If you could take out THREE sports

[mojo]

from the Olympics which would it be.(I don't know if this has ever been a topic here)

I could name ten and I am sure others could too but what are your top three to get the axe?

I would go with:

Sailing

Equestrian

BMX racing (is this just a trial sport?)

If so I pick beach volleyball next :twisted:




not easy to just pick 3.

[Kevin Richardson]

Equestrian (Horse Dancing)
Anything featuring Michael Phelps

[lonewolf]

We just did a thread where somebody was against just about every sport and even some T&F events.

I would second eliminating Equestrian and Sailing. I didn't know they were having BMX competition so my third would be Rythmic Gymnastics or whatever it is called.

[Marlow]

Rhythmic anything and Synchronized anything!

[mojo]

Sorry if I missed another thread-I did a search but didn't come up with anything.

Equestrian is all about money and lots of it. How many countries actually compete in it?

[marndar]

I'm all in favor of getting rid of some ancient sports whose time is past but at the same time, I think the Olympic needs to add sports in its place.

I'd get rid of modern pentathlon, trampoline (even though it's a new sport) and one of the cycling. I'd add golf, softball and baseball get reinstated, and maybe add some auto races - if they have people riding horses, why not cars?

[Marlow]

add some auto races

NOOOOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

A thousand times no!

[mcgato]

I get so tired of people wanting to get rid of modern pentathlon. I'll admit that I probably have never watched it, but in the spirit of the Olympic games it clearly belongs. The ancient Olympic games seemed to be about laying down your weapons and seeing who is best in an athletic arena. Track and field was the focus, mainly focusing on running really fast and hurling weapons of war (but in a peaceful manner).

The modern pentathlon mimics the skills needed for a trusted messenger to carry a message through hostile territory. The mode of transport was usually a horse, so he needed to ride. He would encounter enemies, so he would need to be able to handle a firearm and a sword. Odds are the horse would be lost, so he would have to run and maybe swim rivers. Five skills needed for a good wartime messenger played out in the modern pentathlon. It definitely belongs, even if a bunch of message board people don't understand its intent.

Try defending rhythmic gymnastics in such a way.

[jumplove]

SWIMMING.

or cutting their number (diversity) of events to half...at least.

[Master Po]

I get so tired of people wanting to get rid of modern pentathlon. I'll admit that I probably have never watched it, but in the spirit of the Olympic games it clearly belongs. The ancient Olympic games seemed to be about laying down your weapons and seeing who is best in an athletic arena. Track and field was the focus, mainly focusing on running really fast and hurling weapons of war (but in a peaceful manner).

The modern pentathlon mimics the skills needed for a trusted messenger to carry a message through hostile territory. The mode of transport was usually a horse, so he needed to ride. He would encounter enemies, so he would need to be able to handle a firearm and a sword. Odds are the horse would be lost, so he would have to run and maybe swim rivers. Five skills needed for a good wartime messenger played out in the modern pentathlon. It definitely belongs, even if a bunch of message board people don't understand its intent.

mcgato -- agree w you about modern pentathlon; well-stated -- it does seem to embody a modern expression of what some of the original events were about. (not that I'll ever see any of it, of course -- no TV time for that kind of sport). It's OK with me that it's a very minor sport; it does have a tradition behind it.

Were I to eliminate some sports, my nominees would be based more around the amount of media space they seem to occupy in the USA -- so, with malice toward these sports (but no offense to the athletes, who I know have great talents and could kick my butt at anything), and charity for all other sports, my nominees:

1, Beach volleyball. Volleyball, or rather, as it is now called, "indoor volleyball" is a great sport, but beach volleyball bears about the same relationship to volleyball as half court 2-on-2 playground basketball does to actual basketball. Great athletes can play great 2-on-2 schoolyard games, but it ain't real basketball, and it doesn't need a world stage to showcase it.

2. Trampoline, rhythmic gymnastics. These truly seem redundant in a sport that already has a full complement of long-established events that showcase the range of gymnastic talents, and which allow for veeeery extensive TV coverage already.

3. synchronized diving. Seems redundant. Well, I guess it's the perfection of redundancy, isn't it? Oh well.

What would I add? I dunno, how about chess, or go/weiqi?

[sprintblox]

Equestrian.

Syncrhonized swimming.

Cut out all the different strokes in swimming. Make everybody just swim each distance the best way they know how. But there's no way I'd eliminate swimming as a whole. If I had to leave only 5 or 6 sports in the Olympics, swimming would be one of them (along with track and field, of course). That gives me an idea ... I'm going to start another thread about which few sports you'd leave in the Olympics.

[mump boy]

equestrian
sailing
beach volleyball (we already have vollyball which i love and have seen none of, why not add in beach hocky, beach judo)

too many swimming, i hate judo and tae kwondo etc and syncronised swimming.

squash should be in as should rugby 7's and an ekiden relay

[Cooter Brown]

As long as we're having sports decided by judges, I nominate pole dancing. It's arguably more difficult than rhythm gymnastics and synchronized swimming.

[Honusonthesound]

I'd say get rid of track and field. That way none of its fans would have to be dissapointed over the non-existent coverage. It's never gonna get better. I've watched the coverage get stinkier 'n stinkier for the past several Olympics, starting back in '76 'n forward ('cept fer the year they offered the Triplecast, of course).

The Trials have to stay, however. :- )

[marndar]

Some of the new sports aren't bad to be honest. The triathlons were fun to watch and I'm actually getting a kick out of watching the marathon 10K open water event. Swimming for two hours on the open water - lots of swimmers running into each other and the buoys, all in pretty warm weather. Of course in London in four years, they're liable to get frostbite in this event!