IOC adds Golf, Rugby to future Games

[kymac]

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=4545111

After more than a century on the sidelines, golf will return to the Olympics at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. Rugby, last played in 1924, is coming back as well.

Both were reinstated for the 2016 and 2020 games after a vote Friday by the International Olympic Committee.

Each sport received majority support in separate votes after leading athletes and officials from both camps gave presentations, including a taped video message from Woods and other top pros. Woods has indicated he would play in the Olympics if golf were accepted for 2016.

[mscriv]

Do we really need golf in the Olympics? Don't get me wrong, I love the sport, but with the Ryder cup and the fact that the game is already pretty multicultural. I'm going to assume that it would be team based in some way as opposed to just individual. An individual Olympic golf tournament just seems silly. We all already know who the top players in the world are and it would most likely come down to one of them.

I don't know, maybe I'll warm up to the idea more, but right now it just seems kinda odd. I like the Olympics because I get to watch people I don't already know that well do sports that I don't get to see all of the time.

[velocityg4]

I suppose golf makes sense since a lot of people play it, unlike most events which very few people actually play. Though it seems to be about as much of a sport bowling or air hockey.:p

As for rugby I really don't get why they would go for smaller than traditional team sizes. Nor why Rugby sevens will drop there World Cup if in the Olympics. That seems like it would be tantamount to soccer (football to non-americans) dropping the World Cup because of the Olympics.

What I was shocked by is that there are limits to numbers of teams. I always thought that any country could put someone or some team in any event. Even if they would get there butts kicked. Like some poor snow free country that can't afford to train someone sending a person to the slalom whom has never skied before.

[question fear]

I guess they figured 7's rugby would be faster paced and more interesting to viewers...?

Though personally I'd rather see 15's...

[arkitect]

Disappointed that it is the Sevens version… always seems kind of like "rugger lite" to me. :)

[whooleytoo]

Woot! With rugbyin, maybe Ireland have a chance at a medal at these Olympics! Edit - didn't notice it was Sevens. Booooooooo.

[question fear]

In fairness to Sevens, it's a tough, sprinting heavy game. I still would rather see 15's with some good scrums (my rugby coach uses video of international games to teach us proper scrum/ruck/maul positioning sometimes), but Sevens can be a bitch too.

Especially if they do it like local tournaments and make all the teams play 3-6 games in one day, when it's 80 degrees and no shade. Then we'd have an interesting set of games...:D

[Tilpots]

Psyched about Golf! I'd love to see the World's Greatest battle it out for the Gold. I wonder how they'll choose who represents each country? This could be a huge lift for the game worldwide. Tiger brought the sport into the 21st Century mainstream, this could be what it takes to keep it there for good.:)

[mscriv]

my rugby coach uses video of international games to teach us proper scrum/ruck/maul positioning sometimes

You've got to love a game that has moves/positions/techniques with names like "scrum, ruck, and maul"! Being an American I know little to nothing about rugby, but it is just so cool that there's a game out there where it's not only legal by the rules, but encouraged that you "maul" someone. :D

[bradl]

You've got to love a game that has moves/positions/techniques with names like "scrum, ruck, and maul"! Being an American I know little to nothing about rugby, but it is just so cool that there's a game out there where it's not only legal by the rules, but encouraged that you "maul" someone. :D

If you have a digital cable feed, get a subscription to Setanta sports. You'll get learned up REAL QUICK. That, and Aussie Rules footy are just great, and when compared, you'll easily see why gridiron is a farce.

BL.

[Mousse]

Psyched about Golf! I'd love to see the World's Greatest battle it out for the Gold. I wonder how they'll choose who represents each country?

You mean AFTER Tiger retires right?;) Of course, we might get an upset once in a blue moon (ie. 1980's US beating the Russians at Hockey, 2004's US Basketball team losing or 2000's Alexander "the Great" Karelin losing a wrestling match.)

[Tilpots]

You mean AFTER Tiger retires right?;) Of course, we might get an upset once in a blue moon (ie. 1980's US beating the Russians at Hockey, 2004's US Basketball team losing or 2000's Alexander "the Great" Karelin losing a wrestling match.)

2016 is a long way away. And remind me again just how many Majors Tiger won this year?:p

[MacNut]

So they drop Baseball because they said people didn't care, and these are the sports they add?

[arkitect]

So they drop Baseball because they said people didn't care, and these are the sports they add?

I'd wager there is more interest in rugby and golf than baseball…

[Kamera RAWr]

So they drop Baseball because they said people didn't care, and these are the sports they add?

To be fair, I can see how they can say that. For many in other countries where baseball is widely watched or played, it probably can be a slow and boring game. I would hazard a guess and say that rugby is more of an international game than baseball. Outside of the Americas and Japan.

[oscillatewildly]

Golf and Rugby - daft, as is including Football (Soccer), Tennis, Synchronised Swimming and more. Maybe Darts has a chance?

Cheers,
OW

[takao]

So they drop Baseball because they said people didn't care, and these are the sports they add?

if they added cricket you might have a point

having Baseball _and_ Softball was ridiculous

[kymac]

if they added cricket you might have a point

having Baseball _and_ Softball was ridiculous

so because having two of them was too much, they removed both?

[remmy]

so because having two of them was too much, they removed both?

sounds good to me, either is too much/dull.

[littleman23408]

I'd wager there is more interest in rugby and golf than baseball…

You got that right, I haven't seen any rugby games, but I would say in my point of view golf is much better than baseball.

[Abstract]

Wirelessly posted (Nokia 5800 Tube XpressMusic : Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/21.0.101; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

It's only a matter of time before they add spamming, hacking, and World of Warcraft to the schedule.

Maybe I can has gold medal?

[mscriv]

Video games in the Olympics, that's such a sketch comedy act waiting to happen. How funny would it be to show the Olympic event of playing virtual Olympic events. Or better yet the video game the contestants play is that old stand up Olympics video game with the big spin ball for a controller. Too funny. :D

[ucfgrad93]

Do we really need golf in the Olympics? Don't get me wrong, I love the sport, but with the Ryder cup and the fact that the game is already pretty multicultural. I'm going to assume that it would be team based in some way as opposed to just individual. An individual Olympic golf tournament just seems silly. We all already know who the top players in the world are and it would most likely come down to one of them.

I don't know, maybe I'll warm up to the idea more, but right now it just seems kinda odd. I like the Olympics because I get to watch people I don't already know that well do sports that I don't get to see all of the time.

Agreed, I don't think adding golf was a good idea.