Better Olympics

Just watch the replays.

I am not talking about oly lifting or stuff like that. I am talking about pulling or carrying very heavy stuff. this has much much much more relevance than - pole vault- javelin throw- discus throw- shot put

who ever needs to do that ever? might as well have golf in the olympics with that attitude. replace shit like that

also pankration is a stupid choice. risk of injury is high enough as is, you dont need fighting with barely any rules

Kek, he's going off on this

>What you will not see: more than one or two weightlifters, shot-putters, hammer throwers, or discus throwers. Javelins are too pointy, as are epees and sabers, and such things are threatening. Basically, you get to see activities you would personally enjoy on a Sunday afternoon -- you know, wholesome stuff without the slightest whiff of meanness, bullying, or testosterone.

>These errors of omission are quite thoroughly intentional, and are designed by the people who present the vast majority of most people's exposure to the Olympics, 99% of whom are not watching the internet feeds. The Media controls the popular culture, and control is, by definition, not accidental. If you lose in the preliminaries of the 100m Freestyle, you get out of the pool and leave, and everybody's fine -- you went swimming; if you lose in freestyle wrestling, you were beaten. And we just can't have that.

>But even more offensive to sensible people everywhere is the abject silliness of the media coverage of the Olympic Games. The focus of the coverage has shifted from the sports and the athletes' performances to the human interest stories that are, at best, extremely peripheral to the contest

I thought ancient pentathlon was the most popular and prestigious one: foot race, javelin throw, discus throw, long jump, and wrestling.

And yeah I guess swimming was never a sport because it was impractical to watch, they couldn't just set up a swimming pool in the arena.

True but the judging though, and it's considered an artistic sport. Though I guess maybe if it was limited to predetermined figures.

apparently that wouldn't generate as much money and I bet that's the only reason

I'd put just
athletic:400m, 3000m, 110 hurdles, long jump, javelin and shot put.

Swimming: 200m freestyle, 800m freestyle

Combat: Epee fencing, pancration (or MMA), archery.

And some kind of gymnastics.

Meh, if you can throw a heavy ball far you can pull and carry stuff too.

>pankration

MMA then?

Good points overall, except I've seen quite a bit of fencing in my country's coverage.

I think the amount of coverage given to each sport just depends on how well represented your country is in it, I don't think there are any high level American fencers or javelin throwers. Swimming on the other hand obviously has lots of Americans.

naaah

throwing and shit is mostly about technique

carrying stuff is all about strength

and original olympics were about functionality in combat

what you need in war is carry heavy shit, NOT throw some balls around

>My impression, and probably yours too, is that NBC Sports is far more concerned about the uplifting story of the athlete's mother who overcame cancer, the athlete's brother who is overcoming a learning disability, the athlete's gender-fluid husband who is overcoming workplace discrimination, or the athlete's dog who was just yesterday hit by a gas-guzzling SUV driven by a Man who was on his way to the Board of Directors meeting of a Private Company that contributes to Global Warming than about the athlete's performance in the sport it is ostensibly covering.

>This week, the feel-good story of two women, one of whom is a rugby player and the other a stadium manager, who got engaged on the field after a rugby game following a two-year romance in Brazil (we seem to know a lot about this), apparently justifies the incessant, annoying, repetitive commercial breaks, which have generated NBC a reported $1.2 billion in ad sales for the 2016 Games.

>watching american television
>being american
>america

It's about both strength and technique.

To be honest what you need in modern war is mostly good FPS and flight simulator skills. Greeks didn't need to exactly throw balls either.

>throwing and shit is mostly about technique
Yes and when your tech is good, its all about the power you can generate. When your fast muscle fibers become stronger, they can generate more power. And power > strength in combat. And ofc you need lots of muscle to keep your form, balance etc. in check when doing something powerfully.

But why no high jump, pole vault, or discus?

And why no guns, that's pretty useful.

>gymnastics

Are there any kind of standardised gymnastics events that are about performing certain specified feats rather than judging of artistic merit?

t. don't know shit about gymnastics

Wrong. Actual sports, as opposed to athletic events, showcase an athlete's true abilities. Water polo requires being able to swim, tread water, propel yourself out of the water, and throw a ball with speed and power. Same applies to handball, but on a floor. Rugby Sevens requires strength and endurance. Hockey requires endurance, finess, and strength to a degree. When lacrosse gets in, which it will, it will be the same as hockey. OP is a faggot Hellenicboo that can't play real sports

Team sports are played by teams, not individual athletes.

