Getting Rid of an Olympic sport

[Darkwing Duck]

With the Olympic Motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" translated to "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." (and not aviation cloud type speak for "Cirrus, Alto, Fluffy"), I figure they should get rid of one sport in particular in the Winter Olympics and that is Figure Skating. The scoring or placing is based on human judgement and is left to that panel of people to determine the fate of the competitors. It is not like a timed event or race, or strength or endurance. Now I am not saying it does not take talent to dance and spin and twirl, if you are into that kind of thing, but does this not take away from the element of the Motto.

On another note, and this is where the pot will be stirred up, they should also get rid of the shoot out in hockey. This is a team sport and should be determined as a team and not base on a shooter and goalie to finalize the outcome. I am not saying it is not exciting at times to watch but realy? Especially when it comes down to a medal finish.


Your opinions and chatter... the floor is yours.

[TopperHarley]

Ill admit I love to watch figure skating, so this would make me sad. Lots of cute girls twirling around, it's great if you ask me.

And Im not a huge fan of the shootout either. Sudden death overtime, golden goal wins it, no matter how many periods it takes.

Gotta get back to the tv, I think ice dancing is on soon

[CD]

They should likely consider getting rid of hockey altogether as well as there are so few teams that are actually competetive. Maybe if the focus was on more "amateur" players rather than NHL'ers, the teams might be more balanced...

[taxiway_matthew]

They should likely consider getting rid of hockey altogether as well as there are so few teams that are actually competetive. Maybe if the focus was on more "amateur" players rather than NHL'ers, the teams might be more balanced...

Watch TV lately? Slovakia beat the Russkies and now we're losing...that'd be pretty even I'd say. No blowouts in the Men's hockey.
Even Finland, who should've creamed Belarus on paper, only won 5-1.

[AuxBatOn]

Get rid of Curling. This isn't a sport... A hobby sure, but definately not a sport.

[Sandy106]

US just beat Canada at hockey

[Pratt]

With the Olympic Motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" translated to "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." (and not aviation cloud type speak for "Cirrus, Alto, Fluffy"), I figure they should get rid of one sport in particular in the Winter Olympics and that is Figure Skating. The scoring or placing is based on human judgement and is left to that panel of people to determine the fate of the competitors. It is not like a timed event or race, or strength or endurance. Now I am not saying it does not take talent to dance and spin and twirl, if you are into that kind of thing, but does this not take away from the element of the Motto


Your opinions and chatter... the floor is yours.

The snowboarding half pipe is also judged that way, should they get rid of that too?

[AnotherFlyOnTheWall]

Skaters who are out there by themselves, 4 1/2 minutes, doing rotations off the ice in a span of .6 sec and landing on a sliver of blade, 2 mm wide fully balanced and then jumping into another jump, 3 revolutions, 0.6 sec?

Try it and find out how athletic that is ...

A snow boarder does a 1080 in 5-6 secs?
A hockey player has 3-6 games to get a win?
A curler has 4-7 games to make the playoffs?

Lots of sports have subjective elements, including hockey (referees), snowboarding, moguls, aerial freestyle, even ski jumping.
Baseball, football ...
Golfers have 72 holes to make a score
figure skaters can fall on a single triple jump combo and they are out of the medals ...

Athleticism? YES
Style? YES
Requires dedicated practice? YES
Years to perfect? YES
Need to perform under pressure? YES

World class sport? Absolutely!!!

[Driving Rain]

Something else to consider...
All the winter olympic sports except cross country skiing take considerable amounts of money to pursue, so they are only for the rich or state sponsored atheletes.

[. ._]

I think they should make bowling and lawn darts Olympic sports. I mean we have some real up and comers in those sports. Why not let them show the world how great they are?





-istp

[Wilbur]

Get rid of hockey also, it's not like the decisions of refs have never influenced the outcome of a game. Or, get rid of the refs and rules they enforce.

[Siddley Hawker]

They should definitely ban upside-down bobsledding. That's gotta be hard on the neck.

[FlaplessDork]

This is why they need to get rid of figure skating.





I rest my case. Am I watching mens or womens figure skating?

[YCL Boy]

A guy's version of figure skating would be awesome.
Of course no judges, not even time counts.
Just like ski cross, but on ice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajS8xdF5ZW8

Edited to add: i'd love to see Johnny pictured above on this track.

[Liquid Charlie]

I finally discovered the best way to watch the Olympics on TV -- hit the mute button and get rid of all the sound -- the only way to give the commentators credibility

[Dr. Mcillicuddy]

Im waiting on baited breath the results of the basket weaving competions,

[bandaid]

Hockey only if it goes back to amateur hockey players. I actually don't have a problem with curling, it is a skill game that is measured in both accuracy and time. Lastly, the Hungarian girl in the pairs had my vote even before she skated.

[AuxBatOn]

I actually don't have a problem with curling, it is a skill game that is measured in both accuracy and time.

So is the game of Chest. There is no athleticism whatsoever in curling. And judging by the amount of rounder "athletes" playing curling.... It's a game, a hobby. Not a sport.

[shannon]

Yeah, really if someone with my physique can be an Olympic athlete, curling needs to be removed. If curling belongs in I guess darts will make it into the summer Olympics.

[North Shore]

So is the game of Chest.

Chest? Never heard of it. Unless, it's something that occurs at strip clubs?

[AuxBatOn]

Chess, chest, take your pick.

[Liquid Charlie]

I for one would much rather watch curling than hockey any day -- my only objection is that professional athletes have wormed their way into the olympics -- give us a true Team Canada (rest of the world follows of course but hey - I don't care if they do) of keen amateurs playing their hearts out I might even go back to watching hockey but you can't get me to turn the sound on until they have just one guy in the play by play booth and play the funky organ between plays -- no cat -- not that kind -- haha

[MUSKEG]

Anything that can't be timed, measured or counted should not be an olympic sport. Anything that requires judging by people who can be bought or are simply incompitent and or biased should not be an olympic sport.

[bandaid]

I actually don't have a problem with curling, it is a skill game that is measured in both accuracy and time.

So is the game of Chest. There is no athleticism whatsoever in curling. And judging by the amount of rounder "athletes" playing curling.... It's a game, a hobby. Not a sport.

As much as a game of chest sounds like it could be fun I don't see how anyone who has curled could make the comparison (to chess that is). Seriously, go to a rink and play the sport for a weekend bonspeil and tell me at the end of the weekend that you are not stiff and sore. And yes some curlers are over weight but i think you'll agree that the two canadian teams in the olympics have fitness levels that rival many other sports athletes (you could bounce a quarter of any inch of Cheryl Bernard's body and she's 43 years old).
Lets look at some of the other sports.
Ski Jump- you wait for hours to make a jump, sit for another bunch of hours, make another jump, couple of practices in between, then go home. Total time doing your sport probably about maybe 1 minute.
Airials- You do two jumps ( with an hour or 6 in between), they are judged so they can't be 100% fare. probably about 30 seconds in total to do the sport, then you go home. Might be a minute as I think you have to jump qualifying jumps.
Moguls- another sport that takes probably about 2 minutes to compete. both timed and judged so again not 100% tamper proof. And of course the wait times between runs.
I could go on but I think you get my jist. One thing all these sports have in common is that it takes a tremendous amount of talent to do it at a world level successfully.

[CD]

Here was a great Olympic hockey team - the RCAF Flyers, 1948 Winter Olympics Gold Medal Team: