How is that the real athlete if human beings were built to fight each other for survival anyway. IMO since we're not fish or monkeys, swimming and back flipping are more of a demