Olympics Talk: A brief discussion before it goes away

[payn]

1. I would totally watch the Zen Master of Skee Ball!

2. #CORNHOLECONFIRMED!!!!! We must make this happen. 2028 is too late, but 2032? WE ARE GOING TO BE CORNHOLING BRISBANE!

Um ... probably need a better slogan.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I don't really watch the olympics, so what I'll share is pure dump of opinion for conversation sake.

I never understood the presence of disciplines that are not objective in their results. For example, if there's an event to see who runs the fastest over 100m... it's simple. Whoever crosses the line first wins. There's no discussion to be had (except for technicalities). But with disciplines like synchronized swimming, gymnastics and stuff like that... there's a part of subjectivity. I know they have a ton of criterias to judge and evaluate the performance. But I feel like they still have an artistic component to them and the mere presence of judges betrays a higher level of subjectivity. Would the results be different with a set of different judges?

I'm not advocating for their removal. Many people enjoy them. But if you gave me absolute power and told me I had to make changes for the olympics to fit my mental construction of what they should be, it'd be mostly centered around athleticism with mostly objectives disciplines (hammer throw, javelin throw, running, swimming, etc).

 

[Gradine]

I dislike synchronized swimming, but mostly because I almost drowned as a kid and I have a deathly fear of being underwater and they have their heads underwater for way too long

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I dislike synchronized swimming, but mostly because I almost drowned as a kid and I have a deathly fear of being underwater and they have their heads underwater for way too long

I mean ... ya got options!

 

[Tonguez]

They can't.

Seriously, the number of scandals and controversies in scoring figure skating over the last few decades is ridiculous.

Gymnastics seems to have been able to work out the difficulties - at least with individual tumbling, maybe not so much in the team displays.

The one that gets me is Synchronised Swimming, sure the lung capacity and swimming skill is great but how can judges score anything when they only see half of what the swimmers are doing

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The one that gets me is Synchronised Swimming, sure the lung capacity and swimming skill is great but how can judges score anything when they only see half of what the swimmers are doing

If you go back to this comment-

Olympics Talk: A brief discussion before it goes away

Traveling, but this is probably worth noting- https://www.vox.com/culture/367059/raygun-olympic-controversy-breaking-corruption Stupid facts ruining a good story! Though I utterly reject the "she wasn't that bad" argument. She was. Still, does this mean there's hope for Elaine?

www.enworld.org

The NPR podcast has a story about the change in scoring synchronized swimming toward the ending. They have moved to a more objective system, which has been controversial.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That kind of thinking is what made modern TKD the way it is. Laughable point touch sport with minimal contact. If they can't handle proper full contact combat sport, maybe it's better to remove them all together, rather than ruin it.

Indeed. Stupid kicking people in the head isn’t a sport, but it is a burden on the health service.

 

[Tonguez]

If you go back to this comment-

Olympics Talk: A brief discussion before it goes away

Traveling, but this is probably worth noting- https://www.vox.com/culture/367059/raygun-olympic-controversy-breaking-corruption Stupid facts ruining a good story! Though I utterly reject the "she wasn't that bad" argument. She was. Still, does this mean there's hope for Elaine?

www.enworld.org

The NPR podcast has a story about the change in scoring synchronized swimming toward the ending. They have moved to a more objective system, which has been controversial.

ah, I hadnt bother listening before but that was really interesting - its great observation of how competitive judging challenges creativity but if done well can help to motivate. Theres resistance to the idea in Breaking but I for one think it would be beneficial to get more codified technical ability, doing that without undermining creativity is always the challenge...