Sports that should and shouldn't be in the Olympics

Horse dancing should certainly not be in their.

Synchronised ebike flatland should be in there fo sho.

Breaststroke are out.

Disagree; that's the stroke my mum would use to avoid getting her hair wet. We could still have races, just have to be heads above water.

Tug of war has been before and should be again

In Arm Wrestling

Out Shooting

and possibly road cycling

What! and lose the curse of the gold lid!

Brass band contests should be in.

IN: Cross country running, It used to be many years ago. Too many great middle and long distance runners chasing too few track medals.

OUT: Stupid modern pentathlon thing should be out, mainly because they are cruel to the horses.

Brass band contests should be in.

Subjective judging, no go.

Tug of war has been before and should be again

This fits the criteria. In.

Cross country running

Yep, I'd go with that, and add cyclocross in at the same time. But, I'd put them in the winter Olympics not summer. I refuse to have XC or CX in warm conditions, it needs mud and cold air.

Architecture and planning used to be in the Olympic in the Arts categories along with engraving and graphics 

Don't know if it would make for riveting telly if I'm honest.

2 of them are just deliberately making life hard for yourself

Disagree. Was always pretty strong at breast stroke, not so much freestyle. Backstroke as a life saving option? Nope.

CX in the winter Olympics and DH in the summer one

Disagree. Was always pretty strong at breast stroke, not so much freestyle. Backstroke as a life saving option? Nope.

That's fair. So we just keep freestyle then. Go as fast as you can, you can pick which stroke you use.

Sounds good.

There have to be some changes for high diving.

Surely the only subjective measure is how big a splash you can make. 'Top Bombing!'

Half the sailing should be dropped - and I say that as ex-Olympic class sailor!

I think they should combine it with the upcoming reboot of Gladiators and have scrapping with massive cotton buds on top of big poles

Also my proposed reboot of Gladiators which involves actual lions

So, as a start point, anything that’s scored subjectively and/or judged is out. Dressage, boxing, gymnastics figure skating, skateboarding, surfing and most martial arts all gone.

Gymnastics and figure skating have scoring methodologies that make sense and have evolved as sports around this so I'd let them stay. Skateboarding, BMX, freestyle ski/snowboard are sports where scoring has been added on to a previously non-competitive sport at the cost of style and expression, so as a purist I would say remove from the Olympics.

Too many track cycling and swimming medals. Remove all the stupid formats and strokes and replicate athletics; sprint, middle distance, long distance and a relay.

I refuse to have XC or CX in warm conditions, it needs mud and cold air.

Done in the sunshine in other countries. My suggestion would have XC running at the same games as the track events, otherwise the same Gold winners in the summer would win gold in the winter.

Add a target/scoring element to Javelin - target areas on the ground at different distances so it becomes more about judgement and skill rather than just how far you can wang the stick.

Ditch discuss and hammer.

Quoits should be in.

Pole vaulting should be judged on distance not height… the Long Vault into a sand pit.

Sumo and Kabaddi definitely in.

Boxing doesn't have to out - just change it from 3 rounds of mincing to "to the death"

I refuse to have XC or CX in warm conditions, it needs mud and cold air.

Oh dear, you are not going to like 2032.

So, as a start point, anything that’s scored subjectively and/or judged is out. Dressage, boxing, gymnastics figure skating, skateboarding, surfing and most martial arts all gone.

So boxing and martial arts just replaced by 'fighting', no judging, winner is last person conscious.

People do realise that every competitive sport has some form of subjective judging, right?

I'm not sure why judges directly assigning a score makes something 'not a sport' but it's a cliche that gets rolled out all the time.

Drop the Olympic distance triathlon in favour of the Ironman distances of 3.8,180,42. And 3000m of climbing minimum.

Winter triathlon in the Winter Olympics. We nearly got in in the late 90s but it didn't happen for some reason. 10km run on snow, 15km MTB on snow. 15km X-C ski

Dressage.

I would have thought that the only people interested in it were those that were taking part.