I bet your idea of sports is sitting your fat ass in a couch and watching "your team" of roided up niggers run after a ball while you drink frozen piss.

Part of athleticism is a strong brain. Any dumb fuck can lift for years and deadlift 250kg. True athletes make decisions on the fly, and can play with teammates so well that they run like a well oiled machine.

>fat
>implying I'm not a lanklet
>implying I poison my body with alcohol
>implying I'm not actively involved in a sport year round

You mean the kind of thinking that would be required for fencing or MMA?

Bring back naked wrestling

no homo

The big problem is networks don't show shit. NBC literally shows only gymnastics and swimming that's it. I'm tired of hearing how some fucking tar baby on the team USA gymnastics team had a hard life and this is her lifes dream then have to watch some gay ass documentary to feel sympathy for her.

I want to see the fucking events

OP, I like where your head is, I've been saying this forever. But, I think even your idea is too much.

The ideal olympics to me would be:
Submission wrestling
Pankration

Long distance race
Sprint race

Long distance swim
Sprint swim

To me, the purest sports are the ones that can be performed naked and with no equipment. True expression of the human body. I like archery and biking, but they aren't focusing on a man mastering his body, they are man mastering a machine or tool. I'm not saying to compete naked (though frankly I wouldn't mind that), I'm just saying we need sports that rely on the human body and nothing else

There's too many events for anyone to realistically come even remotely close to seeing all of them, that's part the problem.

But aren't there other channels than NBC showing them? Where I am we have four state channels showing Olympics so at least you can see a good part of it. And you can always watch replays of everything, even what they don't show on TV.

I see what you mean but there is a certain simplicity and perfection even in those. Javelin throw for example is quite elemental, the spear is older than modern man himself and remains the most effective primitive weapon. The bicycle is the most efficient and fastest way humans can travel by the force of their body alone. Then there's long jump and high jump which don't require any equipment either.

I think limiting yourself to only running, swimming, and hand combat might not be completely balanced.

god damn I hate how accurate this picture is

Hmm, actually I like the idea of the jumps too.

Submission wrestling
Pankration

Swimming long
Swimming sprint

Long jump
High jump

Javelin
Discus

Long race
Short race

That seems good

>artistic merit
is the artistic component of a gymnastic routine really that important? i thought it was all about the degree of difficulty in your routine

There's NBC showing it primetime time, NBC Sports, the Golf channel showing golf (duh) and MSNBC sometimes showing events. So NBC is running the monopoly.

Way, way too much swimming, too much running, way too many (of the fucking same) commercials. They way the program the events is bullshit, too. Last night the cut the entire first set of the US v. Brazil women's bronze medal volleyball for fucking prelims of diving.

Did you know that professionals were banned for most of the Olympics history? Blew my mind that "practising" was considered cheating.

I miss the old spirit of athletic ameuterism. Roger Bannister was just some boring academic with a running hobby who decided one day that he wanted run run a 4 minute mile. Now it's all tickbox shit done in labs with full time professional athletes who do nothing but train.

I have a co-worker who's huge into fencing and exhibition martial arts, and he despises how poor NBC's coverage on those related events is.

Still that's kind of arbitrary, would be better for judging to just make everyone do the same thing.

I guess that won't get enough interest for American channels to bother showing it unless Americans start winning at those things.

Yeah each country focuses on what its athletes are good at.

Not practicing, but it was meant for amateurs. Normal people doing sports in their free time, not people doing it as a career and living off it.

It always was about encouraging normal people to do sports.

So go to local sport events? Its ridiculous that you should be the BEST in the world in something that you don't even try to be the best at

>X WAS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS AND THAT, THIS IS WRONGZ !
Go to bed gramps, things change

Agreed.

NBC shill detected

Never said those shouldn't be in the olympics. But something like running for 20 seconds can be done by anyone. Archery or shooting could be done by anyone. Those aren't really sports. Even basebore requires more athletic ability than the above mentioned "sports".

