What sport to enter for the next Olympics?

StupidLikeAFox

I was reading about the gymnast guy from London who works a full time job then trains in the evenings who is heading to Rio as part of the Irish team.

If you had the option of choosing one of these sports and dedicating your life to it between now and then, what sport would you pick that is most likely to get you on the plane to the next Olympics?

You have enough funding to do it full time btw. (You are already catching up on the gymnast guy)

I think swimming is out, seems to be a young persons game. Football is probably a long shot as well. Maybe hockey? Sailing? Rowing? Shooting?

Here is some inspiration for you: http://www.olympic.org/sports

YFlyer

Shooting.

BattleCorp

Is the women's beach volleyball still an event at the Olympics? I'd be happy to be an umpire at that.

reason vs religion

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

I think swimming is out, seems to be a young persons game. Football is probably a long shot as well.[/url]

Football at the olympics is explicitly a young person's game. For the men's competition, at most, three players can be older than twenty-three.

livedadream

archery or shooting are the most likely you can pick up without years and years of training...

kfallon

Water

The Backwards Man

I'm fairly handy at the rhythmic gymnastics after a few pints

Neyite

Curling.

I knew my years of floor sweeping would stand to me someday!

smash

Archery or Shooting. Whichever doesn't clash with spectating at the women's Beach Volleyball games.

Alf Stewart.

Apparently the reason that Mexico don't have decent Olympian teams is because any Mexican, that can run, jump or swim is now livin in America.

whiskeyman

livedadream wrote: »

archery or shooting are the most likely you can pick up without years and years of training...

I remember reading / watching about the GB team for London 2012.
Around 6 years prior, they went on a huge scouting drive to get talent for possible medals for the London games (the 'Start' programme).

Pretty sure they 'recruited' a few females from the army to join their rowing teams and I think most had never even rowed before.

They went on to win GB's first womens gold in Rowing at the London games.

livedadream

whiskeyman wrote: »

I remember reading / watching about the GB team for London 2012.
Around 6 years prior, they went on a huge scouting drive to get talent for possible medals for the London games (the 'Start' programme).

Pretty sure they 'recruited' a few females from the army to join their rowing teams and I think most had never even rowed before.

They went on to win GB's first womens gold in Rowing at the London games.

would 6 years not be considered years and years?

people in the army have a generally higher level of fitness then people on boards.ie as well i'm guessing

SEPT 23 1989

the hop, the skip and the jump

whiskeyman

livedadream wrote: »

would 6 years not be considered years and years?

people in the army have a generally higher level of fitness then people on boards.ie as well i'm guessing

Not really in order to become world Olympic Champion IMO, especially as you'r probably competing against those who've been at it since very young!
Maybe head over to the meatheads Fitness forum and you'll find some everyday folk who could be medal worthy in a couple of years...

Duggy747

Preferably a sport that would involve me doing absolutely nothing.

YFlyer

Inter county hurlers could take up field hockey.

Arsemageddon

Darts,

It would be funny seeing all the lads red-faced and out of breath after having to slowly walk a lap of the stadium for the opening ceremony.

wokingvoter

I'm catching the javelin

maudgonner

The 1900 Olympics in Paris had the best events. Fire fighting, ballooning, kite flying, angling, canon shooting, pigeon racing. Motor racing, where the categories included electric taxies, trucks and delivery vans.

There's a story that they also had poodle clipping, but that's an April Fools' Day joke.


Solo synchronised swimming is also a good one.

livedadream

whiskeyman wrote: »

Not really in order to become world Olympic Champion IMO, especially as you'r probably competing against those who've been at it since very young!
Maybe head over to the meatheads Fitness forum and you'll find some everyday folk who could be medal worthy in a couple of years...

im speaking in general, im active on sports and fitness here but id still hedge my bets on shooting or archery.

BattleCorp

livedadream wrote: »

archery or shooting are the most likely you can pick up without years and years of training...

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Not a chance you'd qualify for the Olympics if you think all that is involved is picking up a bow and arrows or a rifle or pistol.

I would be very surprised if any of the top 10 athletes top 50 athletes in these sports aren't taking part in it since they were under 10 years of age.

livedadream

BattleCorp wrote: »

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Not a chance you'd qualify for the Olympics if you think all that is involved is picking up a bow and arrows or a rifle or pistol.

