Karate, Baseball and Softball Overlooked For Olympics

[Mulboyne]

Telegraph: Golf and rugby sevens win Olympic approval for 2016
Golf and rugby sevens are almost certain to join the Olympic program from 2016 after the IOC's executive board recommended that the two sports be added to the summer games schedule. The two sports were chosen from a list of seven, and will go before the full 106-member IOC session in Copenhagen in October for formal ratification. With the support of the executive board and the IOC president Jacques Rogge however there inclusion appears a formality. The board's decision left baseball, softball, squash, roller sports and karate disappointed. Inclusion in the games will be worth at least $10m to rugby and golf, but more important will be the boost in profile...more....

I suppose that counts as very mixed news for Japan. There will be disappointment that baseball, softball and karate seem to have missed out given that the country would have realistic medal hopes in all three. Karate also missed out at the same meeting in 2005 which voted to exclude baseball and softball. Currently, the number of sports at the Olympics is capped at 28 so other events would have to be dropped before any more could be added. On the more positive side, golf is a popular sport. Japan hasn't set the world alight with performances overseas but there are some high profile young golfers who could be in contention for 2016. Rugby also has a large playing base in Japan but the national team has never been competitive. However, the country will be hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup and will be looking to improve performances so this decision, if approved, will be another incentive to so. Japan has never focused much on Rugby Sevens, which is the short form of the game, but will likely now do so.

[Ketou]

Baseball just isn't a world sport. Cricket has a more countries that play.

[Level3]

Baseball is of the Americas and American-influenced Asia, and too popular with all those brown-skinned speakers of Spanish in the Western hemishphere, and George Bush was a baseball team owner. How gauche!
How uncivilized! How un-Olympic!

Hey, I admit baseball is a slow game, and I rarely watch it, but sorry, isn't cricket that sport where it takes 3 days to play a single game?

And golf? It's probably the only "sport" that is MORE boring and LESS athletic than baseball.

Sure, eliminate baseball and replace it with something COOL.
I can respect rugby, even if I don't know the rules, I am willing to learn. It's clearly athletic. Those guys don't wear any padding!
Makes American football players look like a bunch of pussies.
But golf?!

Can a "sport" that some octagenarian retirees can still play reasonably well really be in the same league as the marathon, the decathlon? Or is golf just another way for privileged rich kids to get an Olympic medal without much physical exertion? (see: skeet shooting and PM Aso)

Oh WAIT, I forgot. The whole point of the Olympics is to generate bribes to the IOC. By threatening elimination of sports popular in wealthy countries, (especially countries that are nice vacation spots with 5-star hotels and gourmet food available, funny how that works out) and dangling the hosting of the Olympics in front of 5 cities in a long drawn-out process, the IOC can generate more bribes (oops. I mean, fact-finding tours...oh wait, double-oops, the IOC doesn't really bother with trying to hide the bribes anyway, so let's just go back and say BRIBES!) as countries seek to re-instate their beloved sports and/or capture the Olympic hosting "privilege".

[Mock Cockpit]

Rugby doesn't have a large base in Japan. On Shikoku the number of elementary school age kids involved in rugby is around 200. Total. A suburb of Auckland would have more juniors than that.

[BO-SENSEI]

Atleast Japan has a system for young kids to play rugby, it only exists as a college sport in most places in America.

[Ketou]

Atleast Japan has a system for young kids to play rugby, it only exists as a college sport in most places in America.

I doubt there is a system at all....imagine playing rugby on those nice sandy school ovals....ouch

[Mulboyne]

Rugby doesn't have a large base in Japan. On Shikoku the number of elementary school age kids involved in rugby is around 200. Total. A suburb of Auckland would have more juniors than that.

The registered player base in Japan is 120,000 and there are nearly 5,000 accredited referees. Granted, the number of good players is tiny and the number of competent referees probably smaller still but there is a wide base even if it's paper thin. The High School Rugby tournament was first held in 1917. Kids may not start early but a lot of them do get some exposure. It's not going to compare with the exposure a New Zealand child gets because it's the national sport there. There are plenty of parts of England, Scotland and Ireland where you can go through school without touching a rugby ball.

[xenomorph42]

Baseball just isn't a world sport. Cricket has a more countries that play.

Your joking right??? You call Cricket a sport good God...yea, I admit Baseball is boring, but Cricket...jeez! Watching the grass grow or watching "Rhythmic Gymnastics" is bit more entertaining, seriously!

[wuchan]

I doubt there is a system at all....imagine playing rugby on those nice sandy school ovals....ouch

you haven't been here long. Japanese play "touch rugby", so much gayer than the real thing: I grab.

