Top 6 Friday: Pointless Olympic Sports
Writes ck on August 15th, 2008
Read More: Top 6 Friday, Uncategorized
The pomp of the Opening Ceremony has given way to our country’s best atheletes striving for gold. A reoccuring conversation though is often whether the sports they hope to represent their country in are anything but pointless displays rather than a reflection of great sporting ability. We’ve looked through the back catalogue of discontinued sports and sports currently played at the Olympics and compiled a list of the most silly.
6. Basque Pelota
See also: Jeu de Palme
A deserving entry alone for its silly name, Basque Pelota originated in Greece but seems to have found most popularity in Mediterranean and Latin America countries. Only ever played competitively on one occasion in the Olympics, the wikipedia page compares the sport to Gaelic Handball. The rules seem very much to vary from location to location, with everything from bats, pieces of wood to the competitors hand being used to play.
Re: Silly names, see also Jeu de Palme, Lacrosse
The breathing technique, the strength, preparation and co – ordination required in synchronised swimming cannot be refuted. Why is it included here? – it’s underwater ballet – end of.
Honourable mention: Curling, a Winter Sport, nothing more than synchronised floor cleaning.
Artistic Gymnastics
3. Race Walking
As one of my mates put it – race walking is a ‘makey up event’. Neither running nor walking, it is essentially an event anyone could participate in if they needed to pee badly enough. The criteria for one of person I spoke with seems to have been consistently is the sport of use when being attacked by a wild animal - in the case a bear. As no one in the righrt frame of mind would race walk about from a wild bear, the sport is deemed pointless. See also: Synchronised swimming and replace bear wirth shark.
4. Tug of War
It’s pulling on a rope – its an activity for summer festivals in small villages around the country – not an Olympic sport – what were they thinking?
2. Beach Volley ball
Amounting to little more than porn in a kind of 50 cent video kind of way, trying to recreate the homoerotic trill of the Top Gun volleyball scene, except for straight men with hot women instead of Tom Cruise and that guy who used to be in ER.
Success at this ‘sport’ is determined at the whim of judges deciding whether horses have successfully executed or not a serious of movements, as guided by their instructors minimal directions. Its horse ballet, without a single real world application. Also on googling dressage, I see that Jordan has taken up dressage. Nail in coffin.
0 missmilki Aug 15th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Surely you don’t mean Artistic Gymnastics - the sport which is one of the highlights of the Olympics and has its very roots in ancient Greece - the sport which pushes both male and female gymnasts to the limits of strength, skill, flexibilty and balance - the sport where men compete on horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, vault, rings and floor and women compete on parallel bars, vault, beam and floor. You couldn’t seriously have meant that sport! I can only presume that you meant Rhythmic Gymnastics - the sport which is somewhat similar to synchronised swimming in that it combines elements of dance (and music) with gymnastics and apparatus manipulation (rope, hoop, balls, clubs or ribbon) - the sport which is often preformed by a group (but also can be competed individually) and is only competed by women.
Come on CK, if you are going to slag off Olympic Sports, then at least get the right sports.
0 Richie Aug 17th, 2008 at 10:28 am
CK, I’m disgusted with the top 6 Friday. Race walking is all about bio-mechanics and Plyometrics, Considering your friend was in that race is very unpatriotic. Also dressage is the ability of one athlete to control animal. I mean your training yourself and an animal. Twice the amount of work. Anyway that is my rant. I’ll agree with the underwater ballet. What about Baseball and Softball. Their getting the drop for the next olympics so therefore they must be the top two? Hope all is well with ya. RC
0 tuathal Aug 18th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Richie, come on.
Race walking is totally pointless. You can use fancy words like bio-mechanical and plyometrics all you want but you can’t get away from it. Its silly. Any race should determine which individual can make it from point A to point B in the fastest possible time. And in olden days, when the Olympics came about, determining such a thing had real world implications, such as in the story of the marathon.
When you start introducing silly rules and making athletes move in a particular way to cover the distance, such as those in race walking, you are just messing about making up rules to enable those who cant run fast to win a medal. Race walking has no real world implication.
Its the same with all those different swimming strokes. Nonsense.
There should only be about 8 maybe 10 races at the Olympics in swimming. 50 Metres, 100metres, 200metre, 400 metres, 800metres etc. Let the athletes use whatever swimming stroke they want to cover those distances. I want to know who’s the fastest swimmer FULL STOP. Not who’s the fastest at swimming in this particular fashion. No wonder Phelps can win 8 medals. If the track races were the same as the swimmming we’d have running forward, running backwards, skipping etc. and the Olympics would go on for about a year.
And as for Dressage….if its about controlling animals…get them in there with wild colts or better yet lions and bears and give them a few minutes to get them under control. - 5 points for every internal organ you lose.
0 simon Aug 18th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
how about triple jump
0 Richie Aug 18th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Tuathal, If you believe those to be fancy words you should see the type of stuff I write in work everyday. Hee Hee. What about the hammer throw which is actually a ball and chain? Good point Simon on the triple jump also Pole vault etc etc.
Also I forgot to mention that Dressage was a part of a three tier system where in dressage you need patience and rhythm, The next day is cross country where you need speed, power and stamina and the last day is showjumping where you need control and grace. A truly multidisciplinary sport for horse and rider.
0 HD Aug 27th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Dressage should not be an olypic sport.. its just so pointless and rubbish.
0 Britt Sep 28th, 2008 at 1:21 am
I always find it amusing that the people who thing Dressage should not be a sport HAVE NOT TRIED IT! It is not something that everyone can do. You can’t just plop your butt on the horse and win a medal. I can guarantee that ANYONE who has even tried riding dressage at that level will tell you that it has every right to be in the olympics. It is a VERY physicaly involved activity for the rider. Horses don’t just trot around in a dressage frame, it is the rider’s position and coordination that keeps them in that frame…..or abuse….because that happens to.