Removal of certain T&F events from Olympics?

[ian]

http://running.competitor.com/2014/12/news/report-ioc-considers-dropping-10000-meters-from-olympics_119760

Some thoughts:
- This is probably a discussion that happens after every Olympics and doesn't necessarily indicate that a change is imminent.
- I'm glad that the article also mentioned swimming, as this is the sport with the biggest glut of events.
- If the 10K were to be removed from the Olympics, I suspect we'd see even more athletes spending their prime years running marathons.
- Between the professional opportunities available to many athletes outside of the Olympics and the migration of the games to corrupt locales, the bubble may be about to burst anyway.

[turd ferguson]

The Olympic race isn't 10k, its 10000m. (not wanting to imply that the one that's in the Olympics is a road race).

Actually I'd be OK with adding the 10k road race and the half marathon to the Olympics. More road events. And trail running events.

What should be cut? I don't disagree that there's a glut of swimming medals. Would anyone miss yachting if it were gone - it seems like one of those high cost - low profile events that would be prime to be cut. And nobody even knows which sports are in the heptathlon, or even what "hept" stands for.

[ian]

The Olympic race isn't 10k, its 10000m. (not wanting to imply that the one that's in the Olympics is a road race).

Actually I'd be OK with adding the 10k road race and the half marathon to the Olympics. More road events. And trail running events.

What should be cut? I don't disagree that there's a glut of swimming medals. Would anyone miss yachting if it were gone - it seems like one of those high cost - low profile events that would be prime to be cut. And nobody even knows which sports are in the heptathlon, or even what "hept" stands for.

(I didn't realize that "K" automatically signified "road race" and couldn't just be used as an abbreviation for something with a lot of zeros.)

I'd be surprised if the new events under consideration had anything to do with running. More likely, they're thinking TV-friendly things like golf, X-games-type stuff, or pillow fighting.

[turd ferguson]

The Olympic race isn't 10k, its 10000m. (not wanting to imply that the one that's in the Olympics is a road race).

Actually I'd be OK with adding the 10k road race and the half marathon to the Olympics. More road events. And trail running events.

What should be cut? I don't disagree that there's a glut of swimming medals. Would anyone miss yachting if it were gone - it seems like one of those high cost - low profile events that would be prime to be cut. And nobody even knows which sports are in the heptathlon, or even what "hept" stands for.

(I didn't realize that "K" automatically signified "road race" and couldn't just be used as an abbreviation for something with a lot of zeros.)

I'd be surprised if the new events under consideration had anything to do with running. More likely, they're thinking TV-friendly things like golf, X-games-type stuff, or pillow fighting.

That's my understanding - how the IAAF has separate records for 10000m (track) vs. 10k (road). But I also cringe at saying something like "10000m isn't the same thing as 10k".

http://www.iaaf.org/records/by-category/world-records

I think you're right on TV-friendly sports. Road racing (like the half) is hugely popular as a participation sport but is quite dull to watch.

[Joe Dwarf]

That's my understanding - how the IAAF has separate records for 10000m (track) vs. 10k (road). But I also cringe at saying something like "10000m isn't the same thing as 10k".

That's my understanding too, track vs road. Wouldn't you agree that 25 laps around a track is a fair bit different from 10 km on the road?

[Jwolf]

I think it makes sense to cut back track and field a bit in order to include some other sports. Right now they are looking at re-including baseball and softball, which are under the same governing body, but face some political issues. Some others are golf and squash. They are also considering axing modern pentathlon, synchronized swimming, race walking (part of track and field) and badminton among others.

I couldn't see them adding events in athletics like more road races or trail races.

[Dstew]

Add a trial race to the mountain bike course? Now of course the popular trial race is an ultra and so ...

[drghfx]

I'd like to contribute to this discussion but I haven't moved past pillow fighting yet.

[jonovision_man]

The Age reports that five track and field events—the 200 meters, 10,000 meters, a men’s race walk event (most likely the 20K, reports the newspaper), the shot put and the triple jump—are on the chopping block

How did race walking ever make it in... it's such a goofy thing.

I mean any sport where this is a controversy...


Going as fast as you can on foot makes sense, going as fast as you can with the restriction that one foot always has to be on the ground seems odd and arbitrary. Send it back to the fringe where it belongs!

Oh and bring back baseball. And softball.

jono

[Jump145]

I'd like to see Lacrosse make a return to the olympics, it was last a demonstration sport in 1948.

There were 38 nations participating in the worlds this year, so it's becoming more widespread, and Canada won!