[Greji]

you haven't been here long. Japanese play "touch rugby", so much gayer than the real thing: I grab.

Now there's a league where a wedgie will have some real meaning!

[IkemenTommy]

Your joking right??? You call Cricket a sport good God...yea, I admit Baseball is boring, but Cricket...jeez! Watching the grass grow or watching "Rhythmic Gymnastics" is bit more entertaining, seriously!

Rhythmic Gymnastics? Mind as well bring in Synchronized Masturbation. It has an artistic element, vigor, and finesse. They should have both the loooong program and the free routine.

While we are on the same topic, they should throw in darts and bowling. Normal bowling is boring, so you have to be drunk before playing. Doping is allowed.. hell, it's mandatory. Call the events "Drunken darts" and "Slosh bowling."

And of course, this guy summed up everything in one package:

[SIZE="5"]Yes![/SIZE]

And here is my list:

Synchronized swimming
Synchronized diving
Synchronized anything
BMX
Mountain Biking
Equestrian (alternately, we could award medals to the horses rather than the riders, or just ban all humans from riding and let the horses do their thing by themselves).
Kayak & Canoe
Trampoline
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Badminton
Ping Pong
Water Polo

And while we're at it, time to fix the Winter Games too. Eliminate:
Snowboarding
Curling
Freestyle skiing

All of these "sports" are ridiculous, and should join the list of discontinued Olympic events like tug-of-war, live pigeon shooting, indian club swinging and croquet. Actually, I'd rather watch a tug of war or croquet than any of those current events.

Oh and one more thing to eliminate, in order to return to the original Olympic ideal: clothing. All athletes should compete as the original Greeks did, nude, wearing nothing but a coat of olive oil.

[Behan]

That list pretty much hits the nail right on the head, Ikemen.

[Ketou]

Your joking right??? You call Cricket a sport good God...yea, I admit Baseball is boring, but Cricket...jeez! Watching the grass grow or watching "Rhythmic Gymnastics" is bit more entertaining, seriously!

Not quite sure where in my comment I mention my opinion of either sport. I merely said that cricket would be more a 'world' sport than baseball.
Cricket test matches are quite long and tedious, 5 days often ending in a draw. The 20 over one day matches I would prefer to watch over baseball though.

[xenomorph42]

Not quite sure where in my comment I mention my opinion of either sport. I merely said that cricket would be more a 'world' sport than baseball.
Cricket test matches are quite long and tedious, 5 days often ending in a draw. The 20 over one day matches I would prefer to watch over baseball though.

I highly doubt that. I hate Baseball, but at least it's a fairly simple game, but who in their right mind would watch that lame-ass sport, really? Not the whole world. That is your opinion, because if it were true, why wasn't the sport chosen?
As you said, the test matches are long and seriously, painfully tedious and over 5 days????
Good God, if anyone really enjoys serious competitive sports, you cannot put Cricket in that category. Basketball, yes! Cricket, hell naw!!!!

[xenomorph42]

Rhythmic Gymnastics? Mind as well bring in Synchronized Masturbation. It has an artistic element, vigor, and finesse. They should have both the loooong program and the free routine.

While we are on the same topic, they should throw in darts and bowling. Normal bowling is boring, so you have to be drunk before playing. Doping is allowed.. hell, it's mandatory. Call the events "Drunken darts" and "Slosh bowling."

And of course, this guy summed up everything in one package:

Originally Posted by Charles
Yes!

And here is my list:

Synchronized swimming(well, the chicks are kinda hot)Not quite sure yet.
Synchronized diving (Hell yea!)
Synchronized anything (yep)
BMX
Mountain Biking
Equestrian (alternately, we could award medals to the horses rather than the riders, or just ban all humans from riding and let the horses do their thing by themselves).(agreed)
Kayak & Canoe (Its a sport?)
Trampoline (whose idea was that orig.?)
Rhythmic Gymnastics ( fair enough)
Badminton (Ughhh)
Ping Pong (Shoot me already)
Water Polo (WTF, no keep it)

And while we're at it, time to fix the Winter Games too. Eliminate:
Snowboarding (No Way!!!!) Keep it!!!
Curling (as bad as Cricket and Baseball, I vote a hell yes)
Freestyle skiing (what?)

All of these "sports" are ridiculous, and should join the list of discontinued Olympic events like tug-of-war, live pigeon shooting, indian club swinging and croquet. Actually, I'd rather watch a tug of war or croquet than any of those current events.

