[Closed] 'Sports' that shouldn't be in the Olympics.

Handball, is it popular in other countries? Seemed to be on telly in France whenever I tried watching the Olympics.

Seems to be only UK (and probably Ireland) where Handball is not popular. Popular pretty much everywhere else in Europe. Often see it on German telly.

The one's I'd ban are...
synchronised swimming, rythmic gymnastics, boxing, etc. (edit: and football too)

BMX not sure about. Probably replace it.

Then bring in Squash and Bowls, just like in the commonwealth games

As all the pro sports are in these days, I think they should drop the freestyle wrestling and replace it with Professional Wrestling. Cos it's slightly more erotic.

And why, pray tell, would people want BMX dropped? It was the most entertaining thing I saw all week cos of the crashes an that.

I'd take out:
The twiddling sticks with string on.
Sycronised drowning.
The arse kicking.
The hugging each other.
The hitting on the head one.

On the camping front can we add Mosquito killing. That'd almost certainly be a Swedish or Norwegian Gold. Scotland for a distant 3rd. (After they leave the UK of course)

Football, can't believe I forgot football.

Handball, is it popular in other countries? Seemed to be on telly in France whenever I tried watching the Olympics.

😀

Given they had won Gold's the prior two Olympics and its a big sport in France and elsewherenot surprising. Also all the best athletics was on Canal+ which is subscription 🙁 we are lucky in the UK that isn't allowed

Surfing is a brilliant brilliant pastime but not convinced it should be a competition

Surfing has had competitions pretty much since its inception.

An Olympic Gold has to be the biggest thing in the sport

That's road cycling out then. I think for their palmares most riders would love a gold medal but if you were to ask them to trade a Tour de France (or maybe a monument) for one I bet they'd say no.

Golf, football, rugby....

Any sport that the Olympic gold is not the pinnacle..

Golf, Tennis - world class players cited conflicting schedules and didn't attend - compares to cycling where pro' events caused training/recovery/injury problems but the top players turned up

no problem keeping/adding lots of sports that I don't personally understand or enjoy watching but pretty sure all pretty important to those that do

didn't realise the modern pentathlon was based on the skills required by a cavalry officer - looking forward to more of the same - maybe make the games a bit more underclass - scumathon:
[i]
break in
ride it like your stole it
sniffer dog evasion
parkour
oi who are you looking at[/i]

Agree with the comments about the sports where the Olympics isn't the biggest thing to win.

For me I'd drop: -
Football
Golf
Tennis
Basketball

I'd also drop equestrian - I found the dressage to be particularly pretty dull viewing

I'd definitely like to see Squash added

you forgot camping -
Quickest at getting a four and two year old to sleep in the same tent. That would be a challenging event.

I know the Olympics has actually just finished...but if there are any future gold medal contenders in the house for this please let us have some of your secrets...preferably before the weekend!

I don't rate BMX as a spectator sport tbh. Too short, too many crashes, not interesting enough to watch.

Can you ever really have too many crashes?

Oh and I don't think its fair that every member of a basketball or rugby team gets a medal. Think they should have one to share between them. Some athletes seem to have to work much much harder to get medals compared to others, especially runners or swimmers versus someone on a team sport.

I agree surfing is fun to watch, but don't think it should be joining the Olympics.

maybe make the games a bit more underclass - scumathon:

needs:

[i]did you spill my pint?[/i]

to qualify for Olympics

don't rate BMX as a spectator sport tbh. Too short, too many crashes, not interesting enough to watch

To be fair it's better than the flippy, spinny, hippoty hoppity half pipe bmx variant that's not 'yet' in the Olympics.

That's road cycling out then.

That wouldn't phase me too much. Olympics means track for me when it comes to two wheels. Organisers might disagree though - cycle road race, marathon and Triathlon always seem to be used as an opportunity to show off the surrounding area on the TV to potential tourists.

I am surprised I'm the only person so far to mention shooting - just can't my head around it even being a sport (rather than a pastime) let alone an Olympic sport. A 'sport' that got to dish out 15 gold medals this year. And in an event where you'd have thought gender difference could be minimised it's also one of the most biased with a 6/9 medal distribution. Why do they even need separate male and female categories?

The handball final was really exciting - so many goals!

Anything that is 'synchronised'.

Synchronised diving was one of the best events.

Horse dancing, and not because I dislike it, but because the rider does relatively little compared to the training the horse has to do etc.

Ribbon dancing 'gymnastics'. Just wtf.

I'm looking forward to Crossfit being part of the 2024 games

Screw that. Its bad enough all the slightly plump girls on my FB feed who's every second post is about bloody crossfit...

If it became an olympic sport it would be unbearable...