I would be very surprised if any of the top 10 athletes top 50 athletes in these sports aren't taking part in it since they were under 10 years of age.

you realise i dont actually want or expect to qualify for the Olympics..

a poster below said he's great at rhythmic gymnastics after a few pints..

dont see you jumping on him...

Ruu

Neyite wrote: »

Curling.

I knew my years of floor sweeping would stand to me someday!

Calling assistant floor sweeper!

BattleCorp

livedadream wrote: »

you realise i dont actually want or expect to qualify for the Olympics..

a poster below said he's great at rhythmic gymnastics after a few pints..

dont see you jumping on him...

Damn you Sir. Now I must apologise for not jumping on him. Where is he so I can inflict said punishment?

arybvtcw0eolkf

Pat Hickey, head of the IOC has publically stated that more funding should be put into our Boxing and Judo training as they were our best shots at Olympic medals.

Boxing got the nod and look at the results.

Our Judoka (Judo fighters) do very well at cadets, and then masters (where we have a large number of world champions) but we fall short at funding high performance training for juniors, cadets and seniors.

I've no doubt funding directed there would yeld us more Olympic glory.

The majority of our funding goes to Track & Field where tbh out athletes can only really hope to achieve personal bests and rarely get out of the heats.

So for me ~ I'd fight Judo (or boxing if I could box).

AnonoBoy

If we can make Trolling an Olympic sport within the next four years we'd dominate the even just picking from this site alone!

ohnonotgmail

BattleCorp wrote: »

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Not a chance you'd qualify for the Olympics if you think all that is involved is picking up a bow and arrows or a rifle or pistol.

I would be very surprised if any of the top 10 athletes top 50 athletes in these sports aren't taking part in it since they were under 10 years of age.

The actress Geena Davis took up archery after she turned 40 and made it to semi-finals of the US Olympic tryouts 2 years later. Given the population of the US that is pretty impressive. If she was irish she probably could have made it to the olympics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geena_Davis#Sports

livedadream

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

The actress Geena Davis took up archery after she turned 40 and made it to semi-finals of the US Olympic tryouts 2 years later. Given the population of the US that is pretty impressive. If she was irish she probably could have made it to the olympics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geena_Davis#Sports

Thanks :-)

i knew there was something, i saw a documentary about some muslim women not sure what county they were from? took up shooting (skeet shooting is that whats its called?)

and made it to the olympics... first women from their country and only took it up a few years before...

Lyaiera

I'd take up Olympic commentating. If George Hamilton can do it, anyone can do it.

I'd never do the Olympic basketball though. That guy is amazing, "RAZZLEDAZZLE ALL THE WAY TO THE HOOP!"

BoJack Horseman

New Olympic sports courtesy of The Onion

http://i.onionstatic.com/onion/5858/original/1200.jpg

NiallBoo

YFlyer wrote: »

Inter county hurlers could take up field hockey.

They could, but they'd all get sent off by the end of the first half.

wilhelm roentgen

Monkey Tennis

razorblunt

Some sports are effectively only played by people that have stayed at them the longest i.e. everyone else buggered off.

Dressage being one. Just sit there and let Shergar take you to funky town.

NiallBoo

Livia Flabby Neck wrote: »

Pat Hickey, head of the IOC has publically stated that more funding should be put into our Boxing and Judo training as they were our best shots at Olympic medals.

Boxing got the nod and look at the results.

Our Judoka (Judo fighters) do very well at cadets, and then masters (where we have a large number of world champions) but we fall short at funding high performance training for juniors, cadets and seniors.

I've no doubt funding directed there would yeld us more Olympic glory.

The majority of our funding goes to Track & Field where tbh out athletes can only really hope to achieve personal bests and rarely get out of the heats.

So for me ~ I'd fight Judo (or boxing if I could box).

I think trying to pick low-hanging fruit is very short-sighted (though that's not to suggest that boxing and judo aren't worthy of funding).

You have to look at it a bit more broadly and ask how top level athletes get to the top level.
It's rarely by doing only one sport.

Those formative years spent doing lots of different sports are crucial in developing all sorts of skills which get funneled into that one sport they eventually dedicate themselves to.

Whether or not we are successful at athletics isn't so important, it's something that's brilliant at developing fundamentals and is hugely valuable because of that.

I think the variety of sports, and especially facilities and coaching for those sports, is something hugely lacking here and we're much the poorer because of it.

ohnonotgmail

NiallBoo wrote: »

I think trying to pick low-hanging fruit is very short-sighted (though that's not to suggest that boxing and judo aren't worthy of funding).

You have to look at it a bit more broadly and ask how top level athletes get to the top level.
It's rarely by doing only one sport.

Those formative years spent doing lots of different sports are crucial in developing all sorts of skills which get funneled into that one sport they eventually dedicate themselves to.

Whether or not we are successful at athletics isn't so important, it's something that's brilliant at developing fundamentals and is hugely valuable because of that.

I think the variety of sports, and especially facilities and coaching for those sports, is something hugely lacking here and we're much the poorer because of it.

I think the point was that at elite level it makes no sense to spread the money around. you have to concentrate on the competitors with the best chance of actually winning something. funding for the junior levels of sport is completely separate.

gramar

Greyhound racing.

I'd be the hare.

arybvtcw0eolkf

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I think the point was that at elite level it makes no sense to spread the money around. you have to concentrate on the competitors with the best chance of actually winning something. funding for the junior levels of sport is completely separate.

Yup, and our best chance is fighting sports.

We come from a very small gene pool, we're not brilliant 'track & field' competitors ~ we're just not hard wired for it. But we're fighters.

But (and pardon the pun) the Irish have always punched about our weight in combat sports, we're fighers. We're not long distance runners (I think that's the Kenyan & east Africans), 'nor are we great long jumpers, hurdlers, swimmers etc ~ so play to our strengths and fund our fighters.

Boxing, Judo and possibly Taekwon-Do (I'm not overly familiar with TKD but I hear we do very well internationally there too).

cherryghost

esports, and it will become an Olympic sport, I guarantee it.

Your Face

Don't forget to take your PEDs.

ohnonotgmail

Livia Flabby Neck wrote: »

Yup, and our best chance is fighting sports.

We come from a very small gene pool, we're not brilliant 'track & field' competitors ~ we're just not hard wired for it. But we're fighters.

But (and pardon the pun) the Irish have always punched about our weight in combat sports, we're fighers. We're not long distance runners (I think that's the Kenyan & east Africans), 'nor are we great long jumpers, hurdlers, swimmers etc ~ so play to our strengths and fund our fighters.

Boxing, Judo and possibly Taekwon-Do (I'm not overly familiar with TKD but I hear we do very well internationally there too).

I completely agree. Our elite boxers have really shown us how things should be done on an organisational and funding level. I have no idea what the situation is with our judoka and TKD competitors is though.

Sky King

Slight tangent - I think it would be class to legitimise PEDs.

Think about how a formula 1 team has the driver - but also this whole team of leading engineers and scientists behind them to maximise their chances.

Now imagine an athlete with teams of world class doctors and pharmacists devising newer and crazier drugs to make them better, with all sorts of hilarious side effects!

Lots of athletes are going to cheat anyway - why not level the playing field and embrace it!

arybvtcw0eolkf

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I completely agree. Our elite boxers have really shown us how things should be done on an organisational and funding level. I have no idea what the situation is with our judoka and TKD competitors is though.

Well our Judoka are doing very well at junior and cadet level, but the funding isn't there to bring them any further (into senior international competition), and then when we're retired from senior level Judo we excel at Masters level and have taken a huge amount of international titles (often times fighting retired Olympians) at their own considerable expense.

So the gap between cadet and masters (ie the senior squad) is where our best fighters fall. Although I'm a Judoka and so I'm biased (I'll admit) I do firmly believe with proper funding our seniors would bring home Olympic medals, I've absolutely no doubt about this.

[A little plug/self promotion, that's me in blue in my avatar ]

Maximus Alexander

That one where they jump into the swimming pool from a height. Doesn't look too exerting, it's just falling and styling it out really.

harry Bailey esq

In nordic countries wife carrying has a fairly large following so maybe that might be an option

bnt

Sport can be a real slog with no glitz or glamour involved. Back in 2012, UCD hosted one of the field hockey qualifiers: some of the world's top teams slogging for a place in the finals, with no audience apart from their trainers.

Me, I considered trying out for the water polo, but i had terrible trouble finding a snorkel that could fit a horse ...

Pherekydes

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

In nordic countries wife carrying has a fairly large following so maybe that might be an option

Have you seen the size of the average Irish wife?

If I was starting from scratch at a sport now I think I'd be world class in a very short time at napping.