# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/21 "2026-02-11T20:31:31Z")
Mixed Pairs Windshield Scraping. Judged on speed, completeness, style and degree of difficulty (using a herring instead of a credit card.) ---
**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, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/22 "2026-02-11T20:39:27Z")
I for one would enjoy watching ice basketball. (Since Czarcasm already said this, team snowball fights would also have promise). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/23 "2026-02-11T20:42:42Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Snowshoe Marathon? I think there’s a 50km cross-country skiing event, which is longer than a marathon. (Which, yes, is a sliding event. I just think it’s interesting that the Summer Games marathon is not the longest Olympic distance race.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/24 "2026-02-11T20:46:52Z")
One upside of the sliding and snow thing is the winter Olympics are much faster than the summer ones. Because sliding on ice can be lower friction than rolling on even a smooth hard surface. And crashing on snow can be a lot softer than crashing on dirt. Fast makes for exciting to watch. But it is interesting that so much of the winter Olympics are played on a slope and substantially everything in the summer Olympics is played on a carefully leveled surface. There are exceptions in both games (e.g. ice hockey and whitewater kayaking), but the general rule stands. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/25 "2026-02-11T20:48:56Z")
Absent winter sports… Anti-curling: sliding a chunk of ice across smooth concrete with strength and precision. Ice swimming: just like regular swim events, but the water maintained at a near freezing temperature. Ice climbing: using crampons, augers, picks, etc to surmount an icy incline in minimal time. Igloo building: construct a shelter from snow and ice. Points for size of enclosed volume and maximum weight it can support. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/26 "2026-02-11T20:54:25Z")
Icicle fencing ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/27 "2026-02-11T20:57:21Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > 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… Real Olympics are done naked. Really brings doubles luge to a whole new level. ---
**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, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/28 "2026-02-11T20:58:58Z")
The 100-meter dash through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/29 "2026-02-11T21:03:58Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Since Czarcasm already said this, team snowball fights would also have promise). I used to race XC skiing in high school. The best part of the ski meets was the massive inter-school snowball fights after the races. We used the buses as shields. And the bus drivers. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/30 "2026-02-11T21:10:00Z")
The new to Olympics Ski Mountaineering there is a section where they run up a hill, but it still involves significant sliding. Brian ---
**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, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/31 "2026-02-11T21:13:33Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Absent winter sports… Doing donuts (or, depending on your local dialect, “doing Cheerios” or “whipping shitties” 😃 ) [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JJWHseIXRKg/maxresdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGEYgSChZMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCm73HxBR5U18SWgBQYN5JcPWJNzQ) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JJWHseIXRKg/maxresdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGEYgSChZMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCm73HxBR5U18SWgBQYN5JcPWJNzQ) ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/32 "2026-02-11T21:15:13Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I think there’s a 50km cross-country skiing event, which is longer than a marathon. I think there’s a 50km ‘walk’ (the funny hip swinging one) in the Summer Olympics too. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/33 "2026-02-11T21:15:38Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > a section where they run up a hill, Hopefully to the music of Kate Bush. ---
**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, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/34 "2026-02-11T21:20:08Z")
Perhaps some sort of gymnastics vaulting thing where the dismount ends up in a snowdrift and the score is based on the quality of the snow-angel that is imprinted. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/35 "2026-02-11T21:20:20Z")
Are you sure about **[soccer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfduUFF_i1A)**? I bet they would not call it that, sounds ridiculous. **[Ποδόσφαιρο](https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%BF%CE%B4%CF%8C%CF%83%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%BF)** does not sound like that at all. > [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Real Olympics are done naked. Makes telling the teams apart quite a challenge. Sliding is important, but the real points are scored **[breaking your neck](https://nypost.com/2026/02/11/sports/australian-snowboarder-airlifted-to-hospital-after-breaking-neck-in-winter-olympics-nightmare/)**, when the sliding stops. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/36 "2026-02-11T21:39:07Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Real Olympics are done naked. I vaguely remember some comedy / spoof movie from the late 1970s (_Network_?) that included a scene of the World Sex championships. Or maybe it was the sex event at the Olympics. But anyhow a couple was going at it and the announcers were using their golf whisperer voices to point out the moves to us home viewers and critique their performance. Scored on a 10 point scale just like gymnastics. Of course the camera work was PG+ even if the topic was decidedly R. But it was a great concept for a skit and I thought at the time it was well-executed. ---
**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, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/37 "2026-02-11T21:41:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I vaguely remember some comedy / spoof movie from the late 1970s (_Network_?) that included a scene of the World Sex championships. Or maybe it was the sex event at the Olympics. Possibly a skit in _[The Groove Tube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Groove_Tube)_ (1974); as Wikipedia describes it: > [@](#): > > International Sex Games - a sports program features announcers doing play-by-play over video footage of a couple (played by adult film actors [Paul Norman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Norman_(director)) and [Mary Mendum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Brooke)) having sex, with the most explicit portions of the act obscured either by distortion or a “Please Stand By” card while the sportscasters describe what the audience cannot see; ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/38 "2026-02-11T21:46:03Z")
I bet you nailed it in one. That’s certainly the right year +/-1. YouTube has a bunch of clips from _Groove Tube_ (that I didn’t watch), but they sadly seem to be lacking this one. Darn. YouTube also had a reference to _Kentucky Fried Movie_. Which was contemporary and similar in concept but per wiki doesn’t have a scene much like I’m recalling. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/39 "2026-02-11T21:47:32Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > I think there’s a 50km ‘walk’ (the funny hip swinging one) in the Summer Olympics too. Not any more, 2020 was the last time it was held. It was replaced with a mixed relay at marathon (42km) distance. ---
**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, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586/40 "2026-02-11T21:49:00Z")
Of course! here’s a painting of Socrates playing for the gold medal against the Spartans: [![](https://media.gq-magazine.co.uk/photos/5d13a3d1539cb36205222f86/master/w_1600,c_limit/Socrates-2-gq-2may17_getty_b.jpg) ](https://media.gq-magazine.co.uk/photos/5d13a3d1539cb36205222f86/master/w_1600,c_limit/Socrates-2-gq-2may17_getty_b.jpg) I understand Leonidas was a very good midfielder too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-winter-olympics-just-various-types-of-sliding/1027586.md?page=3)