NearPup

Given the inclusion of squash and cricket I do wonder how much of a thumb on the scale the IOC had in this process.

Especially given both the US and Canadian governments are backing the move to allow the Haudenosaunee to compete. The IOC has set themselves up in a position where it could be a PR nightmare no matter what they do.

If they aren't allowed to compete independently (and tbh I don't expect they will) they will likely refuse to compete at all. The Haudenosaunee players have a fairly strong aversion for competing for either Canada or the US.

Banned? He should be executed! He's a traitor to his King!

Of those: I have no justification for Lacrosse or Flag Football. If Cricket isn't popular enough to justify being in the Olympic then we have to cut most sports from the Olympics. The main justifications I can see for Baseball not being deserving of an Olympic spot is that the women's game is extremely underdeveloped (to the point that Softball is substituted as a women's version) and that the top pros have never taken part in the Olympics. But Baseball is one of the most developed and competitive team sport in the world on the men's side. It definitively dwarfs exisitng Olympic team sports like Water Polo, Handball and Field Hockey. The main reason I think breaking being in the Olympics would make sense as a permanent inclusion is that it's dirt cheap to host - very few athletes, relatively few officials, very easy to produce for TV and re-using an exisitng venue. It really doesn't need to have very much appeal to be worth it.

I actually think is going to be favourites to win both the men's and women's events The format at the Olympics is sixes, which isn't the same as the traditional outdoor lacrosse format. It has a lot of elements that make it more similar to box lacrosse (an indoor version of lacrosse played on a pitch the size of an ice hockey rink), and that's a version of the game Canada absolutely dominated. ...but ya, and are almost locks for the gold medal game in both the men's and women's event. If the Haudenosaunee are allowed to compete then there is a real chance there could be a North American sweep in the men's event.

Where I personally draw the line would be including sports that *can* be played on ice or snow, as long as they actually are played on ice or snow at the Winter Olympics. So I would be in favour of cross country running or cyclocross as long as a large part of the playing field for both is covered in snow and part of the challenge includes navigating winter conditions. Also why I'm in favour of snow volleyball being considered. (I'm also a big fan of including ice climbing in the winter Olympics, but I think that's a less controversial idea with regard to it being a "real" winter sport)

I believe so, yes. My reaction is because the steeplechase is my favourite event in the summer Olympics (and IMO more fun to watch than XC) :P

That's kind of how I feel about Lacrosse's inclusion in 2028. Obviously I'm happy it will very, very likely give two medals (and decent chance to win gold in both events), and I also happen to really enjoy watching Lacrosse so I'm happy to have it in the Olympics either way. But can I justify Lacrosse being an Olympic sport, compared to so many other sports? Nope. (And to be clear, I believe Water Polo definitively deserves to be in the Olympics more than Lacrosse does)

I second this.

The judging systems for kata and breakdancing were actually both completely changed specifically for the Olympics, so they were both as old as one another. And karate might have had many decades of development but that doesn’t mean the end product was any good as a TV sport, and it also had arguably the most controversial officiating decision of the entire Tokyo Olympics.

That seems reasonable to me. Also she could probably use the three month vacation anyway, so this is very much a small slap on the wrists.

People can say what they will about how subjective breakdancing is, karate still managed to have more controversial officiating.

Ya, Hamedi being disqualified remains one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen in any sporting event. I don’t know how justified it was within the WKF rules, but either way it felt really wrong. I would be really disappointed if kumite ever came back to the Olympics. I would be okay with a return of kata, because it at least provides something completely different to the Olympics rather than being the world’s lamest combat sport. Plus at least if you KO your opponent in a kata competition there won’t be any controversy about the disqualification.

A lot of Europeans are really mad that there is *ONE* Olympic sport that they are the worst continent in.

The gymnastics officiating wasn’t nearly as bad as the boxing officiating. Also worth remembering that the (correct) gymnast would have won bronze on floor if they inquired the neutral deduction. Which her coaches didn’t do. So this whole mess could have been avoided.

I wish there was more transparancy around this. I don't believe we ever even found out what all the disciplines that applied for 2028 were.

