Olympic sports program review

[MatiReimundo 347]

4 minutes ago, Faramir said:

"Sportswriter" Jonathan Liew's contribution to the thread: let's cut sailing, archery, surfing, rowing, equestrian, golf, 3x3 basketball, men's football, volleyball and not-freestyle-swimming.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/12/paris-olympic-games-la-2028-sports-sailing-golf

 

 

This is by far the worst sport article i have ever read in my life. I went on twitter to insult the guy and found out he tweeted the article and it has 200 comments, all negative, so that felt good

[Dragon 1,844]

On 8/15/2024 at 3:56 PM, heywoodu said:

Wow, I had no idea about this. Just looked it up, watched a super young Michal Martikan in 1996 and damn that course looks amazing!

1981 World Championships in North Wales

[JoshMartini007 2,536]

Proclaiming the removal of multiple sports was always going to bring on the ire of fans.

 

It does bring an interesting thought experiment in the event the Olympics gets "Thanos snapped." Which of the 165 events would survive and still feel like the Olympics? Do you completely toss out many sports or do you try to save as many as possible?

[mpjmcevoy 362]

On 8/15/2024 at 12:33 AM, mpjmcevoy said:

Golf:

 

I think this was the year Golf realised the Olympics mattered, that it had a place in the narrative of the sport - Tennis arguably had that after Steffi, but more obviously after Andy Murray - to the point you saw what it meant to the GOAT, Djokovic. Well, Golf is on the same journey I think, and as a biased Irishman I wonder if it might be Rory McIlroy who provides the Andy style narrative. anyway, the two individual events are fine as is.

 

It's the proposed team event gets me interested. I think it should happen, it should be matchplay, it should be teams of 4 - 2 men, 2 women, playing over nine hole matches - a  kind of speed matchplay - in matches consisting of three 'rubbers' - M Singles, W Singles, Mixed foursome.

4 groups of 4 teams, round robins over 9 holes as I said - converting the old scoring system (2&1, 3 up etc) into 2 pts for win, 1 for tie, 0 for lost hole - with target obviously 10 (i.e 5 holes won or equivalent)...if the rubber is 9-9 after nine holes, tie break is simple 1 shot, nearest the pin on the 10th (or 1st, if playing 10-18). 1-9 and 10-18 will both be used and every group will play on both sets of 9 across the group stage.

 

That creates a 27 hole group stage over a day and a half. Top 2 teams in each group then go to QF, another 9 hole shoot out. bottom 2 teams go into 'repechage' round, so after two days everyone has played 36 holes

 

Day three is semi finals day : matches remain 3 rubber, but switch to 18 holes (winning score is now 19). Winners in top bracket go to final, losers meet the winners of repechage bracket/"bronze semis"

 

day 4 is gold/silver final and bronzes finals, again 3 rubber, 18 holes

 

total 72 holes maximum per player over 4 days

 

Day   morning     afternoon

 

 1         GS1   (24 rubbers)     /      GS2 (24 rubbers)

 2        GS3   (24 rubbers)    /      Gold QF & Repechage/Bronze QF (24 rubbers)

 3       <-----        Gold Semis and Bronze Semis -----> (12 rubbers)

 4       <------      Gold finals and Bronze finals ------> (9 rubbers)

 

Qualification would simply be the highest 16 aggregate totals from the individual events. NOCs restricted to one team.

 

Proposal : add 4 day, 72 hole team matchplay event in a speed matchplay format :  no extra quotas

 

Hockey

 

No changes proposed

 

Handball

 

No changes proposed

 

Judo

 

I think the quotas should be trimmed a bit, it seems wrong to deny taekwondo or boxing its weight classes while having so many judoku and every class.

 

The trimmed quotas would be sent in the first instance to taekwondo to allow it to field all its weights.

 

Proposal : reduce quotas. Possibly remove team event if affected.

 

Karate :

 

In principle, I'm all for it. But the scoring system needs to be looked at urgently because it is utterly opaque to non insiders - it is to some extent easy to intuit what scores in judo or taekwondo, or boxing or wrestling. It is not at all clear in karate. If that includes a need to bring in sensor electronics, then do so.

 

And, lets be clear. No Kata. I understand the importance of forms in the history of the sport, but it is utterly ludicrous to an outsider to have an Olympic medal for feirce grimacing and striking  at a non existent enemy. Its pantomimic.

 

Proposal bring back Kumite if scoring system/explanations improved. no return for Kata.

...

 

 

 

Modern Pentathlon:

 

Poor Old Baron de C. They've just shredded the sport he invented.

 

Of course the days of MP equestrian were numbered after that shocking German incident, but I did wonder if it might not be saved by a different means - for example, doing away with the whole 'unknown horse' thing and just let competitors train and bring their own - less likely, I'd hope to lead to the odd utter pony turning up (there's almost always one utter donkey, which if you have a black sense of humour is sometimes fun, and rather in keeping with the quasi-tragic stoicism of the event - sometimes, the cavalry officer's escape is going to go down the plughole because he grabbed the wrong mule) , and less likely to have competitors and coaches lose their mind and have a meltdown at a refusal. But that ship has sailed, and probably taken most of the current MPers with it, certainly Choong who all but threw his competition.

 

The proposed obstacle event, a sort of tamed ninja warrior/Gladiators Eliminator/Krypton Factor assault course hybrid may actually be good fun - especially if, in wipeout style, there is opportunity to plunge into muddy water. But I cannot see it lasting as an Olympic event - MP, for better or worse, was essentially an equestrian event with a big run at the end.

 

So sadly, I think it might be better to simply put the old beast out of its misery. Whatever is coming in LA - it's not MP, and if the Olympics are interested in the n inja Warrior/Tough Mudder/Assault course genre, better just to create it fresh.

 

Proposal : drop Modern Pentathlon

 

Rowing :

 

I am absolutely unconvinced of the current format, various sizes of boat racing the one distance, with crews being shuffled around like a deck of cards in a poker game. The entry numbers in some of the events are also utterly obscure - 7 eights? 6 would work as a straight final, 8 would work as two semis and a repechage, all of 4) 7's just...nothing at all.

 

Sweep v scull is a legitimate distinction, I don't have a problem with that (see also Kayak v Canadian canoe)

Eights, coxed is a very important boat for historic reasons - it is essentially the main test of rowing depth

Single sculls is obvious, as is a Pair, the smallest possible boats of their type

 

So M1x, W1x, M2-, W2-, M8+, W8+ are a given

 

Should the 1x and 2- be considered also for a 500 or 1000 metre, rather than lots more sizes of boats? Would the kind of rowers winning 500 be different from those winning 2000?

 

To get balance, I might be tempted to allow the quad sculls, so the boats go, broadly 1,2,4,8 but with less obvious duplication - just one big boat, one small boat in each class, and stroke

 

Finally, I've seen beach sprint coastal rowing - it's bloody fun, and I'm all for it - and I think the Canoers should be looking at outrigger canoes for similar fun and games

 

So my proposal is

 

500 M : M1x, W1x, M2x, W2x

2000 M : M1x, W1X, M2-, W2-, Mix4x, Mix4-, M8+, W8+

Coastal : M1, W1

 

 

 

The greater number of 1x events reduces the number of quotas required quite a lot, which allows bigger fields in sensible events, including an 8 team field in the 8+ - you will note despite scullers having a few more events, the numbers of scullers and sweepers will remain roughly the same.

 

Rugby Sevens :

 

Grand as it is, no proposed change.

 

Skateboarding :

 

Park works, street doesn't. World Skate should consider if there are other skate disciplines that would be better served, while retaining the Park. I'll admit I have a hankering for some inline roller derby style action

 

Proposal : Drop street, retain park

 

Surfing

 

After two games, I feel I can confidently make the statement - cool thing to do, crap thing to watch. I've tried, I've tried, but I just don't see the value - frankly the sailing Kite surfing was far more interesting to the casual viewer, and I had no faith it would be. I'm afraid this is one sport I'd bin.

 

Proposal : Drop Surfing

 

Sailing:

 

Expensive sport but, a little secret, LOTS of people in the IOC hierarchy like it.

More will simply have to be done to try and make something televisual of the sport - the kitesurfing actually came closest to pulling that off. The windsurfer brit was correct about the unfairness of the system, the kitesurfing system was fairer.

But I can see this sport going, if I'm honest, along with the Equestrianism...

[heywoodu 15,135]

1 hour ago, MatiReimundo said:

I went on twitter to insult the guy

 

[heywoodu 15,135]

Just happened to have come across World Tag Chase, which actually looked quite fun and absolutely athletic  

 

Would be a cool one to have as a demonstration sport.

[Dragon 1,844]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

 

Jonathan Liew is an arrogant, pretentious *****

[heywoodu 15,135]

Just now, Dragon said:

Jonathan Liew is an arrogant, pretentious *****

Sure, but it sounds so silly in a fun way to go to Twitter with the specific goal of insulting someone. I wonder, with a pitchfork or torch in hand?  

[Dragon 1,844]

8 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Sure, but it sounds so silly in a fun way to go to Twitter with the specific goal of insulting someone. I wonder, with a pitchfork or torch in hand?  

Personally the only time I've ever insulted someone on twitter was some moron who insisted the death of Tori Bowie, the US athlete, was linked to her being vaccinated against covid.

I don't regret that either.

Edited August 16 by Dragon
typo

[mpjmcevoy 362]

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Just happened to have come across World Tag Chase, which actually looked quite fun and absolutely athletic  

 

Would be a cool one to have as a demonstration sport.

Is that the sort of Parkour pursuit in a cage - if so, absolutely, perhaps as part of a set of parkour events including sprint and freerunning