Fox334 Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Boxing, unless it fixes judging, ought to go. It's been a sore spot for the Games for a while now, and it takes all the excitement out of the sport. And equestrian . . . sigh. I digress. Synchronized swimming is utterly ridiculous for many reasons, and would anyone really miss it? Synchro swimming's main problem is that the judging is pretty much per-determined. I mean, the team event will be Russia gold, Spain silver, China bronze, Canada fourth, Japan fifth, Great Britain sixth, Australia seventh, Egypt eight. You're more than welcomed to make fun of me if I'm wrong about that. Baring injury or a major mistake those will be the results. The only possible upset is China over Spain. Also, I'd say it's a great sport to bet on but I can't imagine the odds are anything but ridiculously high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 I think boxing should be an Olympic sport, but it's gotta be reformed. I'd like to give them a chance to fix it. My sister did synchro for a while and I can tell you it IS a sport and insanely physically demanding. The problem is the judging. Way too subjective. I don't question the athleticism, but I think it should go because of the judging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faster Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 The problem with deletion is where will the additions come from. We can go two ways, have an Olympics almost exclusively dominated by racquet and combat sports with the addition of squash and karate. Or we can continue the addition by subtraction mentality of the IOC and eliminate sports like shooting, greco-roman wrestling and modern pentathlon to add more events in popular sports like the 5km open water race, 50m in the other 3 strokes, the 800 and 1500m freestyle, more track cycling, even up the weight divisions in boxing and wrestling. More rowing and canoe/kayaking. I would love to see shooting eliminated. I have no problem with golf, I do not like every sport at the Olympics. I hate basketball, but it has a right to be there as a globally popular and competative sport. Modern pentathlon should also go. I think the continued development of inline speed skating will eventually see it included in the Olympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 The problem with deletion is where will the additions come from. We can go two ways, have an Olympics almost exclusively dominated by racquet and combat sports with the addition of squash and karate. Or we can continue the addition by subtraction mentality of the IOC and eliminate sports like shooting, greco-roman wrestling and modern pentathlon to add more events in popular sports like the 5km open water race, 50m in the other 3 strokes, the 800 and 1500m freestyle, more track cycling, even up the weight divisions in boxing and wrestling. More rowing and canoe/kayaking. I would love to see shooting eliminated. I have no problem with golf, I do not like every sport at the Olympics. I hate basketball, but it has a right to be there as a globally popular and competative sport. Modern pentathlon should also go. I think the continued development of inline speed skating will eventually see it included in the Olympics. Inline is developing? Surprising. Colombia won all the golds at the Pan Ams. So it hasn't developed much in the Americas. I agree Modern Pentathlon should go, it was supposed to but Rogge saved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 "In addition, the executive board will decide by next summer whether to cut disciplines in wrestling (Greco-Roman or freestyle), equestrian (three-day event), canoe-kayak (slalom), sailing (keelboat events), rowing (lightweight events), swimming (synchronized swimming team event) and athletics (race walking). " So back in 2005 this was proposed. However nothing came into fruition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Another article from 2002: If the International Olympic Committee acts on the recommendations by one of its commissions, Rulon Gardner's golden moment at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games could be one of the final Olympic moments for the sport of Greco-Roman wrestling. In August, the Olympic Programme Commission made headlines by recommending that baseball, softball and modern pentathlon be cut from the Olympics, starting with the 2008 Beijing Games. The commission also recommended eliminating disciplines within certain Olympic sports, including one of the two disciplines within wrestling - either Greco-Roman wrestling or freestyle wrestling. Though the commission was not specific about which discipline should face elimination, women's freestyle wrestling will become an Olympic sport in 2004, making it unlikely that Olympic officials would cut a discipline that now includes men and women. ``We contend that dropping a discipline is the same as dropping a sport, that this would mean the sport's disappearance from the world athletic scene,'' said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, the national federation for the sport, which is based in Colorado Springs. Greco-Roman wrestling was part of the ancient Olympics and has been in the modern Games since they started in 1896. At the IOC's behest in recent years, wrestling already has droppedfrom 20 men's weight classes to 14 (seven in Greco-Roman and seven in freestyle), with four women's freestyle classes at the 2004 Athens Games. The IOC is scheduled to act on the commission's recommendations during its late November meeting in Mexico City, but all the Olympic sports and disciplines that have been put on the block are lobbying IOC members to remain in the Games. The reasons behind the commission's recommendations seem arbitrary to almost everyone who has read its report. Regarding wrestling, the commission's report states, without giving supporting figures or statistics, that low public comprehension of the difference between Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling has resulted in low broadcast and press coverage, resulting in a lack of global popularity. That connection seems flawed, considering there are 150 countries with international wrestling federations fielding Greco-Roman and freestyle athletes. ``I have read the report, too, and I am not sure I have a full understanding of why these sports and disciplines were chosen,'' said Anita DeFrantz, an American IOC member. New IOC president Jacques Rogge has made it clear that he believes the Olympics cannot grow beyond the current level of 10,500 athletes, 28 sports and 300 medal events - meaning that some sports will have to be cut if others are added, with rugby and golf being mentioned by the commission. Wrestling is one of the cheapest and most accessible Olympic sports, making it available even to the poorest countries. Middle Eastern countries would take a severe hit in the number of medals and athletes they send to the Games if a wrestling discipline was cut - and such a cut could lead to the death of that discipline worldwide. The world wrestling community is strongly lobbying IOC members and has slammed the IOC Web site's public comment section. ``I guess this means the Olympics has become more about the business side than about the sports,'' Gardner said. ``We don't have big contracts. We're out there doing it for the love of the sport, and that's what the Olympics is supposed to be about.'' INFOBOX Changing the Games Sports recommended for exclusion from the Summer Olympics, beginning with the 2008 Beijing Games: Sports Baseball Softball Modern pentathlon (a five-discipline sport based on what a soldier might be required to do on a battlefield - running, swimming, fencing, shooting and equestrian) Disciplines Canoe-kayak - Slalom Equestrian - Eventing Wrestling - Greco-Roman or freestyle Track and field - Racewalk Reduction in athletes/events Sailing - Keelboat Swimming - Synchronized team Shooting - No specific recommendations Rowing - Lightweight Badminton - Mixed doubles Medals on the mat The United States historically has been stronger in freestyle than Greco-Roman wrestling in theOlympics, though of the 13 Olympic medals won by U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers, six have been won at the past two Olympics, in 1996 and 2000. Greco-Roman wrestling (grappling above the waist without using the legs) was the style included in the first modern Games, in 1896. The disciplines then alternated Olympics, with both being included on the Olympic program since 1920. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hektor Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 If you want to drop Synchronized swimming because of its predictability, you should drop figure skating from the WOG too, especially dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 drop figure skating from the WOG too, especially dance. Which will NEVER happen because the skating events draw the BIGGEST WOG TV audiences. So they'd be cutting off their noses despite their face. AIN'T gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 If you want to drop Synchronized swimming because of its predictability, you should drop figure skating from the WOG too, especially dance. Syncrho u knew who would be top 3 without a change. Its so predictable. In Vancouver many of the medalists were not predicted and many didn't make podium when they were predicted too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hektor Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 I was being provocative. That being say I remember lots of Ice Dance competition where the ranking of the first eight was the same after the compulsory, after the short and after the free. Synchronized swimming is one of the Olympic disciplines which specially appeals to the female population, so I doubt it will be cut. I think it should be improved though, maybe with getting rid of the staccato movements, less outrageous makeup and gelatin hairdos, and high tech noseclips which are less conspicuous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 I was being provocative. That being say I remember lots of Ice Dance competition where the ranking of the first eight was the same after the compulsory, after the short and after the free. Synchronized swimming is one of the Olympic disciplines which specially appeals to the female population, so I doubt it will be cut. I think it should be improved though, maybe with getting rid of the staccato movements, less outrageous makeup and gelatin hairdos, and high tech noseclips which are less conspicuous. Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 I was being provocative. That being say I remember lots of Ice Dance competition where the ranking of the first eight was the same after the compulsory, after the short and after the free. Synchronized swimming is one of the Olympic disciplines which specially appeals to the female population, so I doubt it will be cut. I think it should be improved though, maybe with getting rid of the staccato movements, less outrageous makeup and gelatin hairdos, and high tech noseclips which are less conspicuous. Ice Dancing actually cleaned up it's act considerably judging wise over the last couple of years. And the sport actually currently has *gasp* a really good rivalry between the top two pairs in the world, and over the past four years or so they have been virtually even. Synchro swimming has such a static hierarchy they might as well award the medals before the competition and then have the actual event as an afterparty. Russia's dominance makes China's hold on Table Tennis look feeble. And there often seems to be a disconnect between what happens in the pool and what happens on the medal stands. Anyway, what I would do: -Drop Modern Pentathlon -Drop Synchro Swimming (as much as I love the sport) -Drop Greco-Roman wrestling -Cut down the shooting program to 10 (one event per gender for trap, skeet, precision pistol, rapid pistol and riffle) and change the format to something closer to archery to make it watchable on TV. -Cut sailing program to sailboard (so stupid that they took it out), dinghy and catamaran. Six events total, 3 per gender, top 8 or 16 decided by match races. -Standardize every event with weight-classes to seven weight-classes per gender. Add team events in fighting sports. -Cut lightweight rowing, add women's coxless fours. -Add team events in Badminton and Tennis. -Add Squash (singles and team event). -Remove Omnium in cycling. Add Point Race and Individual Pursuit. Have two road races, one with flat finish and one with mountain finish. -Add men's 800 and women's 1500m in Swimming. -Add women's C1 and C2 slalom events. Change the Canoing sprint program to make it gender neutral. Only reason I'm leaving Rhythmic Gymnastics alone is to keep the number of men's and women's Gymnastics medals even. For fun, what I would do with the winter program: -Add a team event in Alpine once the FIS can be assed to create a decent format. -Add mixed doubles and mixed team curling. On the format: for doubles, 16 teams split into two pools of 8. Each pool plays a modified double elimination tournament with no grand finals, top 2 of each pools advances to semi-finals. Same concept with mixed teams but with eight teams. Generally I dislike round robin in curling due to how bad the tie-breakers are. -3000m in Short Track. -Men's 3000m and women's 10000m in Speed Skating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 If you want to drop Synchronized swimming because of its predictability, you should drop figure skating from the WOG too, especially dance. A few years ago I would have agreed with this parallel, but I think the ISU has really cleaned up their act. Ice dance results are more predictable, but that is partly because ice dance is less risky and there is unlikely to be wide variation from one competition to the next. I don't feel the judging is as biased in ice dance as it once was. It's the bias that bothers me about synchro. Baron's point is valid too. Figure skating is a marquee event and vital to Winter Games' success. Synchro doesn't play a similar role in Summer Games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockara Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 and why didn't they added gridiron football yet?, maybe if america hosts the games again it could be added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proposition Joe Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 I do not think a good metric for removal is wether or not the Olympics present the highest possible honor/competition for that sport. I think representing a wide variety of sports is important in order to give the Olympics legitimacy. It would also be odd if massively popular sports like basketball and football were absent from the Olympics. and why didn't they added gridiron football yet?, maybe if america hosts the games again it could be added American football isn't even recognized as an olympic sport yet. There is very little chance of this happening for a variety of reasons. The sport requires a large amount of athletes for teams and doesn't have any international presence whatsoever. Furthermore, something that I haven't seen mentioned is that the equipment that the sport requires would be oppressive to wear during the summer. Imagine american football being played in Doha, there would be a non-insignificant number of casualties. If the sport were to be added to an Olympics I think it would be more likely or appropriate to add it to the Winter Games, but that would require that more than four countries play the sport competitively and I don't see that happening ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 and why didn't they added gridiron football yet?, maybe if america hosts the games again it could be added Maybe if each US state had it's own NOC this would be feasible... Until the US implodes USSR style not gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 taekwondo is pretty ordinary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 taekwondo is pretty ordinary The main advantage of Taekwondo is how ridiculously universal it is. There are strong athletes from the United States to China, from France to South Korea but also from Australia to Brazil, from Mali to Afghanistan, from Thailand to Taiwan and from Turkey to Mexico. In that sense it's a fantastic Olympic sport. I agree that it doesn't make great TV, but at least it's much improved from Beijing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 For equestrian sport, the 2012 London Olympics have been a triumph. This is a big deal. Inclusion in the Olympics is by no means a forgone conclusion for a number of sports, that must show their global appeal and maintain the highest scruples. In Beijing, the sport fell well short due to five failed dope tests on horses. In four of those cases it was the application of the banned substance capsaicin to the horses’ legs, and the fifth case was the application of felbinic, an anti-inflammatory. Equestrian sport managed the dubious distinction of more positive dope tests on horses than on human athletes at the entire Games. Norway was to ultimately lose its bronze medal in showjumping as a result. The Olympic movement is no fan of failed drug tests, and it was a major blot on the sport. There is little doubt that FEI president Princess Haya, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had a lot of explaining to do. One can only imagine the kind of feedback she got from the committee. The evidence would suggest it was pretty grim, indeed. In 2008, as the Beijing cloud still hung over the sport, Haya warned that equestrian sport’s hold on its Olympic status faced scrutiny. Haya was reported by Horse & Hound in Britain as saying there was no guarantee that horse sports could survive in the Olympics beyond 2012. “The FEI has a huge fight to even get to 2012,” she said at the time. Interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 After watching Modern Pentathlon today, I'd like to see it remove. So much of it comes down to whether or not you get a good draw on the horse, and the shot and run segment is really boring to watch - definitively nothing like Biathlon. The shooting bit just feels random and not all that important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 After watching Modern Pentathlon today, I'd like to see it remove. So much of it comes down to whether or not you get a good draw on the horse, and the shot and run segment is really boring to watch - definitively nothing like Biathlon. The shooting bit just feels random and not all that important. Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 The sport has a quota of 72 athletes. Where would it go? Squash who proposes 64. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 The sport has a quota of 72 athletes. Where would it go? Squash who proposes 64. Well what a coincidence, it just so happens that Squash is awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainad Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 After watching Modern Pentathlon today, I'd like to see it remove. So much of it comes down to whether or not you get a good draw on the horse, and the shot and run segment is really boring to watch - definitively nothing like Biathlon. The shooting bit just feels random and not all that important. Awww....I quite liked the pentathlon. It was quirky and fascinating to see them all trying to excel at 5 completely different disciplines. I found it entertaining. IMO, get rid of beach volleyball. Why do we have to have that as well as ordinary volleyball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted August 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Awww....I quite liked the pentathlon. It was quirky and fascinating to see them all trying to excel at 5 completely different disciplines. I found it entertaining. IMO, get rid of beach volleyball. Why do we have to have that as well as ordinary volleyball? Who knows tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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