# Is the Winter Olympics just various types of sliding? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** olympic-sports\ **Created:** [February 11, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586 "2026-02-11T19:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/1 "2026-02-11T19:18:52Z")
A friend pointed this out, and in the moment it seemed most of the Winter Olympic events _are_ just sliding of one type or another. Of course, winter itself might simply be characterized as sliding plus cold. Does this somehow demean the value of the Games? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/2 "2026-02-11T19:23:02Z")
I don’t think it demeans anything. It is winter, like you say, ice and snow are present. People who create these sports way back in time got the idea by needing to use the environment they lived in to travel. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/3 "2026-02-11T19:24:16Z")
Do you know how they score the Olympics? On a sliding scale. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/4 "2026-02-11T19:24:18Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Does this somehow demean the value of the Games? no, ski jumping is a vastly different skillset from hockey to ski jumping to biathlon to figure skating. Track, football(both) and baseball all involve running, right? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/5 "2026-02-11T19:32:45Z")
Winter Olympic rules only allow sports that must be done on either snow or ice. That’s why basketball is in the summer Olympics even though it was invented and generally played professionally as a winter sport. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/6 "2026-02-11T19:36:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Winter Olympic rules only allow sports that must be done on either snow or ice. I was about to post exactly this. So, yeah, pretty much by definition, Winter Olympic sports all incorporate some manner of sliding or moving on a slippery frozen surface. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/7 "2026-02-11T19:45:17Z")
Maybe they should introduce snow ball fighting or performing feats of mathematics in ultra cold conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/8 "2026-02-11T19:47:20Z")
Basketball on ice skates. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/9 "2026-02-11T19:51:09Z")
American football or soccer on cross country skis. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/10 "2026-02-11T19:59:40Z")
[Polar bear plunging.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear_plunge) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/11 "2026-02-11T20:01:38Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > American football or soccer on cross country skis Hockey is basically soccer on ice. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/12 "2026-02-11T20:01:39Z")
Ice sculpture would be nice ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/13 "2026-02-11T20:04:28Z")
Well, there’s [shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biathlon). (Yes, with some sliding on snow. But the shooting is important too.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/14 "2026-02-11T20:05:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Ice sculpture would be nice It would also be a fun throwback to the competitive sculpture events at the Ancient Greek Olympics (and the modern 1912-1948 Olympics). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/15 "2026-02-11T20:08:23Z")
Ice fishing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/16 "2026-02-11T20:09:06Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Well, there’s [shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biathlon). > > (Yes, with some sliding on snow. But the shooting is important too.) Shooting is, of course, also a Summer Olympic sport. It’s the sliding on the snow which makes it a Winter Olympic sport, as the biathlon. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/17 "2026-02-11T20:20:44Z")
Alphorn playing? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/18 "2026-02-11T20:22:39Z")
I tend to consider the Summer games the “real” Olympic games. After all the Greeks did not play all those wacky snow games in Olimpia, they had races, throwing, fighting, soccer… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/19 "2026-02-11T20:25:14Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Winter Olympic rules only allow sports that must be done on either snow or ice. No reason we couldn’t have Snow Beach Volleyball. Think of the uniforms! Snowshoe Marathon? 2 and 4 Car Driveway shoveling (Men, Women, Team and Relay)? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/20 "2026-02-11T20:31:20Z")
The 100-Meter Terminal Burrow. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586.md?page=2)