# What should be Olympic sports but aren't? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155 "2006-02-12T21:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/1 "2006-02-12T21:06:47Z")
Winter: Sled dog racing Summer: Sumo wrestling ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/2 "2006-02-12T21:16:11Z")
Summer: [Skate Luge](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=358458). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/3 "2006-02-12T21:17:46Z")
I believe the ballroom dancers are trying to be an Olympic sport - seems reasonable to me. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/4 "2006-02-12T21:24:35Z")
Rugby 7s and cricket. ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/5 "2006-02-12T21:27:27Z")
Summer: Ultimate frisbee ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/6 "2006-02-12T21:27:29Z")
Bocce Lawn Darts Chess Scrabble “Guess My Weight” Poker Ninja Decathalon ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/7 "2006-02-12T21:34:41Z")
[Chess Boxing](http://site.wcbo.org/content/index_en.html) of course. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/8 "2006-02-12T21:51:38Z")
In the paper I saw a recommendation for synchronized underwater ice fishing. I can’t improve on that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/9 "2006-02-12T21:59:07Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I believe the ballroom dancers are trying to be an Olympic sport - seems reasonable to me. Why stop with ballroom? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/10 "2006-02-12T22:39:06Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > . . . cricket . . . Would it be possible to hold a reasonable tournament involving all the cricket-playing nations in just two weeks? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/11 "2006-02-12T22:43:19Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > Would it be possible to hold a reasonable tournament involving all the cricket-playing nations in just two weeks? The World Cup seems to handle it with football/soccer. Plus, the Summer Olympics are three weeks long. There would be qualifiers earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/12 "2006-02-12T23:03:25Z")
Golf. I can’t understand why it isn’t an olympic event. It can easily be staged, it doesn’t require any infrastructure (Any city big enough to hold an Olympics has a world class golf course nearby), and it is a truly international sport. If it were held this year, any of these countries could theoretically win - Australia New Zealand South Africa Zimbabwe U.S. Canada Argentina Fiji India Japan S. Korea England Ireland Scotland France Italy Germany Denmark Sweden plus a bunch more. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/13 "2006-02-12T23:04:28Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > Would it be possible to hold a reasonable tournament involving all the cricket-playing nations in just two weeks? …just thinking about it, a twenty/20 tournament would be quite exciting, although the purists, (like me!) might get upset, and at times the game really becomes one of good luck than of skill. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series3/cricket\_countycricket\_sport.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series3/cricket_countycricket_sport.shtml) …and ditto on Rugby Sevens… ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/14 "2006-02-13T00:34:43Z")
Baseball! ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/15 "2006-02-13T00:39:36Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Golf. > > I can’t understand why it isn’t an olympic event. IIRC, it was an Olympic sport at the start of the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/16 "2006-02-13T01:01:21Z")
> [@Craneop2](#): > > Baseball! It was tried. Some of the problems with baseball in the Olympics were: [ul] [li]Major League Baseball wasn’t willing to interrupt their season to let players compete in the Olympics[/li][li]they couldn’t schedule enough games to have a meaningful tournament in the time allowed (remember that baseball teams use a pitching rotation)[/li][li]there are several countries in the world where baseball is a big-time sport, and the rest of the world doesn’t care about it at all[/li][/ul] Major League Baseball is holding the World Baseball Classic - a sixteen-nation tournament that will happen in the middle of spring training. We’ll see how it goes. Some aspects of it are a little phony - for example, the Italian team has players like Mike Piazza who is Italian by ancestry only (he’s never set foot in Italy). ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/17 "2006-02-13T01:45:01Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > [ul][li]there are several countries in the world where baseball is a big-time sport, and the rest of the world doesn’t care about it at all[/li][/ul] Eh, you can say the same thing for hockey. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/18 "2006-02-13T02:49:00Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Eh, you can say the same thing for hockey. Hockey’s very popular… or do you mean ice hockey? 😉 How about squash? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/19 "2006-02-13T02:58:53Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > The World Cup seems to handle it with football/soccer. Plus, the Summer Olympics are three weeks long. There would be qualifiers earlier. A traditional cricket match lasts five days, and an abbreviated one lasts eight hours. It would be tough. I’d like to see powerlifting as an olympic sport, in addition to olympic lifting. The two are different enough that anyone who excels in both is a genuine world-class athlete. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/20 "2006-02-13T03:16:00Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > A traditional cricket match lasts five days, and an abbreviated one lasts eight hours. It would be tough. The Cricket World Cup only consists of one-day matches. I don’t see why the Olympics couldn’t be the same. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155.md?page=2)