Which Olympic events should be eliminated?

[mfritz]

I'd be in favor of a radical change - all events where you need a judge to tell you the winner are out. There must be an objective way to determing the winner - fastest, furthest, goals, etc. Others would be drastically altered:

Track - only three distances - 100m, marathon, a middle distance (I don't care which one).

Swimming - same as above - a short one, a medium one, and a long one. There are no strokes, you swim the race however you want.

Diving is out.

Boxing - they fight until one of them gives up. Wrestling is no holds barred fight until one gives up.

All shooting events are out - switch to archery. It's not a sport if you only exercise one little finger muscle.

Gymnastics is out. Build an obstacle course for them to run.

Who's with me?

[HEyHEY]

1. I'd only agree with target shooting

And Ice Dancing.

[WindRavenX]

2. volleyball

Sorry, I just don't see how it's an olympic sport :shrug:

[devilgrrl]

I say bag Beach Volleyball!

The amount of coverage that got was absolutely ridiculous! Who gives a rat's ass?

[WindRavenX]

12. it's hot chicks

running around.
Men love it...apparently :shrug:

[mfritz]

15. I tuned in to see hot chicks and was disappointed

The US team were a couple of bony scarecrows. Major turn off.

[WindRavenX]

17. you rock!

Real chicks have asses.

[soothsayer]

18. and busts! n/t

[onebigbadwulf]

3. Horse dancing

Speed walking

Trampoline jumping

Ping Pong

Tennis

All team sports

and Ballroom dancing need to go

[mfritz]

8. Ugh! Are all of these Olympic events?

Anything with horses is out - unless the horses compete without riders, and they get to keep the medals themselves.

I've seen walking, they're all out. No goofy rules for the races - run however you went, first across the line wins.

Trampoline jumping? Ballroom dancing? These are recreations, not sports.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

4. As an absolute sports nut....I say cancel olympics all together...

I don't even care anymore. I loved the '76 boxing team and the '80 hockey team but since then it has failed to interest me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. You picked pretty much NOT what I would

Nothing wrong with sports that are judged - and I think gymnastics are the closest thing to a true Olympic Sport there is. The beauty of the judged events is that they relate ot us as human beings - it IS subjective, because it is not just technical perfection, but also the beauty and smoothness of the movement and how graceful, etc., the movement is.

Swimming and diving - excellent

Shooting is good, track is good.

Basically, i'd just get rid of the ones that are either dumb, or not really sports: boxing, badminton, speed walking, ping pong, trampoline, beach volleyball, horse dancing, ballroom dancing, tennis

(esp. tennis - if someone is good at it, they should be pro at age 14 anyway, so screw it as an Olympic event)

[Goldom]

6. wait, wait wait...

There's REALLY something called horse dancing?!

..i thought the guy above was being sarcastic....

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. horse dancing should only exist if mixed with diving and weightlifting

I'd pay to see that

[rooboy]

13. it's called Dressage. n/t

[Chovexani]

14. Exactly!

I find it ironic that people would advocate getting rid of gymnastics the year the Olympics return to their home country.

I completely agree with you about gymnastics. The ancient Greeks didn't participate in sport just to see who was faster or stronger. It was also a celebration of the beauty of the human form in motion.

I would be hesitant to throw anything out, really. One person's "dumb sport" is another person's passion in life. To each his/her own.

[GainesT1958]

22. I'd get rid of boxing...

On one end, and synchronized swimming on the other. Beach v'ball is too hot a ticket for the IOC to consider dropping (besides, Brazil is too big a country just to have soccer for a chance at a medal, right?):eyes:

Same thing for China with Ping-Pong, I guess!:shrug:

Do they still have rythmic gymnastics? Don't get THAT one, either!:shrug:

Team handball--WHY?

The only equestrian competition I'd keep is steeplechase and show jumping (dressage ain't "competition"! x( ).

I'd take away steeplechase from track, and add cross-country there (I mean, they have cross-country SKIING in the Winter Games, right?)

I'd add in-line skating racing; it's the warm-weather nations' version of speed-skating.

I'd guess shooting is what gun-lovers and avid hunters love--all over the world. Besides, our gun-lovin' markspersons here often add to our medal count.:eyes:

Ballroom dancing from summer, and DEFINITELY Ice Dancing from winter--it's obvious that judging is rigged; much more so than figure skating.

