It's exactly what I hear a lot of people on other forums say often and when the Olympics are actually starting, somehow you magically see them posting about those sports they weren't gonna watch
I didn't say I wouldn't watch at all. Just that I wouldn't watch AND take the results seriously anyway if you give me the option between a placement match in let's say rugby and a swimming final, I'd usually watch the rugby.
I think i will only follow basketball, hockey, football, mens handball, sailing and maybe some other minor sports in Rio, where there are only very few age/nationality/doping/gender cheaters, but for sure no athletics, swimming or cycling.
This is exactly what I always do and say I just can't watch stuff like weightlifting or athletics and take the results seriously anymore, 4 years later like half of the medals get reallocated.
there will be people from all over the world......
It's not like many other countries would care either... unless there are 20k americans/britons/canadians in the stadium (which could be, I don't know how the ticket sales are going) I doubt we would hear any boos, except for the president of Brazil and my country's delegation.
i dont say the russian sistematic doping are lays, probably there are true but be honest: the russian case if for politic and the most cases of doping are from countrys and athletes who have olds forms of dopings, for that reason we see a very few dopings of the sports powerful countries in the world, Rusia has all or the most parte of their delegation with doping and we dont see any from U.S.A and China?, come on......and i dont have any doubt that in China there are a biggest sistematic doping even than Russia, in the case of United States im not sure.......
Rugby sevens is a bit different. Before I agree it was interchangeable, but now the game has become its own sport. We've seen multiple rugby players try-out for the sevens team and fail due to lack of fitness. It has become a different game with its own strategy. It would be like saying the World Cup for futsal or beach soccer isn't the top prize for those sports because we have the World Cup for football.
But futsal or beach players would never make the association football team (or even play for a club). Rugby 7s and union instead have a lot of crossover. Bryan Habana for example will play the olympics, ask him if olympic gold would mean more than his world cup title.
^it's always a matter of perspectives, of course. But my criteria to define prestige here is seeing if it is important to everyone involved in said sport.
Example: in Gymnastics, the olympics is the most important competition for every single top gymnast, not even one of them will be absent except for injuries. Meanwhile in Golf or Tennis a lot of top players are dropping out, something they wouldn't ever do for a major or GS, therefore, it's not the most important competition in those sport.
Same goes for boxing or rugby 7s regardless of the small differences, the best pros or union players could be in Rio if they wanted, but in majority they won't be.
Rugby - sevens is seen as a phase to develop young players skills for many top nations of the sport. Some players become specialists in sevens, but most often it's because they weren't good enough to become top players in the XV game.
Boxing - top boxers become pros in most countries.
Cycling Road - Tour de France, Giro, etc are more important.
I would also say that men's basketball is starting to take the football path, in a few olympic cicles we could end up with a youth tournament while the world cup gains the most relevance (such is the plan of NBA).
In the end, almost all sports are partly decided by that. Take football: sure, tactics and styles are important, but use doping and you'll be able to keep running longer and longer and more importantly, you'll be able to use your supreme techniques longer. I've seen plenty of matches with teams like Barcelona, Valencia or Juventus where they just kept going and going and going as if they'd never be tired...honestly I think football has the most doping of every sport, simply because it's by far the most "financial sport" and the interests are so incredibly huge there.
No way FIFA will ever implement a decent anti-doping regulation and they will never get anywhere near IAAF, UCI, FINA (they might not be good, or even be bad, but at least they test).
I think there's a lot of truth in what you say, and it is probably like you say but... still, 0 footballers tested positive in Beijing and London. In fact, 0 team sport athletes tested positive in both games.
Doesn't mean of course that they don't dope in the 3 years and 11 months in middle, but give me that and not the joke we see in weightlifting.
I wonder which sports I could be a fan of then. There are at least serious controls....in contrast to sports like football where the entire anti-doping is the biggest joke in the world.
I think most of the world is doped in every sport, but at least those which aren't "mark sports" aren't all about physical condition (there's tactics, styles, etc). In weightlifting, athletics, etc it's all about who is the strongest/fastest and that is 100% up to how much and how sophisticated they dope. Thanks god my country sucks in all of them otherwise I wouldn't enjoy success to the fullest.
And this is why I'll never be a fan of athletics, swimming, cycling or weightlifting... 50% of the results are a joke and big farce. I can't take them seriously.
Apparently a press conference will take place at our NOC in a few minutes, some journalists say there's a rumor of a doping case. Don't think it's related to this re-testing though.
I caught some of the rugby sevens, and now will try to watch as much as I can of women's volleyball without sleeping too late (I have to wake up early tomorrow ).
I just can't watch stuff like weightlifting or athletics and take the results seriously anymore, 4 years later like half of the medals get reallocated.
Posted
Kick weightlifting out. It's not popular, it's full of doping, it's unhealthy for those who practice it, etc
Link to post
Share on other sites