Olympics, IOC, and such

DrTyore

Hey all

So I'm sure most of you have heard that the IOC is dropping wrestling (non wwe style unfortunately) from the core events in the 2020 Olympics.

I myself have for many years hated the Olympics, for reasons I've stated before. Just curious as to other's thoughts on Olympics overall, and the recent decision to take out one of the longest tenured sports?

Mark

TheMill

Southpark funny MUST watch!!! - YouTube

Crappy quality, but sums it up IMO

Hellmuth's Mole

Re Olympics....meh. There....now this is not a total threadjack.

Spring training has started!

And after seeing this yesterday I want to find this young woman some proper clothes.

DrTyore

Those all seem to be proper clothes to me?

Mark

piggypie123

They should've replaced it with mixed martial arts. LOL j/k. Do you think MMA will ever get into the Olympics down the road?

moose

I dunno. I have sudden urge to buy a Canada Goose jacket though.

I love amateur sport so the Olympics kind of got ruined when they let pro's in. Pro's have their stage but amateur's - this was their show. Now everyone wants to watch hockey in the winter and basketball in the summer and the rest of the sports lose some of their spotlight. But meh.

Shame about wrestling. How can they drop one of the original Olympic events from ancient Greece?



How did Modern Pentathlon get more support than wrestling?

Golf is in? C'mon.

All Olympic sports should be human powered only. Goodbye shooting events, sailing, equestrian.

Hobbes

We should petition for Poker.

But ya, I agree with moose. It was ruined when they allowed professionals in.

Milo

It makes sense that the most egalitarian of sporting events gets booted in favour of . . . whatever. The IOC is constantly looking for what will attract eyeballs to screens, and thus generate revenue for sponsors, and even more revnue for the fat cats in the IOC. Those limos cost $$$, Mark. Why else do you think they relaxed the eligibility rules, not to mention brought in all these Gen "X" sports? It is all about the $$$. Not how much can be generated for the Host City, as they never make money, but how much can be siphoned off into those lavish slush funds in Geneva.

piggypie123

I think allowing professional hockey/basketball players into the Olympics is a good thing. They allow profesional skiers, and pro figure skaters etc., so why not pro hockey players? If anything it made the Olympics way better to watch IMO.

kwsteve

I'm torn on the pro vs amateur in hockey. On one hand, when it was all amateurs Canada rarely won but it was so much sweeter if we did. Now, we're expected to win and when we don't all it brings is disappointment.

moose

piggypie123 wrote: »

I think allowing professional hockey/basketball players into the Olympics is a good thing. They allow profesional skiers, and pro figure skaters etc., so why not pro hockey players? If anything it made the Olympics way better to watch IMO.

because they didn't until they let the pro hockey/ball players in?

piggypie123

moose wrote: »

because they didn't until they let the pro hockey/ball players in?

Really? I thought it was just hockey and Basketball.

kwsteve

Who aren't pros nowadays? Even track and field has their world cup circuit where they go around to track meets winning money. Skiing, figure skating, sledding, tennis, swimming; you'd be hard pressed to name a sport that is strictly amateur anymore.

Milo

Yeah, I think the combat sports competitions are probably the only ones where the $$$, if any, would be minimal . . . maybe throw weightlifting in there, too?

Fighting Shibas

Truly a shame, hopefully there is enough of a uproar to get them to reverse their decision.

Milo

Fighting Shibas wrote: »

Truly a shame, hopefully there is enough of a payoff to get them to reverse their decision.

Fixed it for you.

wildbill7145

I'd agree that keeping golf and ping pong as Olympic sports, and removing wrestling is a ridiculous idea. From a historical standpoint it's an embarrassment.