Beach volleyball is already an Olympic sport. Do you want it removed?
My bad. Yes, remove it. It astounds me that they actually award Olympic medals for something like that. What’s next, paddle ball?
That brings me to your actual question. Don’t add any more at all. Once you’re adding things like beach volleyball, you’ve run out of real sports to add.
One more. Badminton needs to join table tennis in the delete column.
In the winter games, the officials can adjust the ramp angle for the ski jump. And the figure skaters used to have mandatory exercises - like making a circle on the ice. So if the athletes need to keep topping themselves in bowling, the officials could make the lane longer or the pins more stable - or make mandatory exercises like “7-10 splits”.
I once heard that “obstacle course” was an olympic event, but it was removed because there were too many injuries.
Steeple chase looks harrowing enough.
Replace figure skating with barrel jumping.
They used to show barrel jumping on Wide World of Sports many, many years ago. No judging. Just who can jump over the most barrels, on ice skates.
Sure, it’s mostly NBA guys, but you can turn that argument around and say it’s evidence of basketball’s global spread; the sport has become sufficiently popular that programs in countries like Slovenia, Germany, and China can produce players good enough to make the NBA. Basketball is not just an American sport anymore, and even with our pros, we don’t always dominate the way we did when we sent the Dream Team to Barcelona. Just a few weeks ago, Team USA lost a close game to Nigeria.
I’m not a fan of either, but if you’re going to get rid of volleyball, lose the indoor game - beach volleyball is more interesting to me (and no, it has nothing to do with the bikinis). It’s more impressive watching just two players cover a court, rather than six. And they’re running through sand to do it.
It’s more exciting than soccer, IMO.
“It’s more exciting than soccer, IMO.”
Agree–how about a shot clock in Soccer?
2 minutes after change of possession you shoot or turn it over: hit the: post, crossbar, goalie–or you lose the ball. 90 minutes of “keep away” is just BORING
Although I find it boring too, you’re probably not going to get people to agree to change the most popular sport in the world.
Raquetball. Also…
I just don’t quite see the point of Olympic soccer. I mean, there are already plenty of other, more prestigious international soccer competitions. Maybe I’m wrong, but I suspect to soccer players and fans, winning their regional international cup (like European Cup or CONCACAF Gold Cup) is probably a bigger deal than winning the gold medal at the Olympics. Certainly winning the World Cup is.
Man, is that ever a low bar.
You may want to visit the thread on 7-10 splits.
Might as well throw jai alai into the mix here.
In Malaysia and Argentina a lot of courts were like that, or just a solid white room with a door at the back.
Lots of glass walls as well in the rest of the world.
What possible justification is there for any of these? I mean, it’s a little hard to tell whether people are serious or not in a thread like this, but “some people (cough, Americans, cough) play this game casually in the back yard or garage and just thwack the ball back and forth and don’t take it seriously” is sure as hell not sufficient justification for getting rid of a sport that is played incredibly seriously at an incredibly high level all over the world.
Seriously. Watch any of these sports at the olympics and tell me those athletes aren’t deserving of their shot at a medal.
Cheese rolling. It’s basically just a footrace down a very steep, overgrown hill. Supposedly the runners are “chasing” the wheel of cheese, but I think that part of it is mostly just ceremonial. It’s my understanding that it’s not just about speed, it’s almost as much about pain endurance. They can run, slide, or just tumble down the hill (which technique you employ is not always voluntary). First to the finish line at the bottom wins.
It looks totally random, but there must be some kind of skill and technique involved, as the same people tend to win repeatedly.
Here’s some footage, presented without commentary or narration:
Of course they do. At the small liberal arts school where I started my college career, the women’s volleyball team was THE big sport on campus; their games outdrew basketball, baseball, and soccer.
But the thread is asking for personal opinions about what sports you like or don’t like. And speaking just for myself, I wouldn’t miss it if volleyball was dropped. Got nothing at all to do with the athletes and their ability. As a matter of fact, the post of mine you quoted was in defense of beach volleyball; I was explaining to Jasmine why I think the beach game is more impressive than the indoor game.
I guess there’s a difference between “sports you, personally, wouldn’t miss if they weren’t in the olympics” vs “sports you genuinely believe do not to deserve to be, or should not be, in the olympics”.
I mean, I’ve occasionally watched rowing races in the olympics, and they are tedious beyond belief. That certainly doesn’t mean that if I were for some reason dictator of the world I would boot them out.
On a similar note, shin-kicking or ferret-legging.
Take out, say, 65% of all the swimming events to compensate.