Oh and one more thing to eliminate, in order to return to the original Olympic ideal: clothing. All athletes should compete as the original Greeks did, nude, wearing nothing but a coat of olive oil.

-You do mean the women, right?

[Ketou]

I highly doubt that. I hate Baseball, but at least it's a fairly simple game, but who in their right mind would watch that lame-ass sport, really? Not the whole world. That is your opinion, because if it were true, why wasn't the sport chosen?
As you said, the test matches are long and seriously, painfully tedious and over 5 days????
Good God, if anyone really enjoys serious competitive sports, you cannot put Cricket in that category. Basketball, yes! Cricket, hell naw!!!!

I'm talking about the breadth of nations that play the game compared to baseball. You are off on a totally different topic.

Cricket did appear at the Olympics once and like baseball was dropped.
As for my opinion, I find watching sport, any sport, extremely boring. I can play and enjoy playing sport but have no knowledge of teams and players in vogue. If I was given the choice of having to watch either Baseball, Basketball or Cricket, I would choice Cricket. It's a personal and I suppose cultural thing, neither right or wrong however you think.

[Greji]

I'm talking about the breadth of nations that play the game compared to baseball. You are off on a totally different topic.

There are quite a few countries that play baseball not only in North and South America, but also in Asia and Europe. Whether we as individuals might like, or dislike the game is not relevant. It is the amount of participation. Take a look at the countries represented in the MLB.

[Ketou]

There are quite a few countries that play baseball not only in North and South America, but also in Asia and Europe. Whether we as individuals might like, or dislike the game is not relevant. It is the amount of participation. Take a look at the countries represented in the MLB.

Sure, I suppose I should have noted country vs country competition.

Any case, all I was trying to say was that it was no surprise Baseball didn't make the cut as it was even less qualified as an Olympic sport then Cricket for the reasons above. Nothing else.

[Mulboyne]

There are probably several reasons why baseball didn't make it back. An important one is that The Olympics like to include sports which have both male and female participation and I think the feeling was that there was inadequate participation in softball. Others pointed out that the Olympics runs on a tight schedule but baseball and softball (as with cricket) can be rained off or go into extra innings which can throw off the timetable. The IOC also likes sports which have a credible world championship competition and even baseball isn't convinced about the WBC.

I'm surprised golf made it in. Like tennis, the sport doesn't really need the Olympics although Roger Federer did meet his wife in the Olympic village so maybe this is just part of a sport matchmaking scheme.

[dimwit]

The basic problem with baseball and softball is not the number of participating countries (which is far more than sufficent for inclusion) or drug use or lack of pro players (the later two excuses were the pretexts for removing baseball and softball) but the reality that no European country has any hope of medaling in these competitions. The IOC has for the last 115 years been dominated by European countries and this is why sports with few participants outside of Europe persist. In addition, going back to the days of Avery Brundage there has always been a bias against team sports at the Olympics that continues to this day.

[xenomorph42]

I'm talking about the breadth of nations that play the game compared to baseball. You are off on a totally different topic.

Cricket did appear at the Olympics once and like baseball was dropped.
As for my opinion, I find watching sport, any sport, extremely boring. I can play and enjoy playing sport but have no knowledge of teams and players in vogue. If I was given the choice of having to watch either Baseball, Basketball or Cricket, I would choice Cricket. It's a personal and I suppose cultural thing, neither right or wrong however you think.

I wasn't off topic, buddy. Just wanted to throw that in there. The only cricket's that I like are steamed and booooy do they taste good. Kinda a nutty shrimp-like flavor.

[Mock Cockpit]

The registered player base in Japan is 120,000 and there are nearly 5,000 accredited referees. Granted, the number of good players is tiny and the number of competent referees probably smaller still but there is a wide base even if it's paper thin. The High School Rugby tournament was first held in 1917. Kids may not start early but a lot of them do get some exposure. It's not going to compare with the exposure a New Zealand child gets because it's the national sport there. There are plenty of parts of England, Scotland and Ireland where you can go through school without touching a rugby ball.

It is well coached here and well run. My younger boy plays soccer and it's not nearly as well run.
Actually there are plenty of parts of Australia too where you wouldn't see a rugby ball at school, at least when I went to school. It has a far higher profile now but it remains at number 4 in the footy pecking order in Australia, especially with the recent success of the Socceroos.

[Mulboyne]

Japan has just announced the start of a new nationwide rugby sevens tournament for high school girls which is pretty good forward planning for the Olympics. It will be interesting to see if they can build on that and create a competitive team. To date, Japan has ignored sevens rugby (much to the frustration of the John Kirwan, the current national coach).