If you could get rid of one Olympic sport, which would it be?

I don't think a boxer who loses a match is allowed to box again for a certain amount of time as they might have sustained a head injury so a bronze match would be impossible.
 
I'd get rid of golf and football. I don't really understand why golf was introduced - particularly considering eventing has been threatened due to the space required to build a XC course, how is a golf course any different?!

Football is pointless in the Olympics, none of the big names are there and no one really cares about it. My OH loves football, was glued to the Euros / World Cup, but won't watch any of the Olympic matches or even follow the scores. During London 2012, we went to watch a match between GB and Korea in Cardiff - it was awful! People around us were laughing at the poor standard of football and a lot left before the match was finished as it was that dull.
 
Golf and football - straight out the door. They just seem pointless because as a lot of people have said, all the interest is elsewhere.

I constantly debate with myself about horse sports. On the one hand, I do believe that our historical skill with horses has served the human race well, it's a real skill and a mental and physical test of both horse and rider. XC and jumping I get from that angle, because of the cavalry being-able-to-ride-a-horse-over-anything-is-handy link, but dressage? It's just getting your horse to look fancy and is dull and incomprehensible for nonhorsey and even nondressagey spectators...but then, it's taking our 'mastery' of the horse as a tool (like a bike?) to it's logical conclusion, showing *just* how obedient you can get a horse to be, as well as how fast and high? Then you get into the whole ethics thing - blue tongues, nosebands cutting into faces. Competitors can't even *choose* to be bitless. It all badly needs updating.

I feel at the very, very least to update dressage for a modern audience they should allow competitors to choose their tack more and bin the tops and tails - crash helmets, sportswear with names on so watchers can recognise the horses and riders. Make the riders look more accessible and less elitist (make sure they smile and give charismatic interviews? we need a dressage badboy fo the sport! something to get people interested!). They need some really good introductions to get the audience up to speed on what's happening, explain why dressage is cool and relevent, really break it down and make it accessible.
 
Loads of the superfluous swimming and cycling where you generally expect the same people to enter/ win multiple events. To me it appears that the way indoor cycling has expanded is a bit like putting some of the Olympia style speed/ pick a fence/ puissance classes onto the show jumping schedule. Fun to watch but not really showcasing the best of the sport or differentiating between disciplines. It's fine in athletics to have so many distances where it is so competitive that people rarely do well in more than one event (or 2 if they're really good) but any Olympic discipline where one bloke can get gold in 8 events suggests the field isn't big enough to justify the range.
Also things like football and golf where the best in the world don't consistently want to turn up. If it's not capped for amateurs and it's not prestigious enough that the top pros all want to be there then bin it.
 
conniegirl said:
Boxing! for an event that is supposed to promote peace and working together I realy dont get how beating each others brains out is fitting?
Not to mention the major health concerns due to repeated blows to the head!
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At Olympic level (amateur - semi pro) if your defence is weak enough that you're getting repeated (hard) blows to the head then you're not good enough to be in the ring ;) That level of competition is done on points, you're aiming for decent landed punches with a bit power to score points rather than knocking someone's head off for a TKO. I would still have head guards at Olympic level though if it was up to me.

As I've said before, idiots such as Mayweather and Tyson Fury do nothing for boxing. Spend a day in a real training gym and I'd guarantee your attitude would change. Its a sport that does A LOT for communities, at a minimal cost compared to some sports.

When I was younger, classes cost £1 a week and I went with a pair of £5 gloves and £2 wraps. All other equipment provided. Brilliant sport. I owe a lot to it.
 
Jenni, The gym I go to has a proper boxing training section (Luke Campbell trains there) and it has done nothing to change my mind at all.
I dislike the promotion of violence and the brutishness that comes with it.
 
I guess possibly the reason for the superfluous cycling and swimming is that if you have to build a specific venue for it you might as well get a full 2 weeks worth of events out of it!
 
Fairly sure one if not two of the events that Chris Hoy won his six medals in have been scrapped over the years.
 
conniegirl said:
Jenni, The gym I go to has a proper boxing training section (Luke Campbell trains there) and it has done nothing to change my mind at all.
I dislike the promotion of violence and the brutishness that comes with it.
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Then its not a good gym. We were all instilled from a very young age that what we were doing was dangerous, and that if any of us were caught doing anything outside of training we'd lose our cards and not be allowed to train or compete.