I would have thought that the only people interested in it were those that were taking part.#

kissing up to queenie via her daughter

Let's just get rid of the Olympics altogether.
Just a multi-billion dollar money-making scheme for those at the top and a complete waste of resources every four years.
If a sport can't stand on it's own with it's own world championships then it's just a pastime. 😉

I sort of get this, whilst at the same not getting it. Surely would be better if they varied the position of the holds?<br /><br /><br />

Jousting - Non subjective equestion discipline to replace dressage?

Let’s just get rid of the Olympics altogether.

This is pretty much the view I'm coming round to.

I suspect the Commonwealth Games are on the verge of folding and I wouldn't be surprised if the Olympics went the same way in a few years.

Let’s just get rid of the Olympics altogether.<br />Just a multi-billion dollar money-making scheme for those at the top and a complete waste of resources every four years.<br />If a sport can’t stand on it’s own with it’s own world championships then it’s just a pastime

Yep.  Saved me some typing there.  It feels these days it's more about the prestige for the venues, the marketing companies, broadcasters and the organisers than about the sport.  Would be happy to see it go

Can we bring in drugs as well? Formally rather than just unofficially as it is today.  I mean I don't want to watch someone long jump 9m but 20m might be interesting. So take all the drugs you like and lets see a 5sec 100m race?

Sack off anything involving horses for starters. It's not supposed to be a competition for lazy posh ****ers who can't be arsed to do the hard work themselves.

Then EVERYTHING that requires music (synchronised swimming, ribbon waving in a leotard, etc.)

Everything that is 'judged' rather than measured or timed.

And everything that isn't the pinacle of the sport (so off with golf, tennis, wendyball, etc).

Everything that is really only played in America ( big bat rounders, etc) as that's just all bollox.

Swimming- anything that's not freestyle (all other strokes are just swimming in an increasingly shit way - even track running don't have a sideways or backwards version).

Walking races.  That behaviour should be the preserve of a ministry in Monty Python.

Introduce 'top bombing' - as a replacement for the various diving competitions.  That can be measured - just decide the criteria - highest splash, biggest displaced water volume (3D scanners can do that easily) or loudest belly flop from 10m.

It’s continued existence baffles me

Possibly the most corrupt organisation on the planet (other than FIFA) offers you the ‘opportunity’ to spend billions and billions to host a load of sports/pastimes that nobody would ever bother to watch at any other time, and you’re supposed to thank them for it?

The Commonwealth Games is essentially now dead as it’s the same offer, only slightly shitter, surely the Olympics is next

Would anyone actually miss it?

Can we bring in drugs as well? Formally rather than just unofficially as it is today. I mean I don’t want to watch someone long jump 9m but 20m might be interesting. So take all the drugs you like and lets see a 5sec 100m race?

@db, so at what age are you prepared to let your daughter start taking those drugs?

I'm up for the triathlon to go iron distance. But also up the swim leg to 10k whilst at it to make it proper.  3.8k swim is a joke really in ironman, massively  disproportionately short and only a legacy of what happened to be an existing swim event in the 1970s in Hawaii, rather than the 10k which is commonly viewed as the equivalent marathon distance for swimming.

@db, so at what age are you prepared to let your daughter start taking those drugs?

6 maybe?

I don't know.  I guess we could just experiment and find out what age kids respond best to PEDs.

It would certainly be better if the children of all nations shared these risks rather than just the ones who come from countries with state sponsored doping programs.

Monkey bars. Set up a circular course and set off 2 hangers from opposite sides. Winner is either first to catch the other one or last man still swinging
Best overall competitor based on the old superstars format. Open to any athelete 😉

eg.

100m: sprint as fast as you can over 100m.
800m: timed race over the 800m distance
50m swim: timed swimming race over the 50m distance
Gym test - squats: Your feet must be dragged from one line to another as many times as possible in a minute. Sliding in socks is allowed, but those who value their feet are advised to wear shoes.
Gym test - Dips: The aim is to lift yourself up using two parallel bars until your elbows lock out, then to dip down before locking out again. You have one minute to do as many repetitions as you can.
Kayak: a paddling race in pairs along a 120m course. The two fastest paddlers go head to head in a final to determine the winner.
Mountain bikes: A one-off race up a very steep 600m slope.

