[Closed] Would it be better for MTB if XC was replaced in the olympics by DH or Enduro

I may well do!

PJ is correct there are many sports that don't want to be added to the Olympics. That comes with tons of baggage like drug testing (so no wacky backy with your mates) money which corrupts, elitism which pushes out the weekend warrior etc

Wouldn't they need to change the olympic motto?

Faster - Higher - Stronger.
Unless going faster meant wearing something unfashionable in which case we'd rather go a bit slower and look cool.

The XC World Champs was heart-in-mouth stuff in the women's race

[quote=moose ]more importantly, for UK cycling, we have better DH athletes than we do XC, that's a fact. So at the very least, in terms of drawing in funding and support, BC pushing for DH to be included in the Olympics would be advantageous.

You're taking this seriously rather than just arguing about it on here? I don't think the IOC or UCI are going to be particularly impressed with the argument that the UK has better DH riders.

Of course even if they did manage to get it included, the earliest possible event would be 2024 (realistically, given the time needed to lobby for new events 2028) - what's the chance of the UK having the best riders in the world by then?

what's the chance of the UK having the best riders in the world by then?

You're taking this seriously rather than just arguing about it on here? I don't think the IOC or UCI are going to be particularly impressed with the argument that the UK has better DH riders.

Of course even if they did manage to get it included, the earliest possible event would be 2024 (realistically, given the time needed to lobby for new events 2028) - [b]what's the chance of the UK having the best riders in the world by then?[/b]

Quite high, the UK has been at the top of the sport for decades, for some reason we do quite well and always have done. There was a Brit on the podium of the three cats at MSA, two of them were the top step.

Pinkbike forum just rang. They want their argument back.

I agree with what Jared Graves said a couple of weeks ago about all cycling being good.

Why

There were 26 sailing events at Portland, and it was decided it was the most suitable world class venue available within a vague proximity of London. It had a full on athlete village there for the hundreds of competitors. Doing something similar for the 40 entrants you'd get for DH Is so beyond plausible it's not true.

XC is mtb racing in its purest if you ask me. Probably the easiest for most punters to work out which is what the olympics is for.

njee20 - Member

There were 26 sailing events at Portland, and it was decided it was the most suitable world class venue available within a vague proximity of London. It had a full on athlete village there for the hundreds of competitors. Doing something similar for the 40 entrants you'd get for DH Is so beyond plausible it's not true.

Well of course you wouldn't do it the same [i]way[/i]; there's absolutely no need for that scale. But that's basically irrelevant- the point of the sailing comparison is mostly to show how stupid the "can't do it in most cities" argument is.

Course, it doesn't have to be the only event held there, it could be your hub for other events, which has its own advantages. What's that you say, Hadleigh isn't in London either?

[quote=Northwind ]Well of course you wouldn't do it the same way; there's absolutely no need for that scale. But that's basically irrelevant- the point of the sailing comparison is mostly to show how stupid the "can't do it in most cities" argument is.

Well it's a stupid comparison when you're comparing one tiny event of a sport with the whole of a sport. Clearly there is a difference when you're setting up a complete other event centre for a sport involving hundreds of athletes rather than just carting 40 odd people hundreds of miles away, which brings us onto:

Course, it doesn't have to be the only event held there, it could be your hub for other events, which has its own advantages. What's that you say, Hadleigh isn't in London either?

But why would you want to hold other events hundreds of miles away from the main stadiums when you don't have to? The point for sailing is that they had to move the whole sport - there's no need to have the track, road or BMX cycling anywhere other than right next to the other stadiums. Hadleigh's a 50 minute drive from the Olympic village, which is a quite normal distance for event centres.

aracer - Member

But why would you want to hold other events hundreds of miles away from the main stadiums when you don't have to?

So you don't have to spend a million quid on scratchbuilding a venue, is the obvious answer. Redistributing the benefit/"legacy" is another- the harm done to tourism and sport across the UK would have been offset with greater distribution of events.

But it is a side thought; if the objection is "not worth relocating for one sport" then a possible counter is "do more events there then". I think the best answer would probably be the simplest; put specific sports where they need to be, exactly as they do now- it's no different. Being smaller doesn't make it harder.

I went to watch two football matches during Sydney 2000 . . . In Adelaide.

no

Slopestyle it is then. Elbry will shit on everyone.

[quote=Northwind ]So you don't have to spend a million quid on scratchbuilding a venue, is the obvious answer.

