"Roller Sports" is Inline Skating more or less and it's pretty spectacular (and demanding) . Certainly more widely practiced than speedskating on ice. Forgot about Tennis yes, wrote about it in the past as a sport that shouldn't be there as well as Football (the glorified youth tournament that the Olympics is). I guess that's two spots for Baseball and Squash already (but they don't bring in the $$$ which is what it's all about these days). Drug testing could use a serious overhaul for sure but Cycling hasn't even been put in position of the chopping block. I do think that was one of the factors in cutting it last time (baseball). Baseball is a much bigger sport than field hockey. I don't think there has even been a field hockey millionaire so far. Baseball is the national sport in a lot of Central America and Venezuela, Japan, Taiwan, arguably Korea. I think 8 countries in the world play something close to competitive field hockey (Netherlands, England, Australia, NZ, Spain, Germany, Argentina, South Korea and of late Belgium. I guess China Women's team shouldn't be left out and probably only exists because it is another Olympic medal to be grabbed ) On a national league level maybe only the Japanese league comes remotely close to the MLB so in those terms there is a big gap but a lot of foreign players play in the MLB, similar to NBA and NHL. World Baseball Classic is a good reflection of this usually ... [video=youtube;QZzXp550ahk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZzXp550ahk[/video]
Really? For a sport developed by the upper middle class of England who could well afford to play tennis, i doubt this can be correct. Any source on this, sounds interesting.
Wow, that's kinda offensive, so Badminton is a sport for people and countries too poor to afford Tennis...
Cycling has been using the biological passport system for a while now (google tells me 2008), so it has made very firm steps to tackle its drugs problem. Since the revelations of the BALCO scandal has baseball made any comparable steps to clean up its image - that's a serious question as it's not a sport I follow? With regards to hockey you forgot India, the most successful hockey team in olympic history. I guess Pakistan warrant a mention too. (so chuck another billion people on the who plays hockey pile then ) As for baseball, it's popularity and professionalism seems to be more widespread than I was aware of, and I would have no objections for it's inclusion from a sporting point of view. This might be an ill informed opinion but I'd still be worried about the top players trying to dodge the olympic competition, which would devalue it. On a more light hearted note, I was once told that; 'the hardest thing about roller blading is telling your parents your gay' . Joking aside, it does look like speed skating in the Winter Olympics, I wonder if the skills are transferrable? Nice carpark
i always wonder if they can hold it in a velodrome designed for bicycles. then no more coasting around the corner, pure speed.
I reckon they could hold events on each of the cycling circuits; velodrome, road and bmx track. Although that last one might be too dangerous. In the velodrome they could use the Keirin bike and do something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGwE-uDao7Q
(but there are far longer distances as well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inline_speed_skating#Olympic_status). I think the speed on the velodrome would be dangerously high ... [video=youtube;4LDgMX4lxAU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDgMX4lxAU[/video] I actually came back to say I forgot about India and Pakistan completely (and perhaps South Africa to some extent). There was a piece about the Indian Premier League on tv here yesterday, or more precisely on one of the Dutch players who by chance was won at auction by one of the teams when he was on holiday in India (similar to the badminton premier league there, etc.). Worth $31,000 annually for a duration of 3 years but he was talking about trying to get only a month off from work next year so maybe only there for the playoffs? (missed the beginning). They just became league champions in India btw with his new team . Still the level there has dropped considerably and they seem to be at least trying to inject new life into it in India ... Still, I think baseball is the bigger sport although in IOC terms you might perhaps say field hockey is the growing participation sport and baseball on the decline ...
Heard that the verdict is out. Wrestling is the one that got kicked out of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Badminton is safe, in; so is Table-Tennis.
Mens' Soccer needs to be axed. I assume not many people watch Mens' Soccer at the Olympics. It's not as interesting as the World Cup (the way FIFA intended). A U23 match? Just cut the age by 4 years and throw it in the youth Olympics.
It should be cut but cutting it doesn't open up an extra spot or anything (not if you don't cut women's soccer as well). And it is a revenue generator which probably benefits the small sports through all kinds of programs through IOC ... and it's soccer. If it's on, people will watch it when it comes to international matches (also it's U23 + 3 who could be Messi, Tevez and Aguero for example).
