Breaking at the Olympics

[CoyoteChris]

Water Polo is like rugby in water. Why do you think they wear the funny caps ? Because they won't want their ears to be pulled off their heads ! It's a very physical sport. You gotta be super fit to just swim back and forth and then do the egg beaters when in the scoring zone to shoot or block a ball. From my own experience, it's a super rough sport and it isn't free of injury.

BTW... a sport doesn't have to be "dangerous" to be a sport.

One, did I ever say water polo wasnt a physical sport, or a valid sport? A swimmer died the other day in a comp due to inadequate life guards.
Anything in the water has a danger level. But with competent life guards, The water polo I watched seemed to be pretty safe
Two, did I ever say a sport had to be dangerous to be a sport? I do not consider corn holeing as a particularly dangerous sport but like skeet, it is extreamly difficult at the upper levels. Like curling. Like billards.
Sports or more aptly who likes what sport, and why, is pretty interesting. Both spectator and sports one actually participates in. What I find particularly interesting is how things change over time. Basketball used to take a back seat to figure skating in the US. Not now. I have nothing against competitive sports,,,,, of any flavor. Its sad that some are indeed very dangerous. But its also a choice.

 

[CoyoteChris]

The horses might agree. I've read that Ian Millar said he and Big Ben never won an Olympics medal because Ben liked the spotlight and felt the Olympics was too crowded with other attractions. Took the attention off him and he was miffed.

At least the shooting is only at targets now. I read the other day that the 1900 Olympics were the only Games in which actual killing took place. In the shooting event, the targets were real pigeons .

Needless to say, I bow to your wider knowledge of swimming.

Shooting real pigeons was very popular and not that long ago , in Mexico...not my cup of tea...like bull "fighting" and cock fighting and dog fighting.

 

[Diana Delafield]

Shooting real pigeons was very popular and not that long ago , in Mexico...not my cup of tea...like bull "fighting" and cock fighting and dog fighting.

Thank goodness they didn't add any of those archaic "sports" to the Olympics in 1900! (Yes, I know they still go on in certain corners of the world.) Shooting pigeons was quite bad enough. I checked up on that -- the gold medallist from Belgium killed 21 birds, the French silver medallist killed 20, and two Americans tied for bronze with 18 each.

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

A little off topic but when I was checking the "What's new" in this forum, which is what I check every time I visit, I saw this post, read it as "BREAKING THE OLYMPICS" (yes, English not my primary language), and while completely agreeing that this 2024 Paris Olympics are very, very broken in every way I can think of, I clicked to read the comments and only by the middle of the first page, I realized it is
Breaking DANCE at the Olympics"

My opinion? No, it definitely should not be in the Olympics, and by what I read in X, it's thankfully been taken off the next summer Olympics.

 

[el henry]

A little bit more OT on breaking at the next Olys.

(and as a parenthetical, the Olympics were well done, bravo to the French, and bravo to the athletes)

Breaking was included as a "host" choice. It is not a host choice for LA. One of the host choices will be:

Flag Football. (men and women)

Of course no other country cares, and of course it is an easy medal for the US and of course I am deeply concerned (NOT)

The Eagles mighty fine QB Jalen Hurts and the ad for Flag Football at the LA games:

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

. (NFL blocks embedding)

Article on sports leaving and sports returning:

Will breaking be at the 2028 Olympics? Here are the sports leaving, entering for the Los Angeles Games

While usual crowd-pleasers like swimming and gymnastics captivated the world's attention at the Paris Games, the event's lone new sport, breaking, brought an unseen level of unique energy into the Olympics.

www.nbcchicago.com

 

[4everchan]

I reiterate. I thought I would hate breaking. I loved it. Super physical sport. Needs years of training and dedication to perform to the music on the spot like this. Judging is simple and yet, for what I have seen, not controversial. The three round format, A versus B, is fun. If Rhythmic gymnastics, which to me looks like ballet with props is an olympic sport, despite the fact that it's very centered in Europe and that it doesn't include men, then breaking deserves to be there too. It's already including women and there were medal winners from Europe, NA and Asia.

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

I reiterate. I thought I would hate breaking. I loved it. Super physical sport. Needs years of training and dedication to perform to the music on the spot like this. Judging is simple and yet, for what I have seen, not controversial. The three round format, A versus B, is fun. If Rhythmic gymnastics, which to me looks like ballet with props is an olympic sport, despite the fact that it's very centered in Europe and that it doesn't include men, then breaking deserves to be there too. It's already including women and there were medal winners from Europe, NA and Asia.

China team won gold at rhytmic gymnastics.
My country team won silver.

China and Israel are not Europe.

 

[4everchan]

China team won gold at rhytmic gymnastics.
My country team won silver.

China and Israel are not Europe.

I was talking about the individual all around athletes.. Good for China. didn't watch yet the teams.
Israel, as far as sporting associations often is put with Europe, just like it is in figure skating.

 

[el henry]

I reiterate. I thought I would hate breaking. I loved it. Super physical sport. Needs years of training and dedication to perform to the music on the spot like this. Judging is simple and yet, for what I have seen, not controversial. The three round format, A versus B, is fun. If Rhythmic gymnastics, which to me looks like ballet with props is an olympic sport, despite the fact that it's very centered in Europe and that it doesn't include men, then breaking deserves to be there too. It's already including women and there were medal winners from Europe, NA and Asia.

I watched 30 seconds of rhythmic gymnastics and my eyes glazed over. Then again, I am not a fan of contortionists even in skating (yes, I love flexibility and spins. Skaters yanking their legs up to show they can yank their legs up, not so much).

Long way of saying I agree; if rhythmic gymnastics is a sport, breaking is a sport. Breaking was unique and decidedly athletic. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

As long as flag football stays.

 

[Diana Delafield]

I reiterate. I thought I would hate breaking. I loved it. Super physical sport. Needs years of training and dedication to perform to the music on the spot like this. Judging is simple and yet, for what I have seen, not controversial. The three round format, A versus B, is fun. If Rhythmic gymnastics, which to me looks like ballet with props is an olympic sport, despite the fact that it's very centered in Europe and that it doesn't include men, then breaking deserves to be there too. It's already including women and there were medal winners from Europe, NA and Asia.

I also expected to view breaking with scorn but am a convert after watching it. I wasn't expecting the face-to-face duels involved and thought it would be just a succession of solo routines as in figure skating. It combined more than one sport that way.

I didn't see the point in surfing and never seemed to have the chance of watching it, not that I really tried to. I'm happy to see lacrosse is going to be included in the future (maybe that's a Scots-Canadian thing, with its similarity to the notoriously-rough shinty as played in Scotland, and there was a lacrosse enclosure on the grounds of my Canadian elementary school with pick-up games going on that we could watch at recess). In gymnastics, I'd like to see the floor routine changed to a straight line tumbling event down a corridor like in the vault. The floor routine bits inbetween the tumbling lines don't appeal to me, looking just like a lot of prancing around with pronounced lordosis and splayed hands, with noticeble breaks in dance and interpretation for the tumbling passes. At least the rhythmic gymnasts combine that with impressive juggling of equipment which (I can tell you from experience) has a mind of its own and wants to escape the gymnast and skitter off on its own.