Comments on: Top 6 Friday: Pointless Olympic Sports

By: Britt

Britt — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:21:17 +0000

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.

By: HD

HD — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:35:12 +0000

Dressage should not be an olypic sport.. its just so pointless and rubbish.

By: Richie

Richie — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:52:30 +0000

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.

By: simon

simon — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:00:40 +0000

how about triple jump

By: tuathal

tuathal — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:18:11 +0000

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.

By: Richie

Richie — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:28:08 +0000

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

By: missmilki

missmilki — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:17:55 +0000

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.