The Winter Olympics

robjob · Post by **robjob** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:35 pm

I would imagine a lot of us in the realm of the G.H. Forum, have been keeping track of this year's winter olympics. And it is because of the enormous amount of knowledge that the collective body of G.H. Fans, and band members alike, exhibit that I assert this question to gain access to a possible answer or explanation:

Why on earth is curling an athletic event included in the winter olympics? I've never seen a curler breathing hard, or even breaking a sweat.

What's the deal?

Chime right in.......

Post by **FredProgGH** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:38 pm

I agree. Curling involves thought, subtlety, skill and finesse. It is not a pointless display of someone showing off their genetic superiority and therefore it has no place at the Olympics.

BTW I haven't seen much of the games at all this year but I caught the big Italian win in the cross-country relay- they gonna party in Torino tonight!!

Post by **MayorOfLongview** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:23 am

My favorite part of the Oympics has always been the $50,000,000.00 opening ceremonies with the $50.00 sport anchor narration. Any one ever notice that?

EIwing · Post by **EIwing** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:28 am

I would like to know why the majority of winter sports are actually considered sports. I don't think jumping off a ramp covered in snow is a sport ... it's a skill, sure, but so is knitting, and that's not a sport. And thank you! Why is curling a sport?
Speed skating, I feel, is a sport. It takes stamina and training, it requires a special kind of skate as opposed to hockey or figure skating skates, and you develop muscle mass from it.
But I don't think some activities that are skills are actually sports.

Am I wrong in thinking that there is a summer games olympic event that is jumping on a big trampoline and doing lots of flips and stuff?

Soon swinging on swingsets will be an olympic event.

Alatar · Post by **Alatar** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:03 am

My rule is that anything that involves points for artistic interpretation is not a sport.

I have friends who are ballroom dancers and insist that ballroom dancing should be in the Olympics. They insist that it has just as much right to be their as figure skating. I agree, it has none at all.

Curling comes under the same category as archery for me. It places physical demands on precision, just not on aerobic fitness.

Bogatyr · Post by **Bogatyr** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:06 am

It has long been my contention that Snowball Throwing should be an Olympic event. I mean, think about it. Isn't the Winter Olympics supposed to be about sporting activities that people actually participate in? Who hasn't ever been in a snowball fight? And does anybody know a biathlete??? Who goes cross-country skiing for a few yards in the park and stops to shoot something? Unless his name is Jack Bauer......

johnc · Post by **johnc** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:41 am

I wanna see Vanilla Ice hockey.

Rumpska · Post by **Rumpska** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:11 pm

I don't think we could handle the whiteness

Post by **FredProgGH** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:28 pm

The Summer Olympics has a lot of questionable "sports." Archery?? Shooting?? And the big one, Synchronized Swimming!! That should be in the Special Olympics.

EIwing · Post by **EIwing** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:27 pm

Special, like, "wow, that was amazing"? Or special, like, "special"?

SuperTed · Post by **SuperTed** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:38 pm

If Writing Your Name In The Snow was in the Olympics I'd be a dead cert gold medallist

yyzmoose · Post by **yyzmoose** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:43 pm

FredProgGH wrote:The Summer Olympics has a lot of questionable "sports." Archery?? Shooting?? And the big one, Synchronized Swimming!! That should be in the Special Olympics.

Shooting is indeed a sport. My best friend is heavily into shooting sports, as has been for nearly 30 years. I went to a range a few times and it's a lot tougher than it looks. It requires incredible concentration, and a level of muscle control. You don't see many out of shape shooters, at least not in olympic competition. I happen to love the biathalon. It's incredibly grueling. After skiing and raising their heart rate, they need to slow it down in an instant. It's really one of the most difficult Olympic events. There is a summer event called the Modern Pentathalon. It combines shooting, fencing, running, swimming and horse riding, but its only one discipline at a time. I know a lot less about Archery, but it looks pretty cool to me. I always think of the archery competition in the Errol Flynn version of Robin Hood.

Synchronized swimming? Sure, they are athletes, and its gotta be very difficult. But it also looks incredibly stupid. I hate those fake, plastic smiles, and the nose pulgs. Its annoying water ballet. You might as well put in real ballet as an olympic event, or maybe Curque du Soleil. I do have a problem with judged events, but I can't rule them all out. That would do away with boxing and many other valid sports. I can't knock figure skating. All those triple and even quadruple jumps are simply amazing and incredibly athletic. Plus some of the girls are really cute. On that note, I even give a pass to that awful Ice Dancing. Have you seem the American woman? water-holder-backer!

Post by **MayorOfLongview** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:25 pm

Sportnoun: an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition

Post by **FredProgGH** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:59 pm

EIwing wrote:Special, like, "wow, that was amazing"? Or special, like, "special"?

Special, like, look at the picture under your name

Post by **FredProgGH** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:05 pm

The biathlon is one thing, but come on, the skiing is the hard part. I still think just shooting a gun is fairly low on the physicality part unless you're Ahnuld carrying around that zip gun from T2...

Anyway, either curling, shooting and archery are all sports or none of them are. In curling you totally have to push a rock. That's physical. And if they nominate pool as a summer sport I'd support that 100%.