For the record, I am not a big fan of the Olympics. Don't get me wrong, I have watched quite a bit of it. Last weekend while I was at home, it was on non-stop, as we educated Mighty Mo on different athletic events. Some of the things we watched people do, especially on the bars in gymnastics seemed unworldly and elicited great squeals of joy from my son.
However, I have a really pointed complaint about the Olympics that I am sure is going to rile most of you up. I do not consider many of the most popular Olympic events as sports. I define a sport as "a competitive event in which the spectators can clearly define and understand the achievement of points which culminates in a winner and a loser."
Now before I start listing these events, let me first say I am not against the athlete or belittle what they can accomplish through their training. Everyone of these people have sacrificed years of their lives and the quality of those years, to participate in something that they at one point loved to do or continue to love to do.
Generally speaking, I don't think gymnastics is a sport, nor diving, most equestrian events, and maybe, probably. fencing. Specifically, I don't think any sport where only a handful of people in the whole world are qualified to judge it, is a sport. When you watch action take place and then have to wait for the results, its not a sport.
Events like basketball, track and field, swimming, cycling, weightlifting, boxing, triathlon, volleyball and several others, these are definitely sports. The vast majority of spectators can easily observe who is winning and who is losing. Another defining trait of a sport in my opinion, is the ease in educating others on how the event is scored and the consistency of it; fastest time wins, farthest throw wins, most points wins.
Can there be discussion on if handball or Beach Volleyball should be in the Olympic games at all? Sure but its a different discussion.
I also don't think that if you can play the game while drinking and/or smoking at the same time that its a sport. So there goes golf and bowling, though neither are currently in the Olympic games.
Furthermore, the Olympics have in the last few decades become just one more venue for anti-American propaganda. Famed American gymnastic coach Bella Karolyi on Monday said that the judging is so biased against American athletes it will be almost impossible to win in Beijing. This of course comments on a sport that needs international judging, instead of individual/team achievement to define the given score. After the last Games when judges in figure skating where found to be paid off for adjusting scores higher or lower based on country, I noticed this year that only aggregate scores are given and not the score from individual judges. I guess we won't be able to see how France or China rates full points lower for American contestants any longer. Last but not least is my oft commented position on the derision of American athletes by spectators when playing in foreign countries.
I am watching more of the Games than I thought this week and biased aside, the exposure these events get are massive. Some of these athletes truly become internationally known, household names like Oxana Biaul, Nadia Komenich, Mark Spitz, Bruce Jenner, Jesse Owens and Halle Gebrselassie. You may not even know what they did, but they were Olympians and they were great.
By the way the decathlon is on the 22nd, the marathon on the 23rd and triathlon will be from the 21st through 24th.
However, I have a really pointed complaint about the Olympics that I am sure is going to rile most of you up. I do not consider many of the most popular Olympic events as sports. I define a sport as "a competitive event in which the spectators can clearly define and understand the achievement of points which culminates in a winner and a loser."
Now before I start listing these events, let me first say I am not against the athlete or belittle what they can accomplish through their training. Everyone of these people have sacrificed years of their lives and the quality of those years, to participate in something that they at one point loved to do or continue to love to do.
Generally speaking, I don't think gymnastics is a sport, nor diving, most equestrian events, and maybe, probably. fencing. Specifically, I don't think any sport where only a handful of people in the whole world are qualified to judge it, is a sport. When you watch action take place and then have to wait for the results, its not a sport.
Events like basketball, track and field, swimming, cycling, weightlifting, boxing, triathlon, volleyball and several others, these are definitely sports. The vast majority of spectators can easily observe who is winning and who is losing. Another defining trait of a sport in my opinion, is the ease in educating others on how the event is scored and the consistency of it; fastest time wins, farthest throw wins, most points wins.
Can there be discussion on if handball or Beach Volleyball should be in the Olympic games at all? Sure but its a different discussion.
I also don't think that if you can play the game while drinking and/or smoking at the same time that its a sport. So there goes golf and bowling, though neither are currently in the Olympic games.
Furthermore, the Olympics have in the last few decades become just one more venue for anti-American propaganda. Famed American gymnastic coach Bella Karolyi on Monday said that the judging is so biased against American athletes it will be almost impossible to win in Beijing. This of course comments on a sport that needs international judging, instead of individual/team achievement to define the given score. After the last Games when judges in figure skating where found to be paid off for adjusting scores higher or lower based on country, I noticed this year that only aggregate scores are given and not the score from individual judges. I guess we won't be able to see how France or China rates full points lower for American contestants any longer. Last but not least is my oft commented position on the derision of American athletes by spectators when playing in foreign countries.
I am watching more of the Games than I thought this week and biased aside, the exposure these events get are massive. Some of these athletes truly become internationally known, household names like Oxana Biaul, Nadia Komenich, Mark Spitz, Bruce Jenner, Jesse Owens and Halle Gebrselassie. You may not even know what they did, but they were Olympians and they were great.
By the way the decathlon is on the 22nd, the marathon on the 23rd and triathlon will be from the 21st through 24th.