Can't believe handball is a sport worth putting on telly ! What a pile of steaming rubbish, when I saw it on TV in France I thought it was a joke, is this a new sport ??
It's like that Frisby crap, one of my old work mates played that at international level ?? It's almost like someone who was crap at every other sport was desperate to win at something.
They should defo knock out all the crap ones and stick DH in. That would be bar far one of the top events,

I think we should all chip in on a bribe and see if we can make it happen. (Someone may have to have sex with a fat bold German Man at some point to help drive the decision through)

What a pile of steaming rubbish, when I saw it on TV in France I thought it was a joke, is this a new sport ??

*bald?

Crossfit's an interesting choice. You could argue it's of a similar vein to triathlon, with the best overall athlete being most likely to win, but the workouts used would have to be chosen to make it a fair event. Triathlon has it lucky in that the swim, ride and run are impartial.

I think shooting should remain in the Olympics. We used to be good at it and I think could be again if there was the political will for it to have investment. It's not likely though, so I think we'll have to just put up with a farmer doing trap part-time to represent us.

Maybe Tokyo 2020 will bring us Olympic Sumo.

nicko74 - Member
Horse dancing, and not because I dislike it, but because the rider does relatively little compared to the training the horse has to do etc.

You do realise that its the [i]rider[/i] getting the horse to do it all don't you?

Have you any idea how difficult it is to get a horse to do that for you?

And in a historical context, the olympics isn't always about athletic sport,.......Including town planning!

Has anyone pointed out that we are Olympic champions at Art (Oils and Watercolours) - Alfred Thomson - Gold, Engravings and etchings - Silver, Sculpture - Silver, Relief - Bronze.

I too agree that BMX should be dropped ... Bit silly seeing somebody older than 15yrs old pretending to race on one.

Also leave out Dressage, synchronised swimming, golf, tennis and basically any woman's events except beach volleyball.

I'm not sure about bringing Surfing / Skateboarding in because again it's like gymnastics, and reliant on judging.

Anything with bloody horses!!!

You do realise that its the rider getting the horse to do it all don't you?

Next you'll be claiming the horse shouldn't even get a medal!

I've seen events where the rider falls off and the horse just carries on.

And why do the boxers have to be amateurs yet multi-millionaire golfists, tennisers and bikers are allowed to compete?

Muhammad Ali could have won gold medals at 4 consecutive games.

And why do the boxers have to be amateurs

I'm not certain that pro boxers would do all that well in a tournament of multiple 3 round bouts anyway, plus would you risk NOT getting a gold medal if you were a pro boxer? Imagine the headline, "pro boxers gets arse handed to him on a plate by a Cuban amateur..."

I'm sure the promoters would love that.

The IOC also need to expand the categories of competitors:-

Men, women, hermaphrodites and cross-dressers.

It's like that Frisby crap, one of my old work mates played that at international level ?? It's almost like someone who was crap at every other sport was desperate to win at something.

Any sport where the course/field of play is not standard/same every Olympics, so it has no influence on the sport persons performance.

Yes this rules out a lot of sports I like

Same as a number of others have already said:
Football
Tennis
Basketball
Golf
Horse Dancing (they can keep the jumping)

Also the cycling road races (not that I dislike them, but because i dont think athletes who are in some cases on million £ contracts should be there)

Anything that needs a panel of judges to tell you who won.

This.

And golf. Is there anything more tedious than televised golf? Even the ****ing road time trial (essentially footage of someone one a bike riding on their own and examining their stem in minute detail) is better.

[quote=fifeandy ]Also the cycling road races (not that I dislike them, but because i dont think athletes who are in some cases on million £ contracts should be there)

Well we can also ditch the athletics and swimming on that basis. In fact anything which has mass popularity, so we just end up with the uninteresting sports.

Of course what then happens is that the people doing the boring sport you're left with get lots of publicity and million £ contracts...

Athletes and swimmers are more like golfers than cyclists in that they earn through sponsorship and prize money, and generally don't have the earnings potential of a golfer. Cyclists and footballers actually have contracts. Football goes some way to counter this with the U23 rules, but i don't think they should be there either.

The Olympics is all about sports that don't normally get a lot of coverage. Its diversity is what makes it compelling viewing, and you know, viewing isn't mandatory.

There's plenty I've no interest in, most even, but there are no sports that "shouldn't be in the Olympics," rack 'em up.

[quote=fifeandy ]Athletes and swimmers are more like golfers than cyclists in that they earn through sponsorship and prize money, and generally don't have the earnings potential of a golfer. Cyclists and footballers actually have contracts.

Ah, so we're being picky about how they make their money? It's an interesting distinction given that cyclists have contracts with teams which are funded through sponsorship rather than the athletes and swimmers who have contracts directly with the sponsors - if there was a team element to swimming or athletics then doubtless their contracts would work the same as cyclists'.

Presumably you also prefer having people there who largely earn their money through their performances at the Olympics rather than people for whom the Olympics is separate from their day job, their contracts are irrelevant and where their sponsors get no exposure?