London Olympics

[Lucky]

I'm not saying you should of course ... I'm just wondering if Team USA is one bad swim meet away from a "disastrous" games (relatively speaking) ... and whether they can act on this before disaster strikes? Team GB was transformed not so much by getting the Olympics in London, but by the disaster of the Atlanta games in 1996, when they only won 1 gold. All the success you see now stems from that moment.

Sydney 2000 - 11 golds (28 total)
Athens 2004 - 9 golds (30 total)
Beijing 2008 - 19 golds (47 total)
London 2012 - 30+ golds? (70+medals)

Incidentally, the last time a non-super-power team got 30 golds in a single games was the unified German team of 1992, which was of course 75% full of East German drug cheats (the East German team had won 37 golds in Seoul 1988 ... maybe 1 or 2 were fair). IOW ... 30 golds from a non-super-power has never been achieved fairly before in the modern era ... even 25 golds has never been achieved, and 20 has only been achieved once or twice. It's pretty remarkable what they are doing.

Unlike other games, funding for GB elite sport is secured long term, and will probably be enhanced by the games ... so the question will be how to build on this. The news has been full of nothing else this last week ... grass roots funding, improving sports in schools, transitioning etc. The motto of the games is "inspiring a generation" ... so they have their motivations in the right area. Let's hope they follow through. 200K came out to watch a triathlon this morning!

Yes, and they're just competitors you find yourself wanting to root for. Not only has Team GB been successful in the medal count, but in the interviews they all come across very well.

[Lucky]

The balance beam competition further demonstrates my point. It's not a sport. If you finish the event and have to wait for someone to tell you who won, it's not a sport. If they tell you who won, and then somebody files a bunch of papers so somebody else wins, it is doubly not a sport.

I like our chances for the floor routine, since we have the best legal team at the Games. ABA! ABA! ABA!

[Judge Jude]

"The balance beam competition further demonstrates my point. It's not a sport. If you finish the event and have to wait for someone to tell you who won, it's not a sport."

bingo

at least in pro boxing, you don't have to let the fight last til the end; you have a chance to win outright.

as I like to say, barrel jumping may be a lame sport, but it's a sport - who jumps over the most barrels, wins.

Gymnastics and figure skating are popular competitions that require lots of skill, effort, and athleticism.
they are not sports.
swimming=sport
diving=not a sport

and "not a sport" is not a pejorative.
great guitar riffs are "not a sport," either, but they still are awesome.

[Mithrandir]

sport/spôrt/
Noun:
An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.

The Judge is wrong. Maybe in your opinion those you mentioned aren't sports. By definition they are sports. My opinion is that they are sports.

[Judge Jude]

by what definition?

which G-d has revealed to us the fnal answer?
or are we enslaved by the dictionary d'jour?

you clearly will have no objection to future Olympics sports such as - well, if all it takes is physical exertion

#yikes

[johnnya24]

Read somewhere that the home team generally experiences a 20% increase in medals. Is that about what we're looking at for GB?

Spain got an even bigger boost than that in 1992... then completely fell away again when the temporary funding dryed up. They went from 1 gold in 1988 to 13 golds in Barcelona.

1988 - 1
1992 - 13
1996 - 5
2000 - 3
2004 - 4

[johnnya24]

The balance beam competition further demonstrates my point. It's not a sport. If you finish the event and have to wait for someone to tell you who won, it's not a sport. If they tell you who won, and then somebody files a bunch of papers so somebody else wins, it is doubly not a sport.

I like our chances for the floor routine, since we have the best legal team at the Games. ABA! ABA! ABA!

Balance beam not a sport? Really? It is one of the most difficult disciplines of any sport, not just gymnastics. To perform an elite routine on that apparatus under max pressure must be one of the most difficult things in all sport ... can't think of many that would be more difficult. The fact it has to be judged is just the nature of the event.

[Long John]

Balance beam not a sport? Really? It is one of the most difficult disciplines of any sport, not just gymnastics. To perform an elite routine on that apparatus under max pressure must be one of the most difficult things in all sport ... can't think of many that would be more difficult. The fact it has to be judged is just the nature of the event.

I'm with Lucky and Judge on this one. While one does need to be extremely athletic to perform an elite balance beam routine, gymnastics is a competition with judges. Ice skating, ice dancing, synchronized swimming - these are all interesting and sometimes compelling (to others) competitions requiring athleticism and years of training. IMO, that doesn't make it a sport. If you need multiple judges just to figure out who won, it's not a sport.

[baldgriff]

So is boxing a sport?? Is MMA a sport??

[johnnya24]

As my niece would say ... OMG LOL

I hope I'm getting group trolled. Gymnastics and boxing not sports because they require judging hahahahahaha. No offence intended, but that is one of the most stupid things I've ever heard.

It's a troll right? It has to be.

[Judge Jude]

- I already answered the boxing/(MMA) question

- your confusion must be because you think "sport" is the be-all and end-all, and anything that isn't a sport is seen as worthless, which is silly. how about ballet? is that a sport, or not? to perform those routines is very difficult, and there is a lot of pressure with a large crowd on hand. very impressive. why is that not in the Olympics?

ice skating and gymnastics get very good ratings, and good for them. i'm not criticizing them....

[chancellor]

So is boxing a sport?? Is MMA a sport??

If MMA doesn't fix their judging, no it won't be a sport. It'll be professional wrestling.

[Mithrandir]

by what definition?

which G-d has revealed to us the fnal answer?
or are we enslaved by the dictionary d'jour?

you clearly will have no objection to future Olympics sports such as - well, if all it takes is physical exertion

#yikes

That's pretty hilarious you criticizing my post, as YOU'RE the one making the judgements on what is a sport. So tell us why you have the end all final decision?

[Lucky]

As my niece would say ... OMG LOL

I hope I'm getting group trolled. Gymnastics and boxing not sports because they require judging hahahahahaha. No offence intended, but that is one of the most stupid things I've ever heard.

It's a troll right? It has to be.

You got me. It was a semi-troll, at least.

What prompted my post was the fact that after the competition, when it became clear that the young lady from the USA did not quite pass the Romanian young lady for third place, there was a frenzy of activity to file an inquiry, which later resulted in 3rd and 4th place being reversed. I felt a little sorry for the girl from Romania, and wasn't real proud of the way we (the USA) had paperworked our girl into a medal. The whole thing underscored the very subjective nature of certain competitions. I really don't want to get into the "sport vs. non-sport" argument which pops up every year or so.

I'm happy for the USA girl. I would have been happier if they had given two bronze medals, since the final score wound up being a tie.

But, as I said, the point was a jab at the legalistic nature of sports these days. Hence my chant "ABA! ABA!"

I will say that mith's definition is comically inadequate. If you and I compete to see who can fart the loudest, that's a sport under his definition. And you could use equipment to measure the decibels, so it wouldn't have subjective judging. Of course, if you went with free-style farting, that would be a different matter.

My wife and I talked about the balance beam quite a bit. I used the basketball example. If I score 80 points and you score 70, I will always win, regardless of what the French judge thinks. And it doesn't matter whether the baskets you made have a higher degree of difficulty or whether you look good scoring. 80 beats 70 anytime, anywhere.

So, good call on the troll, but there was intended to be a little bit of meat to it.

[Judge Jude]

"That's pretty hilarious you criticizing my post, as YOU'RE the one making the judgements on what is a sport. So tell us why you have the end all final decision?"

No one has the final decision. They're just opinions, and a dictionary definition doesn't rule the discussion.