# 1512 Days to Master An Olympic Sport; Which One?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 5, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817 "2008-06-05T00:46:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/1 "2008-06-05T00:46:25Z")
It’s 1512 days until the London Summer Olympic Games of 2012.
Is there a sport that I could master between now and then so as to win an olympic medal?
I’m 47, average build; very amateur runner (40 marathons; PR 3:08:11, but that was 25 years ago. Last race 2007, 3:59:41).
Thanks!..Evil Was I
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### Author:  [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/2 "2008-06-05T00:47:41Z")
No.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/3 "2008-06-05T00:57:08Z")
Modern pentathlon?
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You don’t have to be “olympic level” in the individual sports – individually, they are much easier than Olympic level for the sport.
For example, in showjumping, you jump 3’6" – you can acheive that through diligent but not exceptional effort in 5 years, and nearly any instruction barn would have the facilities to teach to that level. Whereas to do showjumping at the Olympic level, you have to be a exceptional rider with an exceptional horse, and you’d need exceptional talent to reach it in 5 years. The random draw thing is tricky, but they do that at college-level showing as well.
Jumping in Olympic MP
[ ](https://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040809/sp12.jpg)
vs.
Olympic showjumping
[http://images.beijing-2008.org/08/84/Img212018408.jpg](http://images.beijing-2008.org/08/84/Img212018408.jpg)
From what I know of fencing, it is similar to riding – in 5 years of diligent practice you’d be pretty ok.
Meanwhile running and swimming are cross-training for the others – you’d practically have to do that anyway to be in shape.
Mind youo, you’d have to spend the next 5 years practicing full-time – nothing else.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/4 "2008-06-05T01:05:19Z")
No again.
But, if you turned out to be an absolute natural at it (it’s somewhat Zen like).
Archery.
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### Author:  [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/5 "2008-06-05T01:06:36Z")
It is a winter sport but the biathlon may be possible. You’ve run marathons so you have endurance. Learn to cross country ski and how to shoot a rifle.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/6 "2008-06-05T01:13:57Z")
Didn’t the actress Geena Davis start from scratch in learning archery and almost make the Olympic team in 2000? Although that’s still a long way from winning a medal.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/7 "2008-06-05T01:44:57Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Was I]
Is there a sport that I could master between now and then so as to win an olympic medal?
I’m 47…
[/QUOTE]
Your age will be a serious problem. I don’t have the stats, but I’d guess that fewer than 1 medal in 1000 is won by someone over 50. You’ll be going up against dedicated athletes with serious natural talent for their events and in nearly all cases far more training than you will have. It’s unlikely that what you propose has ever been accomplished. The likely outcome is thus easy to predict.
To have any chance at all, you’ll need an event where strength and endurance have little role. Shooting sports are mostly mental - perhaps they are where you should concentrate your efforts.
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### Author:  [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/8 "2008-06-05T03:01:01Z")
No.
My roommates are University of Toronto swimming team members. One is an EXCELLENT athlete. Since a young age he has been a good swimmer. And since a young age he has done nothing but swim. In the past year that I’ve known him, most times he is out of the house it is because he is swimming (or doing something else athletic.) I’ve seen him in competitions, at the national level, and he dominates the competition. Honestly, dominates.
Last month, or two months ago, was the Olympic trials. He missed the team. I couldn’t believe it. Somebody who does nothing but swim, who is naturally good at swimming, missed it. Couldn’t believe it. And for the first time I realized, making the Olympics, it isn’t just about training harder than everybody else, it is about the fact that you are, really, one of the best in the world.
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/9 "2008-06-05T03:08:29Z")
General answer? No. Not for any sport I’d consider Olympic worthy.
[QUOTE=Hello Again]
From what I know of fencing, it is similar to riding – in 5 years of diligent practice you’d be pretty ok.
[/QUOTE]
No. The Zimmermann sisters are located locally, and they’ve been fencing for years, now. They’ve been on previous Olympic teams, IIRC, but not medal winners, I don’t think. [Felicia](http://rocwiki.org/Felicia%20Zimmermann) no longer competes, AIUI. [Iris](http://www.iriszimmermann.com/) is competing to try again for the next team. She’s been competing since she was 8 or younger, and last I’d read she had an _outside_ shot at making the team this year. And this is a woman who was world-recognized as one of the top ten or fifteen in the sport just a few years ago. It’s like most other Olympic level competition - you really have to devote yourself to the training for more than just a few years. And there’s usually only a short window when one can compete.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/10 "2008-06-05T03:11:44Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
It’s like most other Olympic level competition - you really have to devote yourself to the training for more than just a few years. And there’s usually only a short window when one can compete.
[/QUOTE]
Right, for Olympic-level fencing. But the standard for each event in Mod. Pent. is FAR less than Olympic. That’s my point.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/11 "2008-06-05T03:13:20Z")
By definition, no sport is in the Olympic competition unless it’s widely played around the world. So you’re unlikely to be able to start from scratch on a sport and win a medal. However, you could follow the model of the Jamaican bobsled team and at least attend the Olympics as an athlete from a country where a sport is not competitive. (And actually, I would think that could be a very fun experience.)
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/12 "2008-06-05T03:13:37Z")
Yeah, but when the OP is specifically about trying to train to win the medal, being good isn’t enough.
ETA: **Dewey Finn** , that’s a different challenge, and one that I agree might be fun. Wasn’t there some kludge a few years being done for a Brit who was trying to train for ski-jumping because of that very factor?
ETATA: Whoops, just realized what you meant by mod.pent. My apologies, **Hello Again**. I still suspect that one could get to be good in any one (or two) of those events (not great, but good) without being able to compete in all of them.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/13 "2008-06-05T03:17:45Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
Yeah, but when the OP is specifically about trying to train to win the medal, being good isn’t enough.
[/QUOTE]
_sigh_ I don’t think you’re following me. If winning a gold in say, showjumping requires a 10, winning the showjumping event in MP only requires a 5.
So, it’s the standard you have to acheive in each sport is NOT 10+10+10+10+10, it’s 5+5+5+5+5. You have to be “better than average/quite good” in each sport, not “able to win the equivalent Olympic sport.” I posit that it is possible to reach that “quite good/non-exceptional” level if you trained fulltime+ without distraction and excellent instruction for 5 years.
edited to add: ok, you got what I meant after all!
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/14 "2008-06-05T03:26:30Z")
Give yourself an extra 730 days and train for the 2014 winter Olympics, in curling.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/15 "2008-06-05T03:34:22Z")
[QUOTE=Hello Again]
But the standard for each event in Mod. Pent. is FAR less than Olympic.
[/QUOTE]
Yet the standard for the combined talent you must demonstrate to win a medal IS Olympic (pretty much by definition).
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/16 "2008-06-05T03:40:00Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn]
you could follow the model of the Jamaican bobsled team and at least attend the Olympics as an athlete from a country where a sport is not competitive.
[/QUOTE]
I seem to recall that, in response to such things as the Jamacian bobsled team and “Eddie the Eagle,” it’s now generally the case that you must meet some minimum standard to be allowed to compete.
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/17 "2008-06-05T03:47:44Z")
You could make it shooting IF you ponied up for the equipment (expensive as hell), quit your job, took an armorer class so you knew how to fix everything, and fire enough rounds over the next 4 years to fill a swimming pool. Then, just maybe, if your training was good, you might be marginally competitive with people who have been training their whole lives for it.
I give it 50-1 if the above conditions are met. If someone wants to sponsor me I’ll give it a shot.
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### Author:  [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/18 "2008-06-05T04:09:47Z")
It could be possible to master sailing or shooting in a 4 year period of total immersion. There’s a big difference between something being even reasonably possible and something being likely.
Edit- Didn’t see Airmans post there about shooting…
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### Author:  [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/19 "2008-06-05T04:14:08Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF]
You could make it shooting IF you ponied up for the equipment (expensive as hell), quit your job, took an armorer class so you knew how to fix everything, and fire enough rounds over the next 4 years to fill a swimming pool. Then, just maybe, if your training was good, you might be marginally competitive with people who have been training their whole lives for it.
I give it 50-1 if the above conditions are met. If someone wants to sponsor me I’ll give it a shot.
[/QUOTE]
Oh man, I’d take that bet in a second. To be an olympian in anything you not only have to practice a ton, but you have to be supremely talented. No amount of training will make Joe Schmoe talented and he’ll get crushed every single time.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1512-days-to-master-an-olympic-sport-which-one/451817/20 "2008-06-05T05:05:50Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF]
I give it 50-1 if the above conditions are met.
[/QUOTE]
I’d say it’s a lot closer to 1 in 50 million. Out of the entire world’s population only a handful of people have the natural talent and aptitude for shooting that could take them to the top of Olympic competition. Of these, nearly all demonstrate that talent early in life.
Past the age of 40, learning physical skills becomes noticeably less efficient. Even if you have the talent and aptitude, it isn’t realistic to think you could catch up in 4 years.
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