And finish it all off with a timed military assault course with mud and barbed wire

I really dislike the discrimination against sports that are not included.

A couple of things have baffled me since Mexico/Munich.  Why so much swimming, some bordering on the aquatic version of silly walks?

And where is the running? OK loads around in circles on a plastic track, but on actual terrain. At least triathlon has got in, but cross country, hill running and orienteering please - the latter is particularly attractive given technology and moving into short races in urban terrain. The traditional sport is less attractive for the obvious reason of trees!

Why have to Olympics at all, most sports have world championships so the Olympics are obsolete.

Have as many events in each category as you want/agree. So 20 running events but only 1 medal up for grabs you pick up points for position in the race. Gold to most points.
Athletics would break down to running, throwing, jumping medals.

Agree with swimming and track cycling. Any sport where people can win numerous medals in one games illustrates that there are far too many similar events . It’s no surprise that all our most successful Olympians are track cyclists

id also remove any sport that doesn’t pass a certain threshold for countries that participate. Using the example of track cycling, you are competing against a tiny pool of countries who take it seriously. That combined with the fact competitors have 3 or 4 chances to win a medal against very limited opposition makes it utterly pointless

Butterfly and Breaststroke are out

You're smokin' something.

Sack off anything involving horses for starters. It’s not supposed to be a competition for lazy posh ****ers who can’t be arsed to do the hard work themselves.

I have a feeling that's exactly who it was meant for. Corinthian spirit and all that, don't you know!

Every serious film I've ever seen about the Olympics is about posh people. The comedy films about the Olympics are about foolish poor people trying to compete, the stupid, misguided idiots. (I'm basing this accurate data entirely on Chariots of Fire vs Eddie The Eagle and Cool Runnings!)

{sticks hand up}

I'd miss the Olympics

{/sticks hand up}

Sack off anything involving horses for starters. It’s not supposed to be a competition for lazy posh ****ers who can’t be arsed to do the hard work themselves.

Nah, I'd combine it with field athletics to make all more interesting, on the basis of opposing teams and to the death. Javelin obviously and the hammer would be effective against horses if somewhat inaccurate. Maybe discus we could discuss.

And perhaps keep in heading the shot perhaps as its own discipline?

anything that’s scored subjectively and/or judged is out.

I'd agree with that, but I'd like to see some of the subjectively scored sports adapted to be measurable, i.e. they bought in skateboarding, keep it but just make it a big air comp with a vert ramp, gold goes to whoever can get highest above the coping and still land, also add downhill skating, host nations need a big hill with a road down it, no regulation of the boards or wheels or anything, but competitors must be stood for their entire run. Do it in heats, I think that would be a great spectacle.

Not so bothered about DH MTB getting in the summer games or CX getting in the winter Olympics TBH, keep the road race as it lets host nations show off more of their country than the stadiums they've spunked money at, maybe cut back a bit on the number of velodrome based events? And definitely keep BMX.

As for just allowing PEDs, Nah I think it's all part of any nation's sporting prowess; how they manage not only to use PEDs, but also then evade detection (or not if you're Russia)...

I think we should have some relatable "everyman" type sports too though, pie and or hotdog eating? Get rid of Olympic boxing and replace it with drunken brawling; host nation to provide 25 units in a locally produced booze of their choice (bit of a promotional opportunity) to both contestants before they're put in a street environment and given the task to knocking their opponent unconscious with their fists and whatever comes to hand. To be refereed by an equally inebriated woman missing one shoe with a handbag full of her own sick.

What's the purpose of removing sports you dislike from the Olympics exactly? You don't have to watch them! I don't watch any of it!

What’s the purpose of removing sports you dislike from the Olympics exactly? You don’t have to watch them! I don’t watch any of it!

The IOC has created a mythos of what the Olympics is supposed to be about.  People buy into that and then think, 'Hey, what have rich people forcing horses to dance got to do with these Olympic ideals you've sold me on?'

To get people to watch you have to sell them on something and if people then feel they've been mis-sold they are going to start complaining.

If people don't care they won't watch.  If people do care they are going to have opinions.

Personally I've gone past caring so I most likely won't be watching anything either.