There will always be the idiots that think they're the big man because they get to hit folk... but they're not the people wanted in the sport.
 
but it's violent just by it's very nature? Doesn't matter how good the gym is at the end of the day it is training to hit people! I think that is what conniegirl was getting at.
 
annagain said:
I don't think a boxer who loses a match is allowed to box again for a certain amount of time as they might have sustained a head injury so a bronze match would be impossible.
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Oh I'd not thought about that. But depending on the match and whether it's a close, high scoring contest or a fairly tame affair, couldn't you get punched just as much if you win the former than if you lose the latter? It's a mystery!

Judo gets even more confusing... I've just discovered that they do always give out two bronzes. However, the losing semi finalists don't get given them automatically. They have to both fight a repechage winner to decide who wins the bronzes. I don't quite understand the logic there. Why not just give the bronzes to the semi final losers?
 
Beach volleyball, football because as someone has said the reputation of the spectators is appalling and golf. Saying that at least there is plenty of choice of sports to watch. Really enjoying the diving and 7s rugby.
 
gnubee said:
Loads of the superfluous swimming and cycling where you generally expect the same people to enter/ win multiple events. To me it appears that the way indoor cycling has expanded is a bit like putting some of the Olympia style speed/ pick a fence/ puissance classes onto the show jumping schedule. Fun to watch but not really showcasing the best of the sport or differentiating between disciplines. It's fine in athletics to have so many distances where it is so competitive that people rarely do well in more than one event (or 2 if they're really good) but any Olympic discipline where one bloke can get gold in 8 events suggests the field isn't big enough to justify the range.
Also things like football and golf where the best in the world don't consistently want to turn up. If it's not capped for amateurs and it's not prestigious enough that the top pros all want to be there then bin it.
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I was thinking about this earlier. Michael Phelps has won 21 gold medals, and swimming must be one of the few sports where you can win several medals a day. I know it's meant to be like Athletics, where they have the 100m/200m/400m etc. but I do think they should put a cap on how many events athletes can enter.
Eventers enter 1 event made up of 3 separate phases, and can come out with at most 2 medals for individual and team. Swimmers can enter several races, for the same stroke, but over a longer/shorter distance, and come out with as many medals as they've entered for. I think they need to cut down the amount of swimming races, or bring in a rule where an athlete can only enter a max. number of events or are limited to one race a day.
It might also give others more of a chance, especially as it's apparently meant to promote 'amateur' sportsmen and help develop sports globally, if nations have to limit and chose where they enter their best athletes.
I can see a similar rule benefiting with the swimming/athletics as well. I do find it boring, it's getting too predictable when you see the starting names and can predict who will be in the medals.

Maybe that's partly why horse sports are so exciting, whilst you can always have a rough idea at who's good, the person top at the leaderboard one day may not be the next :D
 
I think a very good reason to keep equestrian disciplines is that it's a level playing field for all genders. I'm personally not hugely fond of popularisation via adding theatrical components, and I personally like the tails (and want to wear some someday). The issue I have with making the eventing dressage (or any) a kur is that it gets away a bit from the whole point of the exercise, which is to demonstrate in a controlled environment (the arena) the exercises of training and obedience that form the foundation for everything the horse and rider do in the "real world". While horse ballet goes back many centuries, for me it belongs more in the sphere of the performing arts than sport.
 
spookypony said:
The issue I have with making the eventing dressage (or any) a kur is that it gets away a bit from the whole point of the exercise, which is to demonstrate in a controlled environment (the arena) the exercises of training and obedience that form the foundation for everything the horse and rider do in the "real world". While horse ballet goes back many centuries, for me it belongs more in the sphere of the performing arts than sport.
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Exactly.
 
DanceswithCows said:
Golf and football - straight out the door. They just seem pointless because as a lot of people have said, all the interest is elsewhere.

I constantly debate with myself about horse sports. On the one hand, I do believe that our historical skill with horses has served the human race well, it's a real skill and a mental and physical test of both horse and rider. XC and jumping I get from that angle, because of the cavalry being-able-to-ride-a-horse-over-anything-is-handy link, but dressage? It's just getting your horse to look fancy and is dull and incomprehensible for nonhorsey and even nondressagey spectators...but then, it's taking our 'mastery' of the horse as a tool (like a bike?) to it's logical conclusion, showing *just* how obedient you can get a horse to be, as well as how fast and high? Then you get into the whole ethics thing - blue tongues, nosebands cutting into faces. Competitors can't even *choose* to be bitless. It all badly needs updating.

