It's Top Five time again, and with the Olympics heading into the home stretch we thought we'd give you our Top Five Weirdest Olympic Sports.
There are a lot of different sporting events at the Beijing Games, and some of them are slightly odd.
Well, "slightly" is the wrong word. Really, it's debatable as to whether or not they should even be at the games.
So, here are our Top Five Weirdest Olympic Sports:
5. Synchronized Swimming
As an artistic display, it's amazing what these girls can do. But let's be honest, it's slightly bizarre, and almost humorous. It's dancing under water, right? And while we're not doubting their skill, we can't get over the fact that, well...it's dancing under water.
Next thing you know, there'll be ballroom dancing and possibly even break-dancing at the Olympic Games. As far as Olympic sports go, this one is just plain weird.
4. Equestrian-Dressage
This is the one where the rider makes the horse walk funny, right? It's kind of like synchronized swimming, but with a horse. And no water.
The horse struts around the field for a few minutes, lifting its legs in various, slightly awkward looking ways. Kind of like its walking on hot coals, really.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Like synchronized swimming, it probably takes an awful lot of talent from the rider. But for the spectator, it's like watching a horse walk around a paddock with pins in its feet.
Is it really a sport? We're not sure, but we're sure it's weird.
3. Handball
When we originally watched a highlights package of handball, it actually looked like a lot of fun. Then we watched an entire game.
Weird? Oh yes. There doesn't seem to be any structure to it. The players run down one end, try to throw the ball into the goal, and then run back down to defend without even bothering to try to get the ball off the opposition. It's just so (too..?) chaotic.
If anyone can explain the rules of handball to us, please do. Until then, handball's staying in the weird column.
2. Walking
At what point did walking become a sporting event? And then, even more mind-boggling, an Olympic event? And walking the way they do—you know what we mean, right?
We've never seen anyone walk that way down the street, so why do they call it walking at the Olympics? It's not walking—it's trotting, or something.
Further more, at what point does someone decide they want to be an Olympic walker? "Mum, look! I discovered I have the most amazing talent today!"
It's quite possibly the most unflattering sport out there, and indeed one of the weirdest.
1. The Trampoline
We have to put this at No. 1, purely for the fact that even having a trampoline at the Olympics is weird, let a lone people jumping on it as an event.
Trampolining is something that kids do when their parents tell them to go and play outside. Granted, the "athletes" do some pretty amazing flips (and other things, too, but we're not that familiar with the trampolining lingo). All the same, it would be better suited to a circus show than the Olympics.
Still, kids the world over can rejoice in the fact that if they fail at rugby or soccer, they can always take up bouncing on a trampoline. You never know—they might even reach the top of the athletics world.
And our Top Five Weirdest Olympic Sports list, too.
See more at www.sportsfanattic.co.nz
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3 months ago
lol, great article. all these sports should be replaced by baseball (its out but shouldnt be), dodgeball, golf, rugby, and paintball.
from 3 months ago
haha dodgeball is funny :P not my idea of an olympic sport Thomas :)
3 months ago
Rugby - absolutely. Baseball - scrap that, and substitute in Twenty20 cricket. Dodgeball, I have to say, is probably on a par with handball for me. Golf? I think it has enough of it's own competitions already... Paintball has never crossed my mind as an Olympic sport - and I think that probably answers that from my perspective :D
Cheers!
from 3 months ago
No way. No rugby or cricket in the Olympics. I wrote about that a couple of weeks back http://bleacherreport.com/articles/46741.
Basically,(like golf), cricket and rugby have too much on already that would leave an Olympic competition under-enthused and under-supported. Also, like baseball, these sports are not played by enough countries around the world. It would basically just be medals for former colonies in sports that half the world doesn't understand.
from 3 months ago
Nick - if the prerequisite for an Olympic event is that it is played by enough countries around the world, then there are a lot of events that would be removed. And, to be fair, baseball is played predominantly in America. Cricket and rugby, on the other hand, are global sports. Cricket is played right across Australasia, the Sub-Continent, and a fair chunk of Europe. Even America is starting to get behind cricket, especially Twenty20. Rugby - well, it's even more global than cricket.
My reasoning for wanting Twenty20 at the Olympics is this - at the Olympics 100 years ago, team sports like cricket and rugby would never have been considered. And quite rightly - they wouldn't have fitted with the competition format, and with the other events. But the Olympic Games have changed - I mean, handball?? If you want to talk gloabl sports...
The Olympic Games are changing quickly - there are different events and sports every 4 years. I see no reason why a sport like Twenty20 cricket - one that is developing a huge following, world-wide - couldn't be part of an Olympic setup in 2020.
Bring on Twenty20 in 2020! :D
3 months ago
Let's add baseball to the list. Strange game, especially for those outside the half-dozen (if it's that many) countries that play it. Handball is an order of magnitude more exciting. Perhaps if you had commentators in the US who travelled a bit and actually knew "stuff" the rules of handball would be clearer. One of the Australian Games commentators has spent a lot of time in Sweden and explained the rules quite nicley. It's less complicated than volleyball. Oh, but that's played in the US so that makes it "OK".
Golf? Stupid sport, and already has a trillion matches worldwide.
Rugby? Maybe Sevens. Twenty20 cricket is a great idea. The One-day 50 overs format is still too long.
As for the sports cited, the only really dumb one is the syncronised swimming.
3 months ago
"As for the sports cited, the only really dumb one is the syncronised swimming."
Do you mean, dumb for listing it, or that it's the only real weird/dumb sport on the list?
3 months ago
Have to disagree about Dressage. It can be such a beautiul sport with the communication between the horse and rider being almost invisible, and it takes so much concentration and cooperation to achieve the required combinations. If you have ever attempted it and been successful it is a marvelous feeling and quite an achievement.
from 3 months ago
We have no doubt whatsoever that, like synchronised swimming, there's a great deal of skill and communication required to be successful at dressage. Having ridden horses only a handful of times, I find it incredible that people can even get the things to walk in the right direction - let-a-lone do it with all four of it's legs splayed in different directions whilst skipping.
But, like we say - from a spectator's perspective, it's an extremely odd event to watch.
It's not the level of talent we're arguing - to be an Olympian in ANY event requires a great deal of talent. What we're saying is that, regardless of difficulty levels, dressage is an extremely difficult sport to sit, watch, and take seriously.
From where we're sitting, anyway :D
from 3 months ago
In that respect, almost an sport can be made to appear silly, if not a waste of time altogether
from 3 months ago
Exactly! Hence the difficulty in whitling it down to the Top 5 :D
3 months ago
I'm advocating that either Table Tennis be removed (since China dominates, and the other night I watched a match between the USA and Dominican Republic and BOTH players looked strangely Chinese) or Foozball and Air Hockey be added.
How about checkers and tidily-winks?
from 3 months ago
Foozball and Air Hockey? No.
Tidly-Winks - ohh yes :D
Imagine the crowds...
3 months ago
Have they ever had chess?
from 3 months ago
Believe it or not, a push was made to include it in the 1924 Olympics - but it failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players.
Probably not a bad thing :D
3 months ago
Never understood the trampoline hate... it is another form of Gymnastics (which seem to be quite popular and loved).
from 3 months ago
I wouldn't say it's hate...
It's just...I can't say I ever went out to the backyard to shotput, pole vault, or do a gymnastic routine on the lawn. I DID go out and play on the trampoline, though - and I think that's why it seems so weird to see it at the Olympics :D
from 3 months ago
While I agree that is the mindset... just watching that event shows how insane the people are who participate. You may have gone out in your backyard and hopped around, but you were not doing triple flips with twists, all the while landing in a small portion of the bouncing area (oh yeah, also having to move back and forth while doing so).
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