100% Agreed. They can't cut a sport from Olympic just because the sport is not popular in their countries without considering the worldwide popularity.
Well, they can if they want to. You see the inclusion of sport into the Olympic is governed by the Olympic Charter, which set down rules on the criteria of admission in Chapter 5, Rule 47, article 1-7. In article 1.1, it says as a sport, it must be "widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on 4 continents, and by women in at least 40 countries and on 3 continents." For the host city, Chapter 5 Rule 48 article 1 says "the programme of the Games of the Olympiad must include at least 15 Olympic sports." Note this set the minimum but not the maximum, and todate there are 28 Olympic sports on the list including badminton, so in theory, 13 of them can be dropped. Mind you there are also many "Recongnised Sports" waiting to knock on the Olympic Sports door. Just for easy reference, here are the current 28 Olympic Sports: Aquatics Archery Athletics Badminton Baseball Basketball Boxing Canoe / kayak Cycling Equestrian Fencing Football Gymnastics Handball Hockey Judo Modern Pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Softball Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Weightlifting Wrestling Some of the "older" sports are also kind of safe because in Chapter 5 Rule 47 article 4.4 also states that "Sports, disciplines or events included in the programme of the Olympic Games which no longer satisfy the criteria of this rule may nevertheless, in certain exceptional cases, be maintained therein by decision of the IOC for the sake of Olympic tradition." In the modern day Olympics where cost of hosting are extremely high (we always heard of hosting city makign huge financial loss), there will be constant pressure to cut down the sports. As the charter only state the minimum sports, badminton is not a guranteed safe sports, especially when the event is held say in the continent of Africa and South America if a decision is to be made to drop some sports. Never take the Olympic status for badminton for granted just because it is popular in Asia!
I have started to think that maybe it's not all that bad if they drop Badminton from the Olympics... The badminton associations around the world is relying to heavilly on olympics funding.. And they are not forced to look at more commercial aspect to fund and sposnor the game and players!! Maybe taking it of the olympics will lead to some more focus and creative measurements to get corporate sponsors, bigger TV-coverage etc. etc.. But of course.. every 4th year its a highligt to watch the olympics badminton on TV.. that would be missed :-( /Twobeer
Twobeer, what you said might be true for the traditonal strong houses like China, Indonesia, Malaysia. The tradition and pride alone will keep the sport alive in these countries. But to the lesser countries, if the sport is excluded from Olympic, it can go either way. The best case would be as like what you say that the associations start to think more commercially, but there could also some that might go into oblivion. The less associations that are active, the less chance that badminton will be reinstated, so it could be a vicious cycle. I think whenever the Olympic is on, the world is watching. Even equestrian will get a mention in my local press during Olympic! Badminton needs to stay in there and that need a worldwide supports from everyone who loves this game. Yes I know that badminton is in 2008 and safe in 2012 olympic, but 2016? 2020? I just donot know.
US fears to CHN. that's why they want to cut badminton from OG. don't forget, only 3 golds separate US from China, from 28 golds in Atlanta 96 (US 44, CHN 16)
I don't think it is fair to say that table tennis is a poorer sport than badminton. In most of our opinions it is. My dad was scottish junior champion for table tennis and we always have arguments about what is the better sport. I prefer badminton obviously but table tennis is good. Not looking for an argument or anything. Just stating my opinion I read somewhere that badminton was one of the most watched sports in the 2004 olympics so what about basketball or something. I doubt it will happen , its an amazing sport
I like to watch both table tennis and badminton. What I mean by poorer is that it is financially poorer. Less prize money etc.
Dont worry about future Olympics because some comedian here predicted Msia taking two golds in Beijing.
Is there any solid reason to cut off the badminton sports from Olympics?Just because it was dominated by few countries??Remember,it is no longer dominated by korea,indonesia,china,denmark no more..Other Countries,like thailand,vietnam,singapore,england,japan,philipines,german,france,etc r coming up..n more n more ppl r starting to playing it,or take it more serious.So,no reason to cut off badminton from olympics!!
