So I turn on the Olympics the other night, and see something called “Rhythmic Gymnastics”, which involves an anorexic girl/woman with freakish makeup dancing around with a Hula-Hoop to the music from “Carmen”. Of course, the announcer (apparently an expert on this “sport”) gushed about their competance; apparently “flexibility” is the most desirable skill in this non-sport.
I am sorry, I could find no athletic aspect in this event. The was no acrobatic/tumbling moves, and nothing demonstating any remarkable physical achievement. It requires dexterity, timing and grace, but then, so does juggling. Will we soon be seeing that as an Olympic sport? Or what about cheerleading? Even that requires more athletic skill than rhythmic gymnastics.
I can already hear defenders pointing to the untold hours spent in training to develop this skill. But how is this different from, say, piano playing? I admire many pianists, and recognize the hard work it takes to get to Carnegie Hall, but that doesn’t mean it should be an Olympic sport.
I guess my point is that, of late there have been far too many subjective sports that depend on the scoring of judges to tell us who is a medalist. Among these I include synchronized swimming and synchronized diving as well. I will admit synchronized swimming is kind of neat, but it would be better as a team sport, with like 10 or 12 swimmers and coached by Busby Berkely.
And in bikinis.