I really enjoy gymnastics, but I'm starting to think they're having almost as many problems with judging in that sport as in figure skating. Blaming Paul Hamm for something he didn't cause was equally juvenile. Besides, when you do your best and win fair-and-square, what fault is it of yours if somebody else thinks he got screwed?:eyes:

The IOC should publish a list of names of those banned from competition for illegal drug use--performance-enhancing or otherwise. I think the Ancient Greeks got it right when they put cheaters' names under a statue of Zeus the cheaters were forced to pay for. I agree with Gary Hall, Jr. on that one: if it looks to good to be true, it probably is!

B-)

[Warren DeMontague]

7. All of them.

Can't stand the damn olympics. Goes back to when I was a kid and it was all you could get on TV for several weeks. At least now you can avoid it.

Anyway, if the point of the olympics was to give humans an outlet for competition to supplant war, they're obviously not working.

[Endangered Specie]

9. Equestrian...

I mean, come on.

[rooboy]

11. A better idea - keep the Olympics and kick the USA out...

so that the rest of us who appreciate what goes in to most of these sports can enjoy ourselves without interruption.

[LSdemocrat]

20. You realize of course,

that if the US didn't compete in the olympics, then the olympics would get about as much coverage in the US as say, the Commonwealth Games, i.e. none.

Of course if you live outside the US, this wouldn't be a problem.

[Topaz]

26. And I'm sure you realize...

If the US didn't compete and cover the Olympics, any country would be hard pressed to put them on. They get most of their money from our advertisements...they were just talking about that tonight with the IOC president.

So, that would be a problem for those outside of the US.

[Lost147]

27. way too many metals awarded per year

they need to cut the amount of events so its a real achievment.

[Topaz]

23. Whaaa???

Why punish American athletes who work just as hard as those from other countries?

[GainesT1958]

28. Oh yeah? When's Network Seven...

Gonna pay the IOC $1 billion to cover six summer and winter games in a row--as NBC did?

SUUUUUURE you want us out...that way YOU would win most of those swimming medals, right?:eyes:

C'mon...what fires you up more..Ian Thorpe v. Michael Phelps, or against some guy from Hungary who'll finish two lengths behind Thorpie every time? Me thinks maybe the former!:eyes:

Beware those "ulterior motives"!:D

B-)

[skooooo]

16. synchronized swimming

[mfritz]

19. But it gave us that hilarious skit!

I think it was Martin Short and Christopher Guest. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. It's sooo doofy-looking.

Reminds me of Weeki Wachee

[Awsi Dooger]

21. The closing ceremonies

I'm an Olympics nut who can't stand it when they end. At least the always-dramatic Ryder Cup follows closely this year.

[Chovexani]

25. Me too!

Maybe I'll start a detox thread, LOL.

My entire family thinks I'm insane, btw. But, they always come to ME for the results. :P

[Doohickie]

24. The Profiles of the Athletes!

Really. I channel surfed over the to Olympics several times and EVERY SINGLE STINKIN time they had some profile about someone going on. I WANT TO SEE SOME SPORTS!

[alarimer]

29. yes

And usually the profile is how the athlete overcame some horrible obstacle. Usually someone in their family died and "it made them realize just how precious life is and how it made them want to try harder etc." Bleccch. If I wanted to watch that kind of treacle, I'd watch Oprah. Or I want to see a profile on how the athlete is a huge jerk with no redeeming qualities. At least then they would be interesting!

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. Yes!!

As you say so perfectly, it's all so fake Oprah-ish!!

And I also am offended and sickened by the constant bullshit mantra of "Just wanted to do my best, so proud to represent my country, America is so great, I just thank God that I'm able top represent His Most Holy and Chosen Nation, especially considering how many in the world are not as fortunate as us in the USA..." blah blah blah bullshit blah.

Utterly Oprahish, utterly propaganda. And sickening. Obviously not everyone, but a hell of a lot.

I wish we'd spend more time teaching people to be SMART and INTELLECTUALLY curious and INTELLIGENT in this country, then teaching them propaganda about how great they are, how great they have it, and how every other nation in the world is an utter piece of shit with no freedom, no capacity for free thought, and no sense of duty to liberty and Christian values.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. Women's floor exercise...

Or they should at least can the cheesy dance movements.

I've yet to see one athlete that could combine the two elements without looking stupid. Sometimes you can even read their dislike of it in their faces. It's as if they're thinking, "Ok...triple somersault flip...oh yeah, first I have to jiggle my ass a bit...there...now the flip..."