9 comments:
There is a difference between 'sport' and 'spectator sport'. I think what you are saying is that much of what the Olympics consists of are not great spectator sports. For me the same could be said about golf (regardless of my ability to comprehend the game. It's boring)but I don't think that would be a very popular opinion, either!
Say it aint so Comm!
Whereas I respect your opinions regarding what constitutes a 'sport', the olympics are essentially a series of athletic games and contests. That being said, you may not see gymnastics as a 'sport' per se, and in many respects that is true; however as a contest, gymnastics has been present at every olympic games since 1896. Heck, even the Greeks created a building for it (gymnasium). So really, I would question what I see as your view of the Olympics as a sporting event (which it essentially is not).
I feel with the recent additions of baseball, basketball, soccer, and other 'sports' into the Olympics, the perception of the games has been skewed.
Since the Olympics was basically founded as a festival to celebrate the achievements of the human body, and gymnastics is defined as exercises for the balanced development of the body, I feel the 'sport' of gymnastics clearly defines the heart of the games (can you tell I was a gymnast in my younger life).
Man, now it sounds like I'm ranting... Thanks for getting me spun up at such an early hour!
I see where you are coming from, comm, and I agree. Not so much on Fencing...now that I've watched some of it. Cool stuff. Anyway, yea - any judged event that's subject to political bias loses it's "sport" and becomes less of a contest and more of a pageant.
I know you are in no way discounting the athletisism of people participating in these pageants.
well, at least I think there are great athletes in the non-sporting events.
I don't agree with any of this - however, as always, it's well thought out and expressed, and how good that we live in a world where we are free to express our views. Hope you're enjoying your retreat.
Interesting. I don't think team sports should be in the olympics. They should be games that test the best athletes.
interesting take on the judged games and bias. we had this same exact conversation in the office the other day, and if i may play the devils advocate for just a moment...
the events that are judged by a handful of people... while it may infuriate us because we believe (and in many cases, rightly so) that the event is purely subjective on the part of the person judging, i believe that in "sports" like basketball and volleyball... those athletes are being judged as well. this time, by officials. by officials who have to make an immediate determination (was that hand check a foul? was that a charge or a block?) in the heat of the moment. as someone who was often on the wrong end of a foul, and as someone who has had her fair share of time as an official, i can tell you... there are biases in every call you make. and to say that an official can't change the game like perhaps a gymnastics judge, is crazy. officials in basketball have their favorites. just like in gymnastics. they also have their biases against athletes, or even countries. we see it time after time after time. so just because an event is supposedly "objective" because of ease in explaining how points are scored and the rules of the game, doesn't necessarily mean that it's any more of a sport than something else.
further, one of the arguments put forward by my colleague yesterday was that often times in something like gymnastics, the home team is more likely to win just because of the fan support at home, and that doesn't necessarily equate to them being the stronger team. my take on that is you can see that exact situation in any big basketball game in the country. the calls are probably going to go for the home team because of the atmosphere of the crowd. and the score at the end of the night? honestly? doesn't always equate to the theory that the winning team is better than the other. this is why march madness is so popular. any team can win on any given night.
in sports like gymnastics, diving and equestrian, the goal of the event is perfection. and yes, it's open to a lot of subjective judging. and yes, i agree that it's a bummer that we can't see who scored how anymore... but to assert that it's not a sport simply because the scoring is different than other events which are perhaps easier to understand, is incorrect.
i'm trying to learn more about the scoring system of these events, just so i know what to look for as i'm watching. and the more i know about it, the more i enjoy. the more i can pick out deductions.
anyway, sorry i got a little long-winded there (shocking). but, that's just my take.
hope all is well!
I went off on a rant of my own, partly in response to this, partly in response to emails I've gotten from my various lists. It's easier to post on my blog than to type into this little friggin' box and then make three tries to get the word ver right. :-)
Gymnastics judging clearly follows a point system. It is true that awarding points is somewhat subjective, particularly in certain categories, but that is true in sports such as boxing as well, and I just have a hard time swallowing the argument that boxing is not a sport. Even in more straight forward sports such as cycling, soccer, swimming, track, etc. there are often times when judges need to make judgment calls introducing a subjective element and the potential for bias. That does not mean that they are not sports.
Also, just because you may not be able to assess how many points a gymnist is entitled to doesn't mean spectators can't in principle do so. I'm sure people who actually love and follow gymnastics could explain it to you.
Lastly, even though I'm an American and don't particularly like to see anti-American sentiments, I think it is kind of pathetic to complain about it. I think we can take it. This is an international competition and all of the nationalist sentiments naturally come to the surface. People in other nations are not obligated to love us. People are going to take their digs where they can, and Americans are just as guilty in this regard. We love to dish it out we should be able to take it as well.
Sense fencing has moved electronic sensors and such it is pretty easy to tell when a touche has been scored. And it's pretty easy (i think) to explain to the average person what constitutes a touche for the various weapons.
I think gymnastics belongs in the games but I think it gets waaaay too much television time.
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