Future Olympic Sports - What Should Be In And What Out ?

[mongers]

What additional sports do you think should be included in future Olympics and which ones should be withdrawn. 

I'd like to see cricket in as well as Kabaddi, if for no other reason than the sporting enthusiasm of a large chunk of humanity are excluded from the Olympics.

Now that baseball is getting more popular, I think it could be included, am assuming it isn't at London, though I haven't checked.  I seem to recall it's been at other Olympics.

Personally I think some of the martial arts could be cut back or at the very least some of the numerous weight categories trimmed as they produce a preponderance of medals in the overall totals.

[Admiral Yi]

Mixed martial arts.

[Valmy]

Horse archery 

Central Asia's #1 sport for three thousand years must be represented.

And of course Baseball and Softball need to be back in.  Japan and Cuba need more medals.  They were cut from these games I think because London did not want to build the facilities.  But surely Brazil has a few baseball parks.

[Josquius]

Football in the olympics is just pointless. The olympics should be about the best athletes in the world, with football though its just whcihever randomers from each country fancy playing.

Karate should be in as should some sort of speed climbing and skateboarding.
And to bring back the Victorian classic, the tug of war, would be fantastic.

[mongers]

I'd also say perhaps they could cut back on the number of rowing events, it is after all mainly toffs sitting down in something that floats on water. 

[mongers]

Football in the olympics is just pointless. The olympics should be about the best athletes in the world, with football though its just whcihever randomers from each country fancy playing.

Karate should be in as should some sort of speed climbing and skateboarding.
And to bring back the Victorian classic, the tug of war, would be fantastic.

Yeah, that would be great for flavour, but I don't think anyone in the world competes at that 'seriously'*



* And no doubt someone will link to a flourishing international scene and point of that England has a national and regional league set up, that I'm not aware of.

[alfred russel]

Mixed martial arts.

Actually, it would probably be legit to add that and get rid of some of the others. I know that won't happen.

It is crazy baseball isn't in.

Cricket would make sense too--the national sport of the subcontinent, which is a huge chunk of the world population right there.

Get rid of:
-ballroom dancing (maybe this is male bias showing)
-trampoline
-dressage

Reform:
-boxing. Olympic boxing is awful.
-shooting / archery. the events should be cooler like the winter event where you ski and shoot. Maybe add moving targets. Maybe the moving targets could be the other competitors. 

[frunk]

Tameshigiri

[Josquius]

Cricket I'd disagree with for the same reason as football. The olympics should be about the best of the best, for that we have the cricket world cup.

Yeah, that would be great for flavour, but I don't think anyone in the world competes at that 'seriously'*

That's why I approve. For a while at least will give random nutters the world over a chance to try and get themselves into the olympics, just the way the olympics were originally meant to be!

[Neil]

Cricket would be cool.  Baseball, less so.  Still, pro baseball is on during the Olympics, and without the pros what's the point?

[DGuller]

Swimming events should be cut by a factor of 4.  Phelps is good, but being able to win 37 gold medals in one year, because swimming with your left pinky up, and with it down, counts as two separate medal events, is ridiculous.  A lot of those events should be combined into either a combo event, or just a multi-round competition.

[mongers]

Swimming events should be cut by a factor of 4.  Phelps is good, but being able to win 37 gold medals in one year, because swimming with your left pinky up, and with it down, counts as two separate medal events, is ridiculous.  A lot of those events should be combined into either a combo event, or just a multi-round competition.

[Scipio]

Restore the classic pentathlon, and have everyone who competes in the modern pentathlon have to compete in it.

[Valmy]

Cricket would be cool.  Baseball, less so.  Still, pro baseball is on during the Olympics, and without the pros what's the point?

The NHL makes it work.

[Ed Anger]

Pankration. With chicks.