I feel at the very, very least to update dressage for a modern audience they should allow competitors to choose their tack more and bin the tops and tails - crash helmets, sportswear with names on so watchers can recognise the horses and riders. Make the riders look more accessible and less elitist (make sure they smile and give charismatic interviews? we need a dressage badboy fo the sport! something to get people interested!). They need some really good introductions to get the audience up to speed on what's happening, explain why dressage is cool and relevent, really break it down and make it accessible.
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I think on the whole, equestrian "sport" has become a little embarrassing at the top level. I don't care how "successful" you are but if you need inch-thick nosebands and several bits in one go just to jump, then well, how good are you really? Good at multi-tacking!! There's kids jumping ponies in just a snaffle who ought to be given accolades.

I agree with you completely.

Also, why only the "english" types of horse sports? What about horseball, working equitation, driving...?
 
tallyho! said:
I think on the whole, equestrian "sport" has become a little embarrassing at the top level. I don't care how "successful" you are but if you need inch-thick nosebands and several bits in one go just to jump, then well, how good are you really? Good at multi-tacking!! There's kids jumping ponies in just a snaffle who ought to be given accolades.

I agree with you completely.

Also, why only the "english" types of horse sports? What about horseball, working equitation, driving...?
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Agreed, I think the public would warm to working equitation.

I also think we need to lose the stupid top and tails uniform and wear proper sporting attire for dressage. It's my favourite sport but no wonder the public don't like it - how can they understand a sport where people are dressed like the gentry from the past? It's so outdated in how its presented.
 
shadeofshyness said:
Agreed, I think the public would warm to working equitation.

I also think we need to lose the stupid top and tails uniform and wear proper sporting attire for dressage. It's my favourite sport but no wonder the public don't like it - how can they understand a sport where people are dressed like the gentry from the past? It's so outdated in how its presented.
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I don't mind the outfits. I was pleased though that the whole GB dressage team agreed to wear helmets with chin straps to set a good example to the public.
 
ester said:
but it's violent just by it's very nature? Doesn't matter how good the gym is at the end of the day it is training to hit people! I think that is what conniegirl was getting at.
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Fencing you're essentially stabbing someone with a sword? Wrestling, judo... those are all combat sports where people can get hurt. Boxing just seems the most brutal because its fast paced.

My friend jokes that she's had more black eyes as a rugby player than I ever have as a boxer. That's another sport where folk are out to take eachother out the game.
 
Amye said:
I don't mind the outfits. I was pleased though that the whole GB dressage team agreed to wear helmets with chin straps to set a good example to the public.
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I wonder how much the team was paid by the hat maker to set that example to the public ?
 
ycbm said:
I wonder how much the team was paid by the hat maker to set that example to the public ?
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Spencer didn't mention what kind of hat they were wearing in the interview, I have no idea so it doesn't make me want to go out and buy whatever hat they are riding in.

Even if they are being paid for it, it's still a good thing that they are portraying that it is sensible to wear a hat, especially for young riders.

IMO.
 
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DanceswithCows said:
bin the tops and tails - crash helmets, sportswear with names on so watchers can recognise the horses and riders. Make the riders look more accessible and less elitist (make sure they smile and give charismatic interviews? we need a dressage badboy fo the sport! something to get people interested!). They need some really good introductions to get the audience up to speed on what's happening, explain why dressage is cool and relevent, really break it down and make it accessible.
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I disagree with this, i would hate for the traditional attire to be completely ditched, some things should never change. (hats, yes, but that's safety reasons not for making the sport 'more accessible')
 
Jenni_ said:
Fencing you're essentially stabbing someone with a sword? Wrestling, judo... those are all combat sports where people can get hurt. Boxing just seems the most brutal because its fast paced.

My friend jokes that she's had more black eyes as a rugby player than I ever have as a boxer. That's another sport where folk are out to take eachother out the game.
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Having fenced, it doesn't actually hurt though :p.
I don't think it is anything to do with the pace compared to other combat sports, it is the act of actually thumping someone.
 
tallyho! said:
Also, why only the "english" types of horse sports? What about horseball, working equitation, driving...?
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It comes down to numbers of nations involved and space needed. It's why polo got ditched so quickly

Amye said:
I don't mind the outfits. I was pleased though that the whole GB dressage team agreed to wear helmets with chin straps to set a good example to the public.
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Hahahahaha.

Jenni_ said:
That's another sport where folk are out to take each other out the game.
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No it isn't - you do that these days and you get binned.
 
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