What prebuilt venues are you going to find in the forest next to the DH course? If you're thinking Newport Velodrome to go with BPW, then see if you can spot the flaw http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/cycling-weekly/newport-velodrome-132950

Redistributing the benefit/"legacy" is another- the harm done to tourism and sport across the UK would have been offset with greater distribution of events.

The whole point of an Olympics is to have the events located as closely together as possible to generate an event spirit. I suspect most of those going to watch track cycling want to feel part of the big event more than they want to go and see the DH. Sure it might be better for legacy, but do you really think that's a major consideration in reality? Of course having one sport which already sometimes has to be located well away from the main stadiums is also an argument against splitting the Olympics up by adding more.

But it is a side thought; if the objection is "not worth relocating for one sport" then a possible counter is "do more events there then".

Tail wagging the dog.

Loads of people just fell off their road bikes, admittedly the poor lass did take a proper crash, but in light of the fact there's uproar about safety do you really think proper do is likely to be considered safe, it would have to be dumbed down to errr XC

Have you been drinking Phil or do you just not check your posts before you click send?

aracer - Member

What prebuilt venues are you going to find in the forest next to the DH course? If you're thinking Newport Velodrome to go with BPW, then see if you can spot the flaw

I'm talking about the mtb XC. [i]Obviously[/i].

Scrap 'em all and replace with bike polo

Retrodirect - Member

Scrap 'em all and replace with bike polo

Forget bike polo- horse slopestyle

[quote=Northwind ]I'm talking about the mtb XC. Obviously.

I thought we were scrapping that to include DH?

[quote=Retrodirect ]Scrap 'em all and replace with [s]bike polo[/s] unicycle hockey

Yes it is a real sport

What I would really like to see is XC fat biking in the winter Olympic's.

No it would not be better to replace XC at the olympics.
They should add Cyclocross and DH to the winter Olympics though.
Strangely this has got me thinking about if they should replace Marathon with Spartan race at the summer Olympics, i think that would be very entertaining.

CX at the Winter Olympics yes, but why DH?

Scrap all track and fields and just have Crossfit/Competetive Aerobics and American Ninja.
And darts.

actually screw it
http://www.crankworx.com/2016/07/19/live-broadcast-schedule-is-out/
We have Crankworx 3x a year

aracer - Member

I thought we were scrapping that to include DH?

Some people with no imagination or ambition would like that, sure.

No!

What I would really like to see is fat stw'ers biking xc in the winter Olympic's.

So many Olympic sports, with ever more added each year for novelty or too appeal to yoof. I think it's lost some of it's cache and relevance. Do they just keep going till every sport is an Olympic sport?

In Tokyo we'll have surfing and skateboarding. Will an Olympic gold in either automatically represent the greatest achievement in those sports?

There are plenty of sports where the Olympics is not the highest goal, or indicative of the best competition. DH is great as it is, Enduro is great as it is. I don't see how it could be improved by being contorted to fit Olympic requirements so we can watch 10 minutes of highlights at 11 o clock at night with commentary by completely disinterested/uneducated professionals.

In Tokyo we'll have surfing and skateboarding.

WADA are going to be busy

Strangely this has got me thinking about if they should replace Marathon with Spartan race at the summer Olympics, i think that would be very entertaining.

😆

Tough Mudder for 2024!

And replace the road race with a sportive.

Yeah replace the 1,2,3 places with spot prizes!

Gold, Silver & Bronze times - so they'll need a bigger podium obvs.

Much of whether a sport (or sub-section of a sport) is included in the Olympics is non-sport related: how televisual it is; can they fit it in to the two week schedule?; are the sponsors happy with it?; is there an accepted world-wide governing body?; what's the participation levels?; etc. The actual pros and cons of the sport itself are way down the list.

[quote=Rorschach ]What I would really like to see is fat stw'ers biking xc in the winter Olympic's.

Yeah, with a compulsory stop at the top of each hill to [s]catch your breath[/s] wait for your mates, and a cafe stop half way round. We want a sport that represents what we really do.

A few years ago I'd have said no to downhill being included, but we all have to admit that the sport has come such a long way. The guys (and girls) at the top are all athletes in every sense of the word, spending months training for a combined total race time of less than an hour a year on the international stage. Olympic coverage will put more funding into mountain biking (not just DH) across the world, get more people inspired to go riding (and their car parking covering trail maintenance), boost trade in your favourite LBS, allow companies to pay their riders a bit more, and let guys like Ratboy have live interviews broadcast to millions of people while stoked off their tits and hopefully full of champagne. There'll be more than enough action for TV coverage, even if done like RedBull and showing highlights and then the top riders live. Somebody make it happen!

