Cheerleading

[falcon9]

They would need to make it significantly safer before even considering giving it a spot. It has a horrid injury rate because they want to do gymnastics without the proper training (despite taking up space at gyms).

Not sure if I agree with this… there can be danger… but it is not gymnastics. The injury rate does not come from doing gymnastics… it comes from bad coaching. The top cheer teams use “gymnastics style progressions”.

Went to Woodward one year when Top Gun was there… crazy stuff…



I’m just saying that there need to be something to hold everything. Maybe not the Olympics… maybe it’s the X-Games or something similar… but there needs to be mega sports competitions to hold all sports.

 

[Seyonne]

Olympics need to be streamlined. I’d get rid of the team sports like basketball, hockey, etc. Hundreds of athletes, support staff, officials and 3-4 weeks of competition to award ONE set of medals. If an event takes that long and that many people to conduct, it’s got to go.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

No sports take three to four weeks of competition? The Olympics is limited to 18 days, including Days -2 and -1.

 

[Seyonne]

Okay, then. 2 weeks is still a long time for one set of medals.

 

[makam]

My criteria is if you have a one-time use stadium, the hosting country can opt to not include you. Like BMX takes two days and needs a specialized stadium and is then never used again. I would also look at moving some of the smaller-draw indoor stuff to the winter Olympics. They can prop snowmen up in the corner and have judo and wrestling and weightlifting in the winter. Maybe indoor volleyball too. Handball. Table tennis. Even out participation. And they can straight up cut the sailing (not canoe and kayak) stuff. Dump RG and sync swimming if they don’t start being coed or having a men’s division.

(Soccer and basketball let them reuse venues and sell lots of tickets. They aren’t going to dump them)

 

[Doug1233]

The problem is that I’m sure a lot of BMX or judo fans would say the same about trampoline.

 

[JDB]

It’s unlikely cheerleading will ever be contested in the Olympics since the team sizes are too big. The IOC won’t sacrifice spots for core sports to get cheerleading in. Maybe we’ll see it in the Youth Olympics.

 

[irichluck21]

Technically there is a “2nd Olympics”: The World Games
Started in 1981, there have been 12 WGs so far. It is even organized by the IOC!
World Games consists of all the non-Olympic sports.

https://www.theworldgames.org/

2022 is being held in the USA, in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham also held the University Games.

 

[Seyonne]

Maybe just add another olympics. We have winter and summer. We could add another category. A tournament Olympics which handles basketball, volleyball, boxing, tennis etc. Any of those sports that require single head to head competition that takes a few weeks to get through.

 

[MaryClare]

Arguably, sports where the Olympics is not the pinnacle shouldn’t be included ie tennis, soccer, golf, boxing

 

[Seyonne]

Do tennis players even really care about the Olympics? They’re dreaming of Wimbledon, not gold medals.

 

[makam]

Agreed. Though the money from selling out soccer stadiums will probably keep it in.

They should have retired modern pentathalon at either Atlanta or Athens.

 

[cats]

IDK, I used to feel that way, but part of the point of the Olympics is to be a big global sports festival. Dropping sports does diminish that.

Regarding cheer - I did it for awhile after gymnastics and I really loved it. The stunting is super fun, and there’s a lot of room to dream up new things. I guess it’s possible that putting it in the Olympics would make it easier to establish an international competition circuit, but at the moment I can’t even imagine it.

 

[irichluck21]

Same with basketball and hockey…most of the professionals don’t bother.

Also, can we eliminate baseball for good? It is silly that it is only an Olympic sport when the host country wants it in the program. It was gone for London and Rio, back for Tokyo (baseball HUGE in Japan) gone for Paris, back for Los Angeles, gone for Brisbane.

 

[RedBirdie]

Same with basketball and hockey…most of the professionals don’t bother.

I can’t speak to basketball, but the Olympics are a HUGE deal for hockey. The fact that the NHL didn’t shut down in 2018 for Pyeongchang really pissed off a lot of players. Being a member of the “Triple Gold” club (olympic gold, world championship gold, and stanley cup winner) is a big deal.

Also, please consider women’s sports. For many, the Olympics are the pinnacle, even if it is not for their male counterparts. Soccer, hockey, basketball, etc., being an Olympic champion is an incredible feat and something they work towards their entire athletic careers.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Not to mention, it’s damn hard to get a triple gold in hockey. Like two players on the same NHL team won’t have the same achievements because they’re from different countries. One (or more) player’s victory can mean the other’s defeat.

 

[Seyonne]

Well, something needs to be done. I believe the Olympics are in danger of collapsing under its own weight.

Could they, at the very least, implement a rule that no new sports be added to the program without eliminating a sport already in?

 

[Dex]

For me the Olympics is mainly an amature event. So mens basketball, mens baseball, mens and womans tennis, mens soccer, golf, mens road cycling, BYE!

More sports are somewhat professional but they do not earn the ridiculous amounts of money those sports earn, they usually earn their keep.
For the mostly amateur sports an Olympic gold is the highest honor they can achieve. if not, that sport does not belong at the olympics.

Cheerleading? IMO Not an Olympic sport, it is mainly American central, not a worldwide developed high level sport so for now it does not have a place at the Olympics.

Gymnastics sports related, I would like to cut Rhytmic teams (or rhytmic in general but some people do like it) and add tumbling and/ or DMT first and maybe acro pairs after that.

 

[RAFIKI]

Though the money from selling out soccer stadiums will probably keep it in.

It’s also the way organisers can promote event accessibility. Football tickets tend to be pretty cheap because of the big stadia. In the run up to London there were a lot of stats about x tickets being less than £y. Football is also usually spread around the host country so it increases the number of people who can attend.

 

[irichluck21]

True…women’s sports eluded me. WNBA exists but there is no major professional softball, hockey, or soccer leagues yet.