OT: Pointless Olympic Sports

[jfuchs91]

While many of these sports are "pointless", I will admit that I watched badminton the other day and was thoroughly entertained. Like, it was one of the more entertaining things I had seen in quite awhile.

I would in no way watch most of these sports on a regular basis, but seeing them once every four years isn't too bad.

 

[uconNYC]

Badminton is huge in Denmark, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and India - that's 3 Billion fans of the sport right there. No way it will get cut from the Olympics. When I lived in Malaysia and India, I went to a bunch of tournaments, found it more entertaining than tennis.

Obviously every sport has its fans and athletes that bust their butt to excel in them - but I feel there are a few that are "contrived" like the steeplechase. Do we really need to award a medal for people running and jumping over a puddle of water? There already are plenty of running and hurdling events.

As to my point about similar events. If the same athletes compete and win in two distance events (in sports like Rowing, Track, Swimming), then would't it make sense to get rid of one of the events?

 

[Gurleyman]

The ultimate example is in the winter olympics - the biathlon. You ski for a while, then shoot stuff with a rifle. I feel that if the biathlon is a sport, then you can combine any two activities into one. Have Phelps and Lochte pick up ping-pong paddles in the middle of the pool. Instead of free throws, tell LeBron he has to cross a balance beam. Have the jockeys on the prancing horses shoot a bow and arrow.

The possible combinations are infinite.

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[BugsyCT]

Equestrian shouldn't be in there - the horse is doing all the work.

The handball is entertaining with Mike Gorman doing PBP, although he seems lost about the rules sometimes (understandably so). Kind of a combo basketball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, you name it.

The women's beach volleyball just isn't the same with the players wearing extra layers over their bikinis. Stupid cold weather.

 

[alexd]

I didn't want to start a whole new Olympic related thread for this:

Our old friend Ike Diogu is playing for Nigeria vs Lithuania right now.

 

[Dogdeacon]

If the 'average athletic' person needs two minutes to swim 100 meters, they're not an average athletic person. At least not by my definition.

On the really rare occasions back in the day that we had a meet at a 50m pool, times were always much faster than usual - half the turns.

Next time you are at the pool pick one average athletic person, if they are not a previous member of any swim team they are eligible for this wager. Then have them swim 4 lengths as fast as they can. The world record on 25M* pools has been under 50 seconds since the 80's so they gotta finish in 1:40. If you do this to even 5 people you are going to average 2 mins + and no one is going to get 1:40 especially since a lot of them won't even finish without stopping or going into something besides freestyle.

* I'm surprised but for pros the times are actually quicker in 25M pools, I assume its because of the speed of the Man from Atlantis.

 

[ZooCougar]

All of the dudes competing in the Air Rifle event look like fatter versions of Buster from "Arrested Development".

 

[TheRogers]

Badminton is awesome! I'm not talking about the backyard rallies that involve a 5 second hangtime. I'm talking powershots and ankle breakers.
One other sport popular in Southeast Asia that is fun to watch and should be an olympic event is Sepak Takraw. You won't see any love handles in this sport.

 

[Waquoit]

Sepak Takraw? Isn't he one of those new-age gurus?

 

[Excalibur]

No Mens synch diving. I have discovered the secret though when the men borrow Misty May's bikini bottom and try and stuff everything in they make way too big a splash.

Each team certainly appeared to have an "Alpha Male".

 

[Excalibur]

Next time you are at the pool pick one average athletic person, if they are not a previous member of any swim team they are eligible for this wager. Then have them swim 4 lengths as fast as they can. The world record on 25M* pools has been under 50 seconds since the 80's so they gotta finish in 1:40. If you do this to even 5 people you are going to average 2 mins + and no one is going to get 1:40 especially since a lot of them won't even finish without stopping or going into something besides freestyle.

* I'm surprised but for pros the times are actually quicker in 25M pools, I assume its because of the speed of the Man from Atlantis.

I'm with you on this one. We get a bunch of first-time triathletes at our open water group swim. Many of them are insanely fit. They can't swim freestyle for more than a minute or so before having to stop and either float on their back or do the breast stroke.

 

[sledog]

Enuff of this. When is the power farting on???

