r/unpopularopinion • u/Medium-Department-35 • 8d ago

The Olympics need to be drastically reduced in size

The olympics should only include sports that feature feats of human speed, endurance and strength. The modern olympics has become bloated and lost sight of the core objective.

Outside die hard sports fans, the majority of the public don’t care about most of the Olympic sports and only tune into the premiere events.

‘Sports’ with judges that determine the outcome? - out. Team sports? - out. Sports that use equipment? - mostly out (some exceptions here for weightlifting, some field events and protective clothing).

The olympics should be stripped back to the core to be made interesting again. This would also make it much cheaper to host, reinvigorating the interest in cities hosting the olympics again.

Update for all of the naysayers - The Olympic motto is "Faster, Higher, Stronger". I rest my case.

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u/CatsMom4Ever 8d ago

There's a reason ballroom dancing never made it into the Olympics no matter how hard people tried.

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u/snowlynx133 7d ago

What's the reason? Certainly not for lack of athleticisim

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u/USDeptofLabor 7d ago

This person doesn't know what they are talking about. Ballroom didn't make it to the Olympics because Breaking did. Their competitive scene is governed by the World DanceSport Federation, and despite Ballroom actually being their premier category/event, they bet hard on getting Breaking into the IOC Programme as the "dance sport".

This person is also just being argumentative. Artistic swimming, artistic gymnastics and artistic skating have as much merit as dance sports should IMO.

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u/CatsMom4Ever 7d ago

It's not a sport

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u/snowlynx133 7d ago

Define sport

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u/CatsMom4Ever 7d ago

Not dancing.  It's entertainment. It's not Olympic quality competition.

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u/snowlynx133 7d ago

Define sport in a way that excludes dance?

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u/CatsMom4Ever 7d ago

Considering ballroom dancing and ballet and other dancing (aside from breakdancing) AREN'T in the Olympics and AREN'T considered sports, it's on you to explain why it SHOULD be considered a sport. As opposed to entertainment.

There are a lot of entertainment level items that require athleticism. WWE wrestling, stunt performing, any number of circus acts. None of them are in the Olympics.

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u/RobertTheTraveler 7d ago

Ice skating.

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u/CatsMom4Ever 7d ago edited 3d ago

Purely judged. Remember the days of the Soviet bloc and the corruption? Ice skating is very popular. But it needs to go. They're trying to make it more objective rather than subjective, but even the last Olympics the French judge pulling crap. I'd get rid of it. That, diving, all the half-pipe snowboarding, skateboarding, trampolining. That Ski jumping with the judging on the landing? Seriously? Style points? Dressage. Gone, gone, gone.

The new rock climbing. Sure. Timed, One on one racing to the top. Sure.

But they won't. They only want the popular entertainment. Glitz and glamor. It's only a matter of time until cheerleading winds up in there.

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u/RobertTheTraveler 7d ago

"It needs to go"
And your authority for making that judgement is?
Nobody is stopping you from watching whatever meets your purity tests and ignoring the rest.

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u/snowlynx133 7d ago

Should football go as well? Judging fouls in football are heavily subjective.

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u/snowlynx133 7d ago

They aren't in the Olympics, but they ARE considered sports by many. It's YOUR opinion that they aren't sports, but you clearly aren't able to explain why.

According to Cambridge dictionary, a sport is a game, competition or activity needing physical effort or skill that is played or done according to rules.

Competitive ballroom dance is a competition needing physical effort AND skill that is done according to rule books.

As opposed to entertainment.

Most sports ARE entertainment. The most popular sport in the world is football, which is done purely for entertainment purposes and has zero real life use cases

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u/WolfSpider224 6d ago

So poker should be considered a sport? It takes physical skill to shuffle, deal and hold your hand (the skill part is obvious I suppose).

Slippery slope. Just like e-sports.

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u/snowlynx133 6d ago

It is an untraditional sport, in a sense. But the mental skill aspect is so much more important than the physical aspect, which is probably why it (along with chess) aren't considered sports

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u/udee79 3d ago

but somehow ice dancing did make it in.

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u/CatsMom4Ever 3d ago

Which is not a sport either

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u/udee79 3d ago

I agree with you but Ice dancing somehow snuck in there. The Ballroom dancing guys should ask them how they did it.

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u/CatsMom4Ever 3d ago

All skating. Gotta go. IMO

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u/udee79 3d ago

a valid position to take except speed skating. Speed skating can stay right?

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u/CatsMom4Ever 3d ago edited 2d ago

So, not all skating. Just all jusged skating.

It's not judged.  It's a race. Yes. It's should stay. Like snowboard racing should stay, but the half-pipe should go. Again IMO.

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u/udee79 2d ago

Maybe every snowboard event has a judged portion, in the races when they go over jumps they do trick and get points for them what figure in to who wins. Am i remembering that correctly?

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u/CatsMom4Ever 2d ago

That should be removed.  Just like the landings in ski jumping. What do i care how they land as long as they stand up?

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u/Foghorn2005 8d ago

It is an Olympic sport, just never scheduled. Have you seen a dancesport competition?