You don’t have to watch them! I don’t watch any of it!

True, there's always the radio. In the last ones given the sudden popularity of women's beach volleyball R4 did a sterling job of reporting on latest scores.

I think they should combine it with the upcoming reboot of Gladiators and have scrapping with massive cotton buds on top of big poles.

Am interested, but only if Jet is involved. She also liked a mountain bike, I seem to recall.

On second thoughts, let's just bin the Olympics out. It's just a yawn-fest for the most part.

Why have to Olympics at all, most sports have world championships so the Olympics are obsolete.

It's so that thousands of the worlds best predominantly super fit, young multisport participants can live like nuns or monks for 3 years, and then be thrown together in one student village where after a bit of vigorous activity that for most is reasonably well measured in seconds, they can release all that pent up sexual frustration in the best way that thousands of super toned 20 year olds know.

London 2012 distributed 150,000 condoms and Tinder/Grindr was almost permanently crashed due to overuse.

Brass band contests should be in.

Subjective judging, no go.

It's a while since I've been in a brass band contest, but often, there is a set piece, where every band plays the same piece of music. The judges award points based on how closely you stuck to the black dots on the music. In this day and age, this could easily be automated (perhaps it already has) so not subjective, and this should totally be in the olympics.

Anything with equipment needs to be standardised and randomly assigned to competitors. Track cycling needs cut down to sprint, longer distance individual TT and Onmium. No traditional team sports, golf or racquet sports. Bye bye anything subjective/judged. <br /><br />

All sports there have world champs or other big events. The Olympics should be about the pinnacles of each individual sport. Will never happen though, too much money involved. 

All sports there have world champs or other big events. The Olympics should be about the pinnacles of each individual sport. Will never happen though, too much money involved.

I often wonder why a 'world championship' or 'world Cup' title is seemingly considered less prestigious than an olympic gold, especially when some competitors in certain events are very much not performing at the 'pinnacle' but get a spot anyway...

But I'd go the other way, why bother having an olympic medal if there's already a WC for a given sport? Let's only have niche sports which lack any other level of organised international competition in the Olympics. Unfortunately that would rule out Chess Boxing:

Each nation gets a Joker card. This gives them a 15% advantage to a single event. Additional cards can be bought for £5 million (in unmarked cash).

It's the stupid rules about building permanent structures, trying to get things like golf in there just to get money, it's all so corrupt, and it pulls all the funding from grassroots for the sale of a tiny handful of individuals at the top of their sport. Sod the Olympics.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/30/a-massive-betrayal-how-londons-olympic-legacy-was-sold-out

Monty Python had the right idea

If triathlon is in, then hungry sharks should be in the lake, angry dogs should be in the running section and there should be at least one angry white van man on the course for the cycling...
To compensate, we can reduce the distances somewhat.

People do realise that every competitive sport has some form of subjective judging, right?

Until I started doing it, and under competition rules when indoors, with archery it isn’t just getting an arrow into the coloured rings between the black lines, if the edge of the arrow is actually touching the edge of the black line for the next scoring ring in, then that counts as the higher score, and in proper national or international competitions, magnifying glasses come into play. I’ve watched the scoring official spend several minutes studying where exactly an arrow is in relation to the dividing lines before making a decision!

As far as binning the Olympics and just having World Championships is concerned, nobody seems to have realised that the Olympics not only brings together lots of different countries, it’s bringing together a whole shitload of different disciplines - a Worlds only brings together teams of the same sports.

And then there’s the Paralympic Games; is anyone really going to stand up and say these athletes should be denied competition with other athletes from around the world?

Allow:
Running
Jumping
Unarmed hand-to-hand combat
Discus
Javelin
Pentathlon
Chariot racing
Horse racing

Disallow:
Everything else

Make the athletes compete naked.

Make the athletes compete naked

And for the first time in history the female sports attendance would far outstrip the males?

PETA won’t like it but, animal wrestling! Start small with a mid sized dog such as a collie and work up to the logical end point of grizzly or polar bear depending on if it is summer or winter. Also, no breaks between the rounds for the human competitors.

