Poll 39|100 | Controversial Topic | If you had the power to remove one of the Olympic Sports/Discipline at Tokyo what would it be?

[Grassmarket 2,760]

1 hour ago, Olympian1010 said:

Users are given the opportunity to throw a sport off the Olympic program, and y’all aren’t choosing Boxing or Weightlifting 

 

This was the easiest poll yet. I went straight to weightlifting and pressed submit vote 

 

I love weightlifting, but there’s just too many problems at the moment. 

They both have corrupt governing bodies, but are both 

 

1) Universal historic sports - ie exist in all cultures at all times

2) Cheap, so equally open to all nations.

[Olympian1010 7,483]

3 minutes ago, Grassmarket said:

They both have corrupt governing bodies, but are both 

 

1) Universal historic sports - ie exist in all cultures at all times

2) Cheap, so equally open to all nations.

You raise great points. For me, the negatives outweigh the positives at the moment. However, I think if both sports manage to clean up their act in the future they would absolutely be welcome back on the Olympic program.

[bmo 180]

There are 3 sports/disciplines that I could care less about on the Olympic program: Artistic Swimming, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Equestrian Dressage. 

[Olympian1010 7,483]

For me, these are the bottom five sports at the moment...

 

Golf - The IGF/IOC has had trouble attracting the best players. That said, golf is globally popular. You can find golf courses all around the world. Venue can also host other sports (Athletics, Equestrian, or even Cross Country Skiing as demonstrated by Pyeongchang 2018).

 

Sailing - World Sailing is struggling to stay afloat financially, and the sport presents a lot of broadcast challenges. That said, it’s a good sport for universality. Plus, sailing as both a sport and skill/trade has been around for a long time, so it’s a natural for inclusion on the Olympic program.

 

Modern Pentathlon - It’s likely the least popular sport on the Olympic program due to poor coverage, confusing competition formats, and exclusivity in who can even participate/practice the sport. That said, it’s a historic sport. It’s the one sport created specifically for the Olympic Games, and so it makes a good novelty. 
 

Boxing - The sport has had well documented issues with governance and bout judging. That said, this another good sport for universality. It also is one of the most historic and commonly practiced sports.

 

Weightlifting - Another sport that suffers from poor governance. It’s also experienced rampant doping. It’s another historic sport that’s also good for universality purposes.

 

That’s my look/opinion at the sports I see towards the bottom of the program. However, I think the current Olympic program is right about where it needs to be. I’d only drop sports on the basis of governance issues, rampant doping, cost effectiveness, decline global popularity, etc. 

[pdr4332 149]

For me it's modern pentathlon, with no question. Actually it's viability as a sport (not only Olympics) is doubtful for me at the moment.

Second is weightlifting, which is now essentially competitive doping.

But if it can be cleaned up, I see a future for it, unlike pentathlon.

Good point about the practically closed-circuit niche judged sports (RG, artistic swimming), they are certainly better for broadcast than m. pentathlon, but it's an open question how (or if ever) they could be made more competitive, even inside the small group of countries which practice them at a high level.

[NearPup 2,167]

8 hours ago, OlympicsFan said:

You think that gold at the Olympics is the biggest goal in ice hockey and Rugby?

To the players it isn't as important as the Stanley Cup, but the Olympics is by far the most important International tournament.

 

To the general public, especially more casual fans? The Olympics is the biggest thing in ice hockey. Literally half of Canadians watched the 2010 finals, it's the most watched television event in the country's history. In fact six of the ten most watched television broadcast in Canadian history are Olympic ice hockey matches. Only one NHL game is in the top 10.

[NearPup 2,167]

I think surfing and skateboarding deserve a little more respect around these parts tbh. I get that they aren't everybody's cup of tea, but those are sports that managed to build long lasting and consistently high quality International competition circuits with no real support from NOCs or the IOC. Those are sports that are doing fine without the Olympics. I'm sure the Olympics will help them grow, but I think the IOC would be crazy to not include them.

 

That's also how I feel about tennis and golf in the Olympics. Are the Olympics the apex of those sports? No. Is it better for the Olympics to have the PGA and the ATP/WTA as partners rather than as competitors? Absolutely.

[Quasit 849]

If it's just about removal then none because for me it's "the more, the merrier" and if you think about the athletes, it's their bit of fame. Even if I don't like certain sports/events on the current programme.

 

If it has to be like that to make way for something I'd rather like to see (for example squash or wushu), then I guess artistic swimming, rhythmic gymnastics or dressage (sorry ) can go. 

 

I'm not a traditionalist, so I'm not "afraid" of new sports either. Except for breaking and I also wouldn't like to see eSports at the Olympics. It doesn't fit in there. They should establish their own multisport event.

[rybak 2,694]

I voted for weightlifting, if there would be more options I would voted for artistic swimming and Men's U23 football tournament.

[szy123 79]

Definitely weightlifting. I am actually annoyed this shitshow is stillin the program. I don't even believe there are any clear athletes left there. If the Federation can't assure the Competition is fair then why bother at all? I also wouldn't be happy if we'd get medal here, as we would probably get stripped of it in a few years ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Second choice would be boxing but that's a case of tearing down all we have (as it's simply a mafia) and rebuilding from scratch. 

 

Then comes baseball as it's just pointless without MLB players. But I'd fancy adding men's or co-ed softball in that place honestly.

 

The difficult case is men's football. Like, I feel it'd be ridiculous to not have the world's most popular sport in the Olympic program. But having only u23's is ridiculous too. I know it's beyond a real possibility here, but IOC should have more power in deciding about Olympic sports and should be able to do as much as needed to ensure that the best of the best really compete.