Why do we need wrestling if we already have pankration?

i agree but i think there should be two versions: the normal one where no one is on any performance enhancing shite and the SUPER one where everyone is on everything and its ridiculous and hilarious at the same time

This is just stupid. Very narrow vision you got there. What i want in sports is either athleticism or finesse, or even both.

>something like running for 20 seconds can be done by anyone

Fast, or above-average people, can sprint at around 16 mph. Compare that to Usain Bolt, whose fastest time was 29 mph. "Running for 20 seconds" can be done by everyone, but it can only be done greatly by a few.

>Archery or shooting could be done by everyone

The ability and excellence at both isn't just based on hitting a target, it's based on doing it accurately and frequently. You need super-human levels of dexterity and depth perception, and coordination to do both.

what about that armor run? the guy who won that three times was considered a local deity after his death

Armored run is actually not a bad idea, it's definitely useful for combat.

Kek, might be fun.

i dont remember the specifics but it was like a marathon but you had to wear armor and carry weapons etc, not sure if it was a full 26 miles.

i have another proposition, after the main events are all over, all the athletes have to do this: youtube.com/watch?v=zyHhLJovZJU
talk about getting back into the original spirit of the games

Nah you mean this right:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplitodromos

Original was two stades (about 400m, range of Persian arrows, meaning the distance they had to run to charge a Persian army). Then there were versions of 4 and 15 stades (so 800m and 3000m).

>talk about getting back into the original spirit of the games
Not enough nudity or oiled up bodies.

What's going on here, are their weapons all blunt?

yeah im pretty sure the weapons are blunt. basically the point is to knock over the guy on the other team or force them to take a knee. however if you can tire them out first they wont be able to compete as well during their next event.
the weapons are dull 1 so they dont hurt each other and 2 they will be a little more durable that way

>shooting not included
>mfw

>- 3-gun shooting

But it is

What gymnastics though?

Vault? Uneven bars? Balance beam? Floor? Pommel horse? Still rings? Horizontal bar?

you can thank dumb niggers for that

thegrio.com/2013/09/27/nielsen-report-confirms-blacks-watch-more-tv-than-any-other-group/

>death of the specialist
>world records never broken again

british documentaries are the only ones worth watching. dat slow pacing dat soothing voice dat beautiful scenery
getting high and watching british documentaries until you fall asleep is literally the best
works well drunk too

Should add Power lifting, Strongman and Pankration

it has pankration or cant you read

>implying change is a good thing

I don't think lifting adds anything, it only measures pure strength and you'd already have to be strong to be good at most of the rest.

Oh dog that picture. American documentaries are completely unwatchable. The worst part is the constant cutting to one-liners from random "experts" or even just minor celebrities.

Rings are the most optimal option.
You can do almost everything on the rings, except balance beam and ground stuff. But then again, you can do ground stuff on the ground, and balance beam shit are mostly pointless flips and dancing around.

Strongman, powerlifting, and frankly, Olympic weightlifting aren't real sports.
Might as well add bodybuilding if your gonna do that. It's a "sport" too.

Anything where you have one person with the stage to themselves (gymnastics, golf, weightlifting, etc.) are more performance arts than sports, I'd say

And what exercises would be fitting for a standardised competition?

Muscle up, levers, bent arm planche, pikes, V-sit. All with perfect form, that is. Static holds would have to be judged for form and time, while dynamic movements for form only.
If you'd want to turn it up, then throw in iron crosses, planches and some other stuff, although that's a bit overkill for anyone taller than 5'6".
Ground routines would work well, just throw out the pointless dancing.

Basically make it a no-nonsense strength competition instead of "muh points for artsy pirouettes".

>Anything where you have one person with the stage to themselves

But that also applies to jumps and throws, and basically anything that isn't a race or combat.

>only applies to races and combat

I know

>>crossfit

Crossfit is 90% weightlifting of one kind or another though.

OP here, I can see an argument for adding powerlifting, armored running, and gymnastics.

Although not sure if gymnastics doesn't make powerlifting redundant.

Is there even anything else?

Ground would need some standardised routines as well.

No bars?

Sure cunt
Not being able to carry heavy shit for 20kays so glad infantry never stomp any more