Start small with a mid sized dog such as a collie and work up to the logical end point of grizzly or polar bear depending on if it is summer or winter.

Start with an angry cat, work up to a cassowary.

Combining sports would both reduce the number of events, and bring a little more jeopardy to the endeavour.

So 800m and Pistol Shooting. Or Giant Slalom and Baseball.  Ski Jumping and Javelin. You get the idea.

Failing that, reduce the whole shebang to 'whatever was included in a single episode of 1970s "Superstars"' and leave it at that.

I've long thought its criminal that XC (the running kind) isn't in the Winter Olympics.

It has a good sustainability angle (i.e. it can be run without fake snow, or on snow if there happens to be any), and much more importantly would open up the winter Olympics to more participation from many African nations.

The Olympics is bloated and corrupt, and the BBC coverage is annoyingly twee, but I still love it.

And I honestly think DH MTB would be a fantastic addition that would go down brilliantly with the public and do more than Warner Bros ever could to grow the audience.

4X would be awesome too. Remember how much everyone loved boardercross in the winter games?

You should check out kayak cross.
https://www.teamgb.com/article/what-is-extreme-canoe-slalom/4vrj5uprTXGRZsMr2hYOGH
Looks like great fun.

"Four boats are simultaneously pushed off a ramp placed more than two metres above the water, splashing onto the course as one.

From there, it’s quite literally a battle to the finish line with contact permitted unless it borders on the dangerous, all while having to navigate downstream and upstream buoys.

Each athlete must also complete a compulsory eskimo roll (more on that later) where they will have a short window of opportunity to roll their kayak and complete a 360-degree flip."

4X would be awesome too. Remember how much everyone loved boardercross in the winter games?

I still think the Short Track XC should be a 4X track that riders have to ride back up to the top of.

You should check out kayak cross.

That will be on my must-watch list cheers, love the kayaking anyway.

Back to other sports that could go in, I reckon gravel would make a decent addition. Assuming they could cover it like a road race.

Unarmed hand-to-hand combat

Nah, I would rather see duelling with pistols. You could have 2 standards, European where gentlemen wearing frilly shirts use traditional duelling pistols at 12 paces fire at each other when a lady drops a lace handkerchief, and cowboy style when drunks shoot at each other outside a saloon at midday with six shooters (bonus points for shooting your opponent in the back on the way to the "competitive arena")

Keep a representative event from every sport* but each country can only enter one contestant. The Olympics lasts a whole year with an event every 3 days.

We'd all watch that.

*I can see some issues but we'd work round them...

Dressage, boxing, gymnastics 

Boxing and 'equestrian' events were part of the original ancient Olympic Games. Dressage has its origins in Ancient Greece too. Gymnastics was I think one of the first events in the modern Olympic era where women were allowed to compete. Whatever you may think of such events, the Olympics is the pinnacle event for those sports. Whereas football, baseball, skateboarding, cycle racing and golf all have other, more prestigious events. If you want to evoke the ancient games, then surely F1 motor racing is the evolution of chariot racing? 

I quite like the Olympics for the sports themselves, but not the rampant commercialisation that has swallowed it all (see; football, baseball etc). It's the onetime we get to watch more obscure sports enjoying a global audience and exposure. 

I think Kabaddi should be included in the Olympics. 

Packraft racing - Le Mans start with inflation timed.

Several transitions with runs.

Serious suggestion, I'd really like a road cycling event where the winner is whoever spent the most time at the front, subject to finishing in the peleton. What would the strategy/tactics be like? 100 mile long bunch sprint would be great to watch.

Looks like great fun.

I watched some of the teams practicing for the world cup held at lee valley. Was quite entertaining.
I think releasing a few sharks would spice things up a bit as well.

Serious suggestion, I’d really like a road cycling event where the winner is whoever spent the most time at the front, subject to finishing in the peleton.

That's about as ridiculous a suggestion as my idea of a ball game played on a round or oval pitch with one single goal in the centre. I have yet to work out the shape of the goal, or which way it would be orientated, or in fact the number of teams on the pitch at any one time, but I've been told, in the pub a long time ago, that this is STUPID! By a football fan who thinks that the offside rule is really complicated. 😀