic versions.

Performances are generally better in professional rather than amateur sports. Because athletics was chained to olympic amateurism so long, the only professional aspect that exists to it now is from advertising. Nobody wants to pay to see it, so the infrastructure is not there for true professionalism. That's why the best performances come from very poor countries where a few grand is a lot of money. All thanks to a few starry-eyed europeans in love with the ancient greeks.

Outside of sprints, almost all olympic track events are crap. Every once in a while it gets lucky with a Rudisha or a Ngugi. Otherwise they are worthless except for fanboys of the medalists. People talk about the medals, some fools moon over the last lap, but few look back years later and say "what a great performance that was" like they do with the record runs of Komen, Bayi and HG.

rupp-certified slopestyle wrote:

Critical Thinking wrote:

Um, the people who run the Olympics wish to included those events. Seems like a perfectly legitimate argument to me. How many people really train at any of the events? How about pole vault?

You tell me. Do you know more people who have tried pole vaulting, or who have been in a bobsleigh?

Do you think more countries have national champions in pole vault, or in bobsleigh.

Don't bother answering. You're done.

I live in Georgia, so I don't think I'm really a good example.

And I'm done? The Olympics is simply a sporting event. If the organizers of that event want to put tiddlywinks in the Olympics, then if you participate in tiddlywinks at the Olympics, you are an Olympian.

Jealousy is a bitch, eh OP?

Canada has a million curlers playing at 1,100 rinks. TV audiences have topped out at over 6 million.

Scotland has over 70 competitive clubs. A few people around the world even ski and skate.

I won't be watching it as I hate NBC, except for the women's curling. It's like, free porn!

synchronized swimming

water polo

team handball

race walking

judo

wrestling

weight lifting

diving

I'm watching Sochi to watch Canada win hockey gold and to follow Alpine skiing. I'm also watching for clashes between B. Jean King and the KGB (she will win, duh).

curling is no different than darts.

Rand wrote:

Canada has a million curlers playing at 1,100 rinks. TV audiences have topped out at over 6 million.

Scotland has over 70 competitive clubs. A few people around the world even ski and skate.

I won't be watching it as I hate NBC, except for the women's curling. It's like, free porn!

Great post, thanks.

I didn't really know the professional pre-Olympic history of running, but looked up Walter George and am now fascinated by this era!

runner who professes wrote:

I'm also watching for clashes between B. Jean King and the KGB (she will win, duh).

Nice one.

I'll watch it all, too.

What some of the droolers here didn't get is that I actually love all these weirdo sports. I just don't see the competition as anywhere near the Olympic greatness of the core summer sports.

4/10, and only because you got some undeserved irate responses.

Nice try OP. Do you realize that most of the USA considers you a jogger and most of the world thinks soccer is the only true sport?

You shouldn't have a name that reps Galen Rupp. I'd like to see you do half the stuff these legit athletes do for practice. I agree you are a prick. Lets see you make the winter Olympic team. I know I couldn't because you know why? There REAL ATHLETS! WHAT THEY DO IS AMAZINGLY DIFICULT!