It goes doubly for equestrian sports though. Horse riding, at any level, is a very expensive hobby. There simply aren't very many opportunities for inner city kids to learn to ride. The general sports divide between comprehensive and private education is simply a matter of the attention sport receives in general at those educational institutions. It's one of the reasons why if I'm ever cursed with offspring, that I will do everything I can to have them privately educated. I can always beat the toff out of them later.
Yeah, it's a sad fact that much of the blind Judo was more entertaining because there wasn't the long stretches of defensive hand fighting.
As a shooter, but also as a fan of the Olympics, I'd like to see them take shooting out of the Olympics before they touch wrestling. Shooting is a challenging and technical sport but it's also not athletic, and IMO only stuff that's athletic in one way or another should be in the Olympics. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKUJ1SXiYt8"]Peter Wilson explains Olympic shooting sports - YouTube[/ame]
Every high school has wrestling so to speak. But I agree take shooting or equestrian, rich people hobbies.
Shooting isn't a rich people's hobby in the US. It's a very working-class sport. Indeed, in the US, most rich or upper-middle-class people look down on it as a "redneck" pastime. I think it should be removed from the Olympics due to its lack of athleticism, not due to some aristocratic nature. Fencing is a "rich people's hobby" but it's also an athletic combat sport that's been there since the dawn of the modern Olympics, so I think it should stay.
I'll keep my temper in check for MAP friendly forum. I've already had quite a few heated arguments about Wushu being in the Olympics with my fellow KungFu'ers. I'm against, always has been. I would rather see San Shou/Sanda in it, its pretty much tailored for it anyway. You got the combat aspect, protection gear can be borrowed off the TKD guys, boxing gloves off the boxing guys...sorted. Point to me the direction of where the petition to save wrestling is.... A little banner I found
I don't know a lot of people who watch much of the olympics except the opening/closing ceremony anyway. Wouldn't matter to me. How about wet t-shirt contests?
:jawdrop::wow: Along that line, heres an article about Olympic Pole Dancing. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/pole-dancing-seeks-olympic-inclusion-1907036.html
There are probably hundreds of them today, here's one on FB http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Olympic-Wrestling/140684176096583?ref=stream 44,000 "likes" in less than a day, seems to have a lot of support.
Wrestling is practically non existent in Australia as far as I can tell, but every small town that I go through has a active pony club and I heard more people talking about it when the Olympics was on than I did wrestling or even boxing and TKD. But wrestling has a big following around the world and should never have been dropped. Out of those sports I think squash has the best chance. Its got a big following around the world. Karate - too similar to TKD Baseball/softball - dropped after 5? Olympics, can't see them bringing it back soon. Sport Climbing - to hard to judge I think? Wushu - again too like TKD or gymnastics in the eyes of many. Wakeboarding - be cool to see. Roller sports - which ones and will they differentiate them from ice skating sports in the Winter Olympics.
I'm with you there Mushroom! I've been in the same boat in regards to kungfu brothers on the side of WuShu being in. I would rather something else. When my kungfu teacher was pushing wushu as a Olympic game, I heard that they initially tried to include SanShou, but because of boxing/tkd/wrestling they thought it would not have as much chance as WuShu (taolu). I would much prefer having Sanshou in, but it's not even close to a contender. I think it is a massive disappointment and shows how far removed the IOC has come in terms of what is Olympics. The Olympics is now another sporting event with the banner "Olympics". It is just a brand name heading the event, and what comes under the banner depends on which IOC board members have their fingers in which sport "pies". I'm signing the petition also, but I doubt it will have any affect on the outcome. :cry:
Errr... if you're talking about the tie-breaks in greco, then the top man has to do anything but stall, he has to turn his opponent or lose the round. I agree the greco was pretty dry for non-fans, but the freestyle was an amazing competition.
I was thinking more of the thing where the balls are used to decide who will start on top in freestyle with the other person on their hands and knees. Score a point and then avoid getting scored on once you are ahead. Not needed. Think there was also something similar for greco. Just let them fight .. it was never this complicated when I was competing. LFD
The tie-break in Greco just meant that everyone stalled waiting for the tie-break. You may as well have just had 30 second rounds.
I think the inclusion of Taolu as an event would be catastrophic for Kung Fu, and while the inclusion of San Shou would be good for class numbers, I don't think it'd be especially good for the development of the sport. It would also probably spell the death knell for Koushu Lei Tai. I personally feel that San Shou would be best served by trying to establish it as a professional sport like K1 or S-Cup.
They haven't had that in freestyle for several years, now. The clinch for tie-breaking at the end of a scoreless period is a high-crotch, like so: It kind of is needed because you've got to break a tie somehow. I prefer this to compulsory par terre because take-downs are more interesting, spectator-friendly and fighting-relevant than gut wrenches.
Why's that? The level would definitely go up, and it's a pretty good open rule-set where TKD'ers or whoever could have a crack as well. Having a thriving amateur scene to draw fighters from would help with that, wouldn't it?
I agree! I'm just basing with what choices are given at the moment, out of Wushu and Sanda I would rather have Sanda. But I rather have wrestling.