2012 Summer Olympics: Underrated Sports You Must Watch

We know sports like basketball, soccer, swimming and track and field are going to be the most watched events at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Athletes like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt will be the more popular athletes to follow, but there are other impressive competitors to look for in the underrated sports as well.

Wrestling—not the staged kind—goes vastly overlooked in America as football and basketball take the cake, but it's arguably the most difficult sport one can endure.

Before we tackle wrestling though, there are other sports to watch for as you'll see some of the most unreal athletes this world has to offer.

Trampoline

One of the competitions included with the gymnastics portion, the trampoline is an exciting combination of balance, control, awareness and focus while performing everything in midair.

We see similar double flips, twists and twirls like most swimmers would perform in the high-diving event, but the trampoline gives us continuous movement instead of one quick free fall. The level of height that occurs is arguably the most impressive, as these athletes know how to get all their kinetic energy and inertia involved with every jump.

Landing perfectly on the trampoline though, is arguably the most difficult because one wrong bounce could result in injury or the loss of rhythm needed to transition smoothly between jumps and moves.

Judo

A sport that's eerily similar to wrestling, judo brings us a more narrowed approach, mainly focused around throws and takedowns.

In this sport, possessing the ability to quickly counter an opponent's move within milliseconds is crucial; otherwise, points will be scored upon multiple times at a fast pace.

The better athletes here perform what is called a sacrifice technique. In a nutshell, this kind a move involves manipulating the opponent with reversals of any kind or hip/foot sweeps. Hand techniques are at the forefront because it sets up position for getting an opponent off balance.

Once in position to get a takedown or perform a throwing technique however, control becomes an issue as previously mentioned; a quick counter move may occur before points are officially scored.

Wrestling

One slight difference between Olympic wrestling and that of high school or college are the styles. The Olympics have two styles of wrestling: Greco Roman and Freestyle.

Greco Roman involves nothing but upper-body techniques. So unlike Judo, which can use the entire body, Greco Roman cannot perform sweeps or takedowns using the legs or feet. Interestingly enough, foot position is vitally important here because balance is everything.

How one can maneuver their feet to position the upper-body for a quick toss or prevent from being tossed usually determines a match.

The strength to quickly lift an opponent or break from a hold is essential here, as reversals and pins must also only be performed using the upper-body.

Freestyle wrestling is generally the more well-known of the two as gold medalists such as Cael Sanderson, Dan Gable and Kurt Angle have proven success. This type of wrestling is also a faster version since the entire body can be used to score points and potentially pin the opponent.

Here, you'll see lots of wrestlers shoot low and try to take out both of an opponents' legs with their arms (similar to a tackle in football) or go for one leg to create a balanced advantage.

Arm-locks around the legs and vice versa are also allowed, as we see tosses and throws that are similar to what happens in judo. If anything, this is the most relatable style to high school and collegiate wrestling.

John Rozum on Twitter.