 

[dapriest]

Then have them swim 4 lengths as fast as they can. The world record on 25M* pools has been under 50 seconds since the 80's so they gotta finish in 1:40. If you do this to even 5 people you are going to average 2 mins + and no one is going to get 1:40

I did a quarter of it the other day. 21 seconds for the first length, starting in the water at the pool edge. That would extend to 84 seconds, or 1:24 except that my limbs would seize, my heart would stop, and I'd drown! I'll give it a shot next time I'm at the pool. For me it's more a question of lack of cardio than form or speed, I think. I'd guess that after a few dozen work outs I could get the cardio much better.
Thinking about it, the pros must swim that 1st leg in 10-12 seconds or something like that. Funny, I don't feel like a flopping imbecile when I'm swimming but I'm sure I must look that way to skilled swimmers!

 

[alexrgct]

Race walking, obviously.

I've never watched a second of handball, but Bill Simmons's column on it was entertaining.

 

[Waquoit]

I've never watched a second of handball, but Bill Simmons's column on it was entertaining.

We spent a week in 7th grade gym class (2 periods) playing it. It wasn't tough to learn well enough to have a decent game. It's was lot of fun to play, except for the goalie.

 

[JACKofallTrades]

Equestrian shouldn't be in there - the horse is doing all the work.

There have been some studies that showed jockeys are (pound-for-pound) the best athletes. And I've heard experts in equestrian talk about how difficult riding is on many levels.

My own opinion (of sports I've never experienced personally) is that it's almost certainly 10 times more difficult than you think. I remember going bowling for the first time in HS and thinking... what a waste of time... you get 2! chances to knock the pins over? How frickin' tough can that be? I realized the same thing when I went out for cross country... and years later when I took up cycling.

I have no problem with the equestrian stuff or archery or shooting - you can at least see where those sports have their origins. Synchronized anything has to go - two people doing the same thing at the same time is indefensible as a competition.

I get why baseball and softball are no longer included.

Technicalities aside... baseball & softball have such large & storied histories, it's unbelievable those high-profile sports aren't represented in an event that purports to represent great sports around the world. Even if they needed to use non-pros, the Olympics (continues to) lose it's reputation with me... smells of political BS.

Archery & shooting require extreme concentration, coordination, and skill.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Equestrian shouldn't be in there - the horse is doing all the work.

I don't really care either way, but knowing someone who's been doing equestrian all her life, this is 100% incorrect. It's actually incredibly demanding physically to control the movements of a horse with your legs and stomach, which is basically what they do.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Badminton

 

[Dogdeacon]

I did a quarter of it the other day. 21 seconds for the first length, starting in the water at the pool edge. That would extend to 84 seconds, or 1:24 except that my limbs would seize, my heart would stop, and I'd drown! I'll give it a shot next time I'm at the pool. For me it's more a question of lack of cardio than form or speed, I think. I'd guess that after a few dozen work outs I could get the cardio much better.
Thinking about it, the pros must swim that 1st leg in 10-12 seconds or something like that. Funny, I don't feel like a flopping imbecile when I'm swimming but I'm sure I must look that way to skilled swimmers!

Nice effort, yes the 25M sprint is the easy part and likely your speed doubles once you get into lengths 3-4. But you are right that if you swim a couple times a week for a month or so you will improve rapidly. I've been swimming once a week for 4-5 years and though I could sprint a bit faster my average 100M time if I'm swimming say 800M is still only 1:30-40+. I need to take a lesson! The good news is b/c swimming is hard you can get a very good muscle and aerobic workout in just 30 minutes.

 

[Husk-E]

Water polo.

 

[geordi]

And then there's the most pointless of all sports --- epee
LOL

 

[Santini35]

I'll just leave this right here...

 

[Dove]

I'll just leave this right here...

LOL...I am starting a nice 4-day weekend today and saw this. Just a major freakin' wow.

 

[dapriest]

Water polo.

Seeing this next to Lamb with the big grin on his face makes me see a thought bubble over his head with the words - "Water polo? That's for honkeys."

 

[Taco]

Not sure if anyone already wrote this, but synchronized diving is odd - I know this sounds bad, but the men's winners hugging after winning had me feeling like those watching SNL's ambiguous duo - yup, I'm going to hell.