# Worst Olympic Sports
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [July 31, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001 "2012-07-31T23:06:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/21 "2012-08-01T03:06:14Z")
I think the antipathy to the horse events is off-base. When we watch luge racing, we don’t say, “the sled did all the work.”
Fun fact: Until 1952, only commissioned military officers could compete in Olympic equestrian events.
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/22 "2012-08-01T03:13:09Z")
> [@fumster](#):
>
> I’d love to see chess, bridge, and go added.
Might as well include Magic the Gathering, coding Linux kernels, and endurance not-bathing in there while you’re at it.
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/23 "2012-08-01T03:16:42Z")
Endurance not-bathing?
Really?
How would you go about scoring that?
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/24 "2012-08-01T03:20:05Z")
It’s a tie. They all lose.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/25 "2012-08-01T03:29:15Z")
> [@minlokwat](#):
>
> Rhythmic gymnasitcs a.k.a. the curling of the summer games.
Hey! Curling is the one single sport that I will always stop to watch when flipping channels. It’s mesmerizing. Also, it’s objectively scored, so therefore, curling \> rhythmic gymnastics.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/26 "2012-08-01T03:45:19Z")
> [@minlokwat](#):
>
> Rhythmic gymnasitcs a.k.a. the curling of the summer games.
Bite your tongue! Curling rocks. (So to speak.)
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/27 "2012-08-01T03:49:30Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#):
>
> Hey! Curling is the one single sport that I will always stop to watch when flipping channels. It’s mesmerizing. Also, it’s objectively scored, so therefore, curling \> rhythmic gymnastics.
+1. Curling is my favorite sport. The only way to get it here on TV is every four years during Winter Olympics.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/28 "2012-08-01T04:46:12Z")
Any sport which features lovely young women of age in skimpy or form-fitting clothing is worthier than those sports that do not feature such contestants. For example, the bikini-bottomed women volleyballers need to have TV coverage expanded in 2016 to showcase this very important and up-and-coming sport.
The above rule holds true even for subjectively scored contests, but not for sports dominated by below-18yo teenagers.
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### Author:  [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/29 "2012-08-01T05:42:58Z")
[Walking.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking#Olympics)
I win.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/30 "2012-08-01T05:50:04Z")
Please stop calling curling a ‘sport’.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/31 "2012-08-01T06:23:46Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#):
>
> [Walking.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking#Olympics)
>
> I win.
Racewalking is worth it just for [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-SJLlneLc).
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/32 "2012-08-01T06:29:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Racewalking is worth it just for [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-SJLlneLc).
Damn but I miss _Almost Live!_
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### Author:  [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/33 "2012-08-01T07:18:04Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> Please stop calling curling a ‘sport’.
Oh boy Rhythm…this is not gonna fair well for you.
Really??..Curling is like the Drum\>Space\>GDTRFB\>LoveLight of sports…
Good Luck!
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### Author:  [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/34 "2012-08-01T09:23:15Z")
Swimming is boring as hell - all races look more or less the same, just some guys splashing about in a pool. Plus clearly a swimming medal is worth less than other medals cos there are just so darn many of them and so many chances to win.
Tennis should not be an Olympic sport. Do you really think a player would prefer to win gold than win a grand slam? No, it is nothing more than an ego trip for the top players. Including golf is a mistake for the same reason.
White water kayak and canoe racing is cool.
Bring back [etching!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Olympic_Games)
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/35 "2012-08-01T09:45:17Z")
I don’t like the long distance races. Marathons are like watching paint dry for me. The only interesting thing about them is the scenery, sometimes. If they did it in the stadium, like the 10,000m… how dull that would be.
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/36 "2012-08-01T10:12:07Z")
Football (some of you call it Soccer) shouldn’t be included. For the men at least it’s not the pinnacle of the sport, most of the top footballers would rather not play in it, the sport is full of prima-donnas who wouldn’t know Olympic spirit if it smacked them in the face, the size of the tournament means it has to start days before the opening ceremony, and most of the matches are played in half empty stadia. At last it’s more meaningful for the womens game - the British women played in front of 70,000 fans last night which is unheard of.
> [@wolfman](#):
>
> Trampoline was the point I realized they really were making shit up cause they could.
Stop beating up on trampolining - I’ve got tickets to the men’s final!
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/37 "2012-08-01T10:46:25Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> Ping pong. Yeah, I know it’s popular in Asia, but still …
>
> They got rid of baseball but kept handball? WTF?
I like table tennis - it’s at least a fast-paced and visually interesting sport. Handball is quite entertaining and pacy, too.
The dullest from a spectator’s point of view, to my mind, are wrestling and weightlifting. The wrestling mostly seems to consist of two fat blokes lying almost motionless on each other, with occasional bursts of largely ineffectual flailing, and the weightlifting - well, either somebody lifts a weight above their head, or they don’t. The only slight excitement comes from the prospect that their colon might spectacularly prolapse, or they drop the weight and it looks like it might roll off the front of the stage and squash the ref. (It never does, though.)
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/38 "2012-08-01T11:04:21Z")
Basketball, Soccer, Tennis.
These are sports with thriving, popular and highly televised competitions. The Olympics is supposed to be the pinnacle of your athletic career. I get the feeling that every winner would happily trade their gold medal for an NBA championship, World Cup, or Grand Slam. Booooo! It doesn’t make me happy to know that there are 2 whole channels devoted to basketball and soccer, that could be bringing me competitions I wouldn’t normally get to see.
Gymnastics, as much as I like the crisp and amazing work they do, there doesn’t seem to be any showmanship or grace, it’s just how high how fast and how many turns can you make.
I also agree that there are too many swimming medals. Compare to running. If you are the best under 200M Freestyle swimmer, you can compete in 7 events. If you are the best under 200m runner, you can compete in 3 events.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/39 "2012-08-01T11:11:26Z")
I heard that there was an Olympic football game going on, so I looked, but it turns out they were playing soccer. Bummer.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-olympic-sports/630001/40 "2012-08-01T12:33:53Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> I think the antipathy to the horse events is off-base. When we watch luge racing, we don’t say, “the sled did all the work.”
Sleds aren’t alive.
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