It would only work if Lord Warner was commentating

'Look at the time!'
'That's as popular as a ginger step child'
'Looks like he's shit a Lego Deathstar'
'He's off-line like a Russian border'
'He's all over the place! Like a monkey dry humping a football!'
'He's gone down faster than the US economy'

Yeah, with a compulsory stop at the top of each hill to wait for your mates [b]who are at the bottom of the hill wondering when the uplift will get there[/b], and a cafe stop half way round. We want a sport that represents what we really do.

Made that more realistic for you. 😛

DH & BMX are more of a spectacle, road & XC are a bit more obviously fitness than madskilz based

DH is less obviously about fitness? Have you seen some of the top riders recently, eg Gwin and Gee Atherton? They look as fit as Chris Hoy!

Anyway since when was the Olympics about fitness and not skill? They have table tennis in it, don't they?

Besides, all this is irrelevant - I'm pretty sure that I read that DH was considered to be too reliant on technology and that it was spiritually too close to motorsports - by the olympics committee.

Yeah, with a compulsory stop at the top of each hill to catch your breath wait for your mates, and a cafe stop half way round. We want a sport that represents what we really do.

I went to watch two football matches during Sydney 2000 . . . In Adelaide.

I was working those matches, doing the IT stuff. Small world.

Don't care about DH in the Olympics, but why not? No reason it should be instead of XC. And get cyclocross into the winter games, too.

It would only work if Lord Warner was commentating

'Look at the time!'
'That's as popular as a ginger step child'
'Looks like he's shit a Lego Deathstar'
'He's off-line like a Russian border'
'He's all over the place! Like a monkey dry humping a football!'
'He's gone down faster than the US economy'

It would certainly add some cheer to the commentating - a bit like when Jenny Jones won her bronze and Amy Lee(?) joined Ed and Tim commentating -and they all got a tad carried away....

Olympic pootling about, it would be great.
They could spend half an hour at the start waiting for Spain until Germany suddenly remembers that he saw him in the pub on Thursday and he said he wouldn't be coming because he's got to visit his mum. Then Italy would discover that he's forgotten his helmet but USA says it's OK he's got a spare one but by the time he's got it from the car France has got his shock pump out and is fiddling with his forks, at which point Australia says sod it and goes off on his own, then everybody else decides to just go straight down the pub because it looks like it's going to rain.

Best comment I've read in here in a while! Bravo sir, bravo.

Cyclo-cross would be a brilliant addition to the olympics, easy to construct a course, good spectator viewing, easy TV coverage, set duration. Don't think it needs to be in the winter Olympics though, might almost make more sense to be in the summer when other cycling takes place. In fact googling suggests winter olympics has to be held on snow or ice. Not sure frozen mud counts?

Anyway since when was the Olympics about fitness and not skill? They have table tennis in it, don't they?

Not a great comparison, Table Tennis players are actually very fit, it requires a huge amount of explosive leg power to move around the table.

Maybe archery would be a better example?

CX at the Winter Olympics yes, but why DH?

I just think DH fits in with the general theme of the Winter olympics, individual timed runs, bit of emphasis on tech and setup. I think it would be really good to expose the winter olympics audience to bike based sports. Plus why not do DH on snow, could become the next holiday craze 😀

twisty - Plus why not do DH on snow, could become the next holiday craze

Yeah, with a compulsory stop at the top of each hill to catch your breath wait for your mates, and a cafe stop half way round. We want a sport that represents what we really do.

It's called Enduro.

Anyway no one wants to see a sport in the Olympics which involves people pushing bikes up hills. What kind of message does that send out?

Modern XCO is perfect for the Olympics and right now is a better watch than DH IMO. Nino Schurter and the course designers have really moved the sport on from the old XC days.

[quote=mogrim ]Don't care about DH in the Olympics, but why not? No reason it should be instead of XC.

If we're joining the real world on this thread, because the IOC will only let cycling have so many events, they had to drop some track events to get BMX and XC in. I'm not sure I can see them deciding to drop another track event for DH.

matt_outandabout - Member

It would certainly add some cheer to the commentating - a bit like when Jenny Jones won her bronze and Amy Lee(?) joined Ed and Tim commentating -and they all got a tad carried away....

I loved that tbh, just about any fast paced sport could be improved this way. Wouldn't really work for golf... But it's almost like the rulebook for tv commentary says "Make it passionless and unenthused". It doesn't have to be Warnerish, it just needs to be joyous. Murray Walker frinstance.

Chris Boardman brought some of that to the end of the olympics road, wandering around with a big grin on his face congratulating the riders.