# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/21 "2006-02-13T03:24:23Z")
> [@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] And _Curling_ has international appeal? If ballroom dancing is an olympic sport, then billiards should qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/22 "2006-02-13T03:26:12Z")
> [@Fionn](#): > > IIRC, it was an Olympic sport at the start of the 20th century. So was rugby. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/23 "2006-02-13T04:27:14Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Rugby 7s and cricket. Wait–cricket is supposed to be a sport? I thought it was a form of loitering. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/24 "2006-02-13T04:58:03Z")
I’ll also mentione Golf. I mean, Tennis adds a major to its year every Olympics year. Can’t Golf? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/25 "2006-02-13T05:35:01Z")
The Summer Olympics aren’t three weeks long, they are 16 days long. The FIFA World Cup takes a month. The Olympic tennis tournament isn’t a major tournament and although good players participate, it usually hasn’t been a big draw. The Olympics would like golf, but the sport’s governing body as recognized by the IOC, the International Golf Federation has never been very infuential in the world compared to the US Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient of St. Andrews, who make the Rules of Golf. There was talk of adding golf to the Atlanta games, but the IOC wanted to play at Augusta National and the Augusta people were not interested in that at all. Especially that would have likely required women playing on the course. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/26 "2006-02-13T05:48:20Z")
Paintball Dodgeball Ultimate Fighting. Skateboarding. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/27 "2006-02-13T07:22:03Z")
Definitely another vote for Rugby Sevens. It’s a perfect setup for a spectator-friendly short tournament, and works brilliantly in the Commonwealth Games. Plus, it offers a truly international representation, which was one of baseball’s problems, with the current [top four](http://www.irbsevens.com/Standings/) teams being from four different continents. And some of the big teams are from countries with little standing in other sports (Samoa & Georgia, for instance). ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/28 "2006-02-13T07:48:18Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Skateboarding. They might as well, snowboarding is only the snowy winter version of skateboarding after all. Hell, for that matter they should add surfing too. ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/29 "2006-02-13T09:49:27Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Ultimate Fighting. I agree!!! ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/30 "2006-02-13T09:56:27Z")
Golf seems like it’d be the best addition. You’d be able to easily schedule both individual and team competitions within the time frame, it’d likely be very popular with both TV audiences and live ticket sales. It’s very international and it wouldn’t cause any serious problems with PGA and Europan tours regular seasons. I’m sure there’s a good explaination for why it’s not there, but it’d probably be one of the better received additions in recent memory. Team sports all have inherent complications making their additions much more complex. I know I wouldn’t mind seeing things like Rugby, Cricket, and other sports I don’t usually get to see spotlighted for a change. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/31 "2006-02-13T10:09:16Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I’m sure there’s a good explaination for why it’s not there, but it’d probably be one of the better received additions in recent memory According to [this](http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/news04/olympic.html), the IOC want it to be included only if the top names take part, but impoverished overworked players like Tiger Woods think it should be left to the amateurs. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/32 "2006-02-13T17:12:13Z")
I actually enjoy the curling competition. It’s odd and graceful and so totally…okay, odd, that I can get into it. As for a new sport, how about competitive snow piss art? Or snow sculpture? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/33 "2006-02-13T17:36:59Z")
I’d already planned out a first-draft **billiards** itinerary for future Olympic Games on another thread: **Pocket Billiards** Straight Pool (14.1 Continuous, 500 pts) 8-Ball 9-Ball One Pocket Snooker Trick shooting (non-medaling exhibition) **Carom Billiards** Straight Billiards (aka Straight-rail) One-Cushion Three Cushion 47.2 Balkline 71.2 Balkline Artistic billiards (non-medaling exhibition) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/34 "2006-02-13T19:16:09Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > It was tried. Some of the problems with baseball in the Olympics were: > [snip] Another problem was the expense of building a dedicated baseball stadium in countries where baseball isn’t popular. After the Olympics, there’s little use for the stadium. That being said, [hose lay](http://www.ferndalefire.org/gallery-2005-02-20/index.html), [caber tossing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caber_toss), [log rolling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_rolling), and [cornhole](http://www.playcornhole.org). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/35 "2006-02-13T20:55:28Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Another problem was the expense of building a dedicated baseball stadium in countries where baseball isn’t popular. After the Olympics, there’s little use for the stadium. Who needs to build a full stadium? London’s successful bid included a temporary stadium in Regent’s Park for baseball, before the sport got dropped for 2012. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/36 "2006-02-13T22:18:31Z")
[Extreme Ironing](http://www.extremeironing.com/)! ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/37 "2006-02-13T22:38:25Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Why stop with ballroom (dancing)? 🙂 Yes, the Olympics should have pole dancing and lap dancing competitions as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/38 "2006-02-13T22:42:41Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > As for a new sport, how about competitive snow piss art? Mountain Dew would have to be classified as a performance-enhancing substance! ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/39 "2006-02-14T00:47:03Z")
I’m all for adding golf and rugby, both sports with widespread appeal that wouldn’t be too difficult to set up. As an aside, I’m totally opposed to adding any sport with judging (ballroom dancing, skateboarding, etc.) While I can understand the athletic prowess and skill required, its just too subjective. I can’t stand figure skating and snowboarding’s presence in the olympics for this reason. Judges should just go! ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155/40 "2006-02-14T01:06:57Z")
If baseball doesn’t get in, cricket has no business being in. All the arguments about “baseball’s not big in most countries” boil down to “baseball’s not popular in Europe” and the reverse is absolutely true about cricket. No one in North America, save a few diehards and transplants, gives two shakes about cricket. That said, give Italy and the Netherlands 20 years and baseball will be bigger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-olympic-sports-but-arent/344155.md?page=3)