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

Given some very bad trolls on the front page today, I had to give this one a bump.

6/10

Winter Games are to X-Gamey for me to care about. Snowboarding is a joke, as are all those judged "sports", and people sliding down a hill.

The Summer Games are guilty of inventing silly crap to put on TV too, but this is about the Winter Games.

So much of this stuff is more like circus tricks than a sport. "Ohhhh he did a flip!" "Ohhhhh he did a flip BETTER!" meh.

Amess wrote:

Winter Games are to X-Gamey for me to care about. Snowboarding is a joke, as are all those judged "sports", and people sliding down a hill.

The Summer Games are guilty of inventing silly crap to put on TV too, but this is about the Winter Games.

So much of this stuff is more like circus tricks than a sport. "Ohhhh he did a flip!" "Ohhhhh he did a flip BETTER!" meh.

Just as many X-Games elements in the summer Olympics than the winter Olympics.

Runners, one event you might find interesting is Long Track Speed Skating - done in heats of 2 against a clock (fastest time being the mark). Way more interesting than this "sit and kick" element that is currently in place in the Summer Olympics.

I'ld say facilities are the least of the worries in this sport as in order to even get started, you need to be able to skate efficiently.

DontFeedTheTroll wrote:

rupp-certified slopestyle wrote:

Honest question here.

I assume some people on the board must know a "Winter Olympian" or two.

Some of these people compete in sports that have less than 1,000 people doing them IN THE WORLD.

How many people do steeplechase? How many people do 110m hurdles? I know lots and lots of people who have run 5K and 10K (and not all of them are serious athletes), but I only know a couple of people who have run 400m races (not jogged 400m, but actually run a race) and all of them were athletes and none of them have done it since college.

But, hey, if you want to consider yourself an Olympian in the "Decathlon" (is that even a real sport?) then go right ahead.

What about triple jump? Hammer throwing?

Fan of the winter olympics wrote:

You also forgot:

Most rowing events but especially lightweight double skulls rowing and quadruple skulls rowing

Any sailing event (these include ridiculous events such as Laser sailing, finn sailing, or women's 49er FX sailing)

K1, K2, and K4 sprint kayaking

K1 slalom kayaking

C1,C2 sprint canoeing

C2 slalom kayaking

Kerin sprint cycling

Omnium sprint cycling

BMX biking

Synchronised diving

Rythmic gymnastics

Team epee fencing

Sabre fencing

Team foil fencing

Backstroke swimming (imagine if there was a running backwards event in track and field?)

I could go on and on but the summer olympics is far worse than the winter olympics when it comes to the proliferation of obscure and bizarre "sporting events" in which virtually nobody has the opportunity to participate in, bar a few rich folk.

Omnium in cycling is just a combination of several track cycling events sort of like heptathlon in track.