27% of Brits think they could qualify for the LA Olympics in 2028

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paulcook 16 Aug 4:05pm, 16 Aug 2024 6,227 posts	0 paulcook I'd have football as futsal (or 5 or 6-a-side), which would probably also bring it more centrally to the games rather than some far flung spin off. And I agree with the principle of not excluding sports. Logistics allowing, I'd be looking to see if the games can be extended to a third week to showcase all the sports there rather than try find reasons to chuck some out.
Mazlin 16 Aug 4:06pm, 16 Aug 2024 12,571 posts	0 Mazlin I think the there’s a few sports where the Olympics isn’t the ‘pinnacle’. Olympic Eventing is a 4* course, not 5*, to make it more accessible to more countries. I’m not sure it’s the main event for Ice Hockey or football either. I think it’s still special though because of the whole multi-event and bigger than usual audiences thing.
Cerrertonia 16 Aug 4:11pm, 16 Aug 2024 21,638 posts	0 Cerrertonia One of the reasons that netball is not eligible is because the Olympic Commission on Women in Sport is trying to establish equal participation between men and women at the Olympic Games by implementing the same venue, equipment and rules for both genders. So netball suffers because there are very few countries playing men's netball internationals. There are only two women-only sports currently - synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.
Nellers 16 Aug 4:14pm, 16 Aug 2024 43,632 posts	0 Nellers I agree that the Olympics is and should always be a showcase for a wide range of sports so including things like Golf, Tennis, Football, Cricket etc is fine from that point of view. The main reason I feel conflicted about them, though, is that the Olympics can never accommodate every sport. If you put Cricket in there then squash misses out. If you include Football then, I don't know, maybe Orienteering doesn't get a look in. And if we're looking to showcase a wide range of sports is it beneficial for sports that already have their own spotlight and a huge audience to be included to the detriment of some more niche sports that might just need a bit of publicity to really take off? I don't know the answer. I don't suppose there really is one that keeps everyone happy. Oh, and the YouGov survey that this thread used to be about (;-)) was a talking point on the Science Of Sport pod this week in their Olympic wrap up.
paulcook 16 Aug 4:20pm, 16 Aug 2024 6,228 posts	0 paulcook Squash is also down for 2028. Nice thought about orienteering, seems such an obvious sport that could be included.
Nellers 16 Aug 4:24pm, 16 Aug 2024 43,633 posts	0 Nellers There must be a lot of niche sports that coudl make a case for inclusion. How about Disc golf? Functional fitness? Cycleball (or whatever the bike polo game is really called)? and so on.
paulcook 16 Aug 4:32pm, 16 Aug 2024 6,229 posts	0 paulcook How long until padel gets included? If that's the correct name of the sport. Need to bring back the likes of Tug of War first though!
Cerrertonia 16 Aug 4:37pm, 16 Aug 2024 21,640 posts	0 Cerrertonia Most of these sports won't meet the requirements of having official governing bodies in enough countries. There's a whole bunch of admin type hurdles to go through to be 'officially' recognised. There has to be a single world governing body for example.
jda 16 Aug 5:27pm, 16 Aug 2024 17,650 posts	0 jda Bicycle dancing would be a good replacement for the horse dance stuff. They could do jumps as well.
Dvorak 16 Aug 7:45pm, 16 Aug 2024 27,996 posts	0 Dvorak Bicycle dancing is already included