2012 Summer Olympics: 5 Cool Sports That Should Be Mainstream

We all know about the sports that steal the headlines at each Summer Games but we're usually only served a slice of the Olympic pie. Obscured by the "major" sports are a myriad of diamond-in-the-rough sports that are just begging to be enjoyed.

There are stories of perseverance, redemption and determination that we're never made aware of because we don't appreciate the ancient art of competitive taekwondo. After all, every single athlete in the Games has been training their whole life for this opportunity. The least we could do is care, right?

So let's resolve anew to stop being Olympic elitists this year, and pay attention to some of the competition's less-revered events. If you know where to look, you might even find a new passion.

Here are five cool Olympic events that deserve to be mainstream this summer:

Handball

A cult phenomenon amongst those of us who got to play it in high school gym class, handball has never caught on with post-adolescent Americans.

Handball is sort of a physical conflation of basketball and hockey. Six outfielders and a goalie dribble and pass a ball around, in an attempt to throw it in a field-hockey-sized net. There's a pretty significant goalie crease around the net, however, which makes scoring slightly more challenging than it sounds. 

My friends and I, for one, always loved the game. Whenever the weather turned nice, we would bring roller hockey nets to the local elementary school blacktop, and play pickup games after school. Yet even as a member of the minuscule percentage of Americans who has ever played handball outside of a high school gymnasium, I have never seen a televised game.

Maybe it's the Olympic broadcast schedule? Maybe it's the fact that the United States has never won a medal, and rarely even qualifies for the tournament?

Either way, it's a travesty that such an enjoyable game has gone unnoticed for so long. I'm gonna make sure to catch a couple matches in London this summer.

Canoe Slalom

Canoes and kayaks weaving through slalom gates as they race down a whitewater rapid?

What's not to like?

Ski slalom manages to get noticed during the Winter Olympics, and it involves a fraction of the inherent danger of the canoe version. Plus, downhill skiing is a far more relatable skill than whitewater kayaking.

Isn't the point of the Olympics to watch athletes perform feats of strength that our ordinary skill sets would never allow us to accomplish?

Like handball, Canoe Slalom may suffer from a lack of American success, but it's still one of the most intrinsically captivating events the summer games has to offer. Sign me up.

BMX Cycling

The Summer Olympics' newest event is actually one of it's most captivating.

BMX was introduced as the fourth cycling competition in 2008, joining mountain biking, road cycling, and track cycling.

Where BMX really distinguishes itself from other Olympic racing competitions is its structure. Unlike most Olympic races—in the summer and winter games alike—BMX has all of it's competitors racing at the same time.

There are timed heats to begin the games, which ensure that the fastest racers don't meet until later in the competition, but when it's time for the medals to be given out, the athletes are forced to go head-to-head.

And while everyone enjoys seeing a time-trial racer turn the final corner with a +0.04 time (indicating that they're 0.04 seconds off the lead), there's something innately more suspenseful about watching a literal photo-finish. A finish where two bikers crack the final barrier with only a split-second between them.

That's what BMX provides us, and the 2012 final is sure to make for a thrilling spectacle.

Fencing

It may not be Ned Stark vs. Jamie Lannister in Game of Thrones, but it's the closest thing we've got.

Yes, the outcome is decided by electronic sensors, rather than whichever man is still breathing at the duel's conclusion. And yes, the team competition is actually an aggregate of individual duels, rather than a six-person free-for-all like the Battle of Blackwater. But there's only so much we can ask for––this is the year 2012, not an archaic fantasy world. 

Regardless of its reality-based limitations, Olympic fencing is still a sport that requires extreme technical ability and skill.

More importantly, the fights are organic battles featuring professional swordsmen; they aren't choreographed sword-dances featuring professional actors. I've seen enough of the fake stuff––gimme some of the real thing.

Weightlifting

If we can watch it at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, we can sure as hell watch it at the Summer Olympics in London.

Why, you ask? Because this time, we have an actual stake in it. When we watch the combine, our minds are usually coursing with a million hypotheticals. Wow that guy put up 41 reps? I love him! He'd be a great addition to our offensive line! Which is all well-and-good until the guy you just fell in love with gets drafted by your team's rival, and ends up mauling your nose-tackle for the next 12 seasons.

In international competition we know, beyond a shadow of a hypothetical doubt, who we're supposed to root for: our countryman. The guy who is already representing our favorite team. It gives failed athletes like myself another chance to scream at our teammate (albeit through a television screen) as they try to will an absurdly-heavy bar over their head.

That being said, Team USA could definitely take a note from the NFL combine and invite Cardinals strength coach John Lott to be a motivational influence. If that didn't boost the ratings, I don't know what would.