You know America is, like, allowed to compete in diving and in table tennis, right? The US was in fact the dominant country in Olympic diving for a reeeeeeealy long time. The US lead the all time Diving medal count until these past Olympics, took China that long to overtake y'all. China could have just complained that the Olympics contained too many American-dominates sports like diving, instead of getting really good at said sport. (Also, I say y'all, but I'm American too so... oh well)

Sports I don't mention I think are mostly fine. Athletics I would remove the mixed 4x400m relay. I personally would like a men's and women's 4x1500m relay, a mixed shuttle hurdles relay and a men's and women's eikiden (essentially a 4x10km road relay, but with the distances adding up to the distance of a marathon). Artistic Swimming Adding a mixed duet Boxing Either have seven weight classes by gender, or eliminate. Breaking Add it back. It just makes a lot of sense from a cost/benifit point of view given it re-uses an existing venue and has a very light athlete footprint. Canoeing Oh boy. I have the kayak cross event and I would personally love to see it eliminated, I believe it is the worst variation of snowboardcross ever created. Not sure what I would do otherwise, I'd like to see six slalom events maintained, but I'm not sure what I would add. Maybe some sort of mixed team events? I don't think the mixed C-2 ever took off, but maybe a timed mixed event with both C-1 and K-1 paddlers? I would like 5000m K-1 and C-1 events. Cycling For road cycling, I would want a team time trial (not the mixed relay time trial, just a four person men's and women's road time trial). I would also like to see a criterium in addition to the road race. For track cycling, I would add the 1km time trial and the individual pursuit. I actually like the current omnium format, even though it's basically just a glorified points race. For mountain biking, I would add a mixed relay to cross country, and also the 4X event (which is what kayak cross wishes it was xD ) Equestrian I would get rid of dressage (or, if I was the IOC, I would ask for a lot of horse welfare and judging changes) Field hockey I would bring back sudden death extra time! Way too many knockout matches go to a shootout. Football Increase size of women's tournament to 16 teams. Golf Adding a men's and women's team event, four golfers per teams, calculated from the first two rounds of strokeplay. Would also add a mixed team event, with two golfers per team. Gymnastics I would make it very clear that the days of rythmic being women's only and of women's gymnastics having two less aparatus than men's gymnastics are numbered and that there needs to be a plan to change that. I would add synchro trampoline. Judo I would remove the mixed team event, and add a men's and a women's team event. Modern Pentathlon I would eliminate this sport. Rowing No coastal rowing. If we wanted to cut events I would consider removing the fours and the double scull events. Sailing I actually don't know enough about this sport to have a strong opinion on this. Shooting I would standarize the format for the men's and women's 25m pistol events. I would change the formats of the team events, to have an eight team bracket after qualification and head to head matches. I would stop the rotation between the team trap and the team skeet events and simply include both. I would add VAR to shotgun shooting xD Skateboarding I would add vert Climbing I would have three separate individual events (speed, lead, boulder). Sufring I would add a mixed team event (similar format as what they do in the Aloha cup) Table Tennis I would replace the team event with doubles. Taekwondo I would have seven weight classes rather than four. Weightlifting I would have seven weight classes rather than five. Wrestling I would eliminate Greco-Roman wrestling and have seven freestyle weight classes. Generally I think the IOC should find cost cuting measures other than limiting the athlete cap. I also think that roster sizes in team sports should be increased while also limiting injury replacements.

Don't make me take out my rant about the nomenclature of Football and how various forms of gridiron football have just as strong a claim to the name "football" as association football (soccer) does :P But ya, both in tackle football but especially in flag football scoring ten points isn't that impressive.

Ten is really not a lot of points to score in Football. She’ll need to train harder.

I think more flexibility around the venues is, by far, the best reform Bach and friends have instituted. I have a lot of qualms about how Brisbane got the 2032 games, but I do think their regional model is absolutely the future of the Olympics.

That's why I said sustainability theatre, not sustainability. IMO hosting speed skating in an existing venue in the Netherlands is about the appearance of cost cutting moreso than it is really about cost cutting.

But think about all the content(tm) you'd be taking away from NBC! (IMO this is the real reason the swimming program is bloated - it's one of the three tent-pole sports for NBC and they do not want the number of semi-final and final races to go down) And now that the US is good at distance events I doubt NBC would want the 800 to go away either.