Over here, the talk about chess and bridge being considered for inclusion in the Olympics gave me an idea:
What games would you like to see in the Olympics?
Paintball would be a nice addition - much more interesting than watching a bunch of people shoot at stationary targets.
If the powers that be want to include a card game, thisone would be much more entertaining than plain old bridge.
I’ve always been in favor of the siesta as an Olympic event.
Two words: ultimate frisbee. 
Omg…yes…another Ultimate fan. I love playing it, and it would be amazing to see what world-wide talent would look like.
Rock Climbing. I’m a little surprised that Ballroom dancing is and Rock Climbing isn’t …
Running, jumping, and throwing things. Maybe wrestling. At a permanent stadium in Greece.
This Olympic thing’s gotten way out of hand.
Coupla hours on a Saturday afternoon, once every four years. Sounds good to me.
Peace,
mangeorge (Not kidding.)
In the winter games the two sports are cross-country skiing and rifle shoting. summer games would put together off-road bicycling and archery. Ride the trails with your bow over your back, stop at a station, shoot some arrows, and hit the trail again. Just my idea.
Seriously? I’ve sometimes wondered how orienteering didn’t get included. I mean, I know why it isn’t up for consideration now - the IOC can’t sign new multi-million dollar sponsorship deals on the basis of including it - but back in the day, when money wasn’t the sole consideration and events like tug-of-war were included, why not?
Less seriously, we’ve got synchronized swimming and synchronized diving now - how about synchronized hurdling? And for the winter, synchronized figure skating!
Uh, Ms flodnak, Synchronized Skating has been around for a few years.
My daughter has been on the Synchro Panache Senior team, in Minneapolis, for the past 5 years.
It will soon be an Olmypic event.
Seriously.
I expect that Dragon Boat racing will make it to the Olympics within a decade. It makes for good athletic spectacle.
Telemark Skiing (my sport, '96 Nat. Team), lost out to Freestyle. I doubt if we will get that close again in the forseeable future. The decision pretty much came down to TV marketability.
How about computer hacking?
Caffeine would, of course, be the only santioned drug.
The challenge would be to bring NORAD to defcon3.
Defcon3=gold.
Defcon2=silver
Defcon1=bronze
Think of the sponsorship possibilities!
I think I’m gonna give ol’ Bill a call.
Peace,
mangeorge
I’ve always felt that they way to improve the olympics was by making it TRULY amateur. That is, it operates like jury duty. Citizens are chosen at random and are flown to the olympic site where, three days before their event, they are told what they’ll be competing in. Then they have three days to learn how to do it.
“This is Sarah Clark, she’s a financial anaylist at a bank in Chicago, and today she’ll be doing the LUGE!”
That would be FAR more entertaining, I think. In fact, I think it would make a pretty good reality tv show. I should pitch that before the reality fad wears off. I could make a million dollars in LA just writing that idea on a napkin.
The CBS Sunday morning newsmagazine had a small story about how Olympic ski jumpers practice in the summer by jumping off of a ramp into a large swimming pool, and it occured to me that by utilizing quick-release skis a new sport could be created-Jump diving!
When I was in junior school, an indeterminate number of years ago, the annual sports day featured, among others:
Why is it that the former has made it into the Olympics but the latter has not?
The only reason which springs to mind is that the IOC has been unable to agree upon a Sack Standard for their competition. The materials used in making sacks must vary from country to country, and doubtless some sacks are aerodynamically more suited to assisting forward motion than others.
Additionally, I imagine the IOC is still wrestling with the problem of how to fit two sack-clad feet into the starting blocks.
Rugby gets my vote. Most countries already have their own teams, plus New Zealand could prolly win its 1st Gold Medal
Gurning. Definitely gurning.
Possibly Sumo as well.
Sounds just a little like a British Saturday game show called ‘The Moment Of Truth’ (adapted from a Japanese format). A member of a family is given a task which they’ve got a week to learn, something like building a big card house or memorising all the Oscar winning films in order, then have to carry it out successfully in the studio to win.
In the nude, of course, mangeorge. Just like in the old days.
When Russia and Germany paid for the national team, and USA gave winners a box on Wheaties, amateurism sort of went out the window.
I always wanted to see IROC-style racing competition in the Olympics. Each country selects its three top drivers, and equally matched cars are used. A random drawing pools the drivers, and the top three from each pool compete in the medal race. Think about the possibilities. The US team would feature Jeff Gordon, Michael Andretti, and either Dale Jarrett or Tony Stewart. The German team would hae the best F1 drivers. The Australians send some of their best, and so do the Canadians, Japanese, French, English, Brazilians, and about 15 other countries.
-Brianjedi