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Farce
CarlLewis
Posts: 6,236 Forum Member
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Sports like squash and baseball have spent years and plenty of money on trying to get into the 2020 Olympics.
They did this on the understanding that one sport would be voted out and a new one voted in.
However, wrestling was controversially taken off the list of core sports in February, but was allowed to lobby to be let back in.
Consequently, it went into the vote against baseball/softball and squash.
As expected, wrestling was voted back in. It seems the other sports have wasted time and money on a place which didn't exist.
STINKS :mad:
They did this on the understanding that one sport would be voted out and a new one voted in.
However, wrestling was controversially taken off the list of core sports in February, but was allowed to lobby to be let back in.
Consequently, it went into the vote against baseball/softball and squash.
As expected, wrestling was voted back in. It seems the other sports have wasted time and money on a place which didn't exist.
STINKS :mad:
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It will be interesting to see what the next IOC president does in terms of the sports programme in the future. You need to keep in the traditional sports but also refresh the programme as well. Personally I'd boot out the likes of Tennis & Golf & I'd also have serious question marks over sports like Table Tennis (which whilst it may be played in many parts of the world tends to be dominated too much by China at the top level). I seriously doubt any of this will happen.
It was hardly a farce, there was a process to have wrestling removed and then it was shown to be the best option to its peers.
Squash is unlucky but its time will come
I think the sport's administrators are not political enough. Wrestling is backed by Putin and the powerful Eastern bloc lobby and yes it has been in the Olympics since 1896 but it is an unwatchable sport in my opinion. Squash has made great strides to improve the spectator experience and it deserved to get in.
That said wrestling really had to be allowed back in. It was only kicked out in the first place to send a message to it's governing body. It's a crying shame for squash that the political games meant that there was effectively no chance for them to get their sport admitted in this four year cycle.
2016 will 2 more sports added in golf and rugby which are simply novelty tournaments, and not the pinnacle of the sport. It will really focus the attention on which sports actually fit in the Olympics. Football, and Tennis to a degree have survived in the Olympics despite not being particularly serious tournaments. With 2 more sports in that category, it will open up the debate.
And that will be Squash's chance.
I'm not a massive fan of football, tennis and now golf being in the Olympics but the reason they are there is because they are popular with sponsors, spectators and TV audiences - they bring in the money. European countries may not take the Olympic football tournament seriously but it is a major competition for Africa and South America.
Wrestling deserves its place as it is one of the traditional Olympic sports. I can understand the case for those who want squash included but I'm not sure it brings in the money and it isn't a great TV sport.
It won't be. It will be purely about the wrestling and nothing else.
I believe the Olympics should be kept universal, even if that means having a few bad athletes.
On the other hand I don't get misty-eyed about these
no-hopers like some people do.
They're damned if they do, they're damned if they don't
If you don't give opportunities for the competitors from these nations to get media coverage, especially in their own country, then they'll never improve as a nation competitively. If you give you them slots, they get blasted for uncompetitveness
It ought to be impossble at championship level for anybody to be lapped in an 800 metre race and not even finished half the race (410 metres still to run) after everybody else completed the whole race.
And they get cheered like mad for turning into the home straight the first time around just before the rest are due to turn into the straight the 2nd time around in the olympic stadium as though it's a remarkable achievement like they are winning the race with 100 metres to go when they are not.
117 to 120 seconds to complete 390 metres of an 800 metres is ridiculously slow at championship level of the Olympics even if they do come from one of the non major nations.
I think Golf is a mad sport to have in the Olympics but it's not going to affect anything else, just as football didn't. They can be held in existing venues away from the main park if need be.