Cheerleading

[JDB]

I see Gymnaverse’s quadrennial tradition is underway: debating which sports should be kicked out of the Olympics.

 

[Doug1233]

This I agree with.

Soccer and tennis - no way. Get rid. They aren’t olympic sports.

 

[makam]

Hey man, we gotta find ways to get more gymnastics spots somewhere. So we vote others off the island.

 

[rlayt]

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).

Agree!

They aren’t required to train on spring equipment and they perform on hard floors. Hard pass.

 

[JoseM]

Due to the physical effort, I believe that cheerleading is a sport, and should be an Olympic sport.

José M.

 

[MaryClare]

So is tearing telephone directories in half

 

[MLSWAG]

Same here, though I confess it looks oddly interesting.

 

[Doug1233]

I just don’t know why the FIG is pushing this ahead of established tumbling and DMT.

 

[MLSWAG]

The NWSL would like you to hold their beer.

Only $22-52,000 according to this , but it does seem like many of them don’t need day jobs. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

 

[MLSWAG]

That, plus a framework of actual competitions. I’m pro cheer.

 

[RedBirdie]

I just don’t know why the FIG is pushing this ahead of established tumbling and DMT.

Because it’s not FIG pushing this. The International Cheer Union is the one that has been lobbying for Olympic recognition. FIG has nothing to do with this.

 

[Doug1233]

So who has approved it? The IOC?

 

[makam]

I can see fig saying, nope, not one of us when it comes to the Olympics. They want parkour in far more than cheerleading. And unless more spots were found under a rock, cheerleading teams are generally too big. I’d take acro over rhythmic but would rather have tumbling over any of them.

 

[RedBirdie]

So who has approved it? The IOC?

Yes, the IOC. Sport Governing Bodies lobby the IOC for official recognition. In this case, the International Cheer Union has been working for years to get the IOC to recognize them as the governing body for Cheer.

FWIW, ICU and FIG have a formal agreement over who gets to do what. Only FIG can offer, say, tumbling and acro, while ICU gets the big group stuff.

 

[MaryClare]

Parkour at least has a pretty international participation base at the top level. It also has the potential for single gender competition, which would tick a lot of boxes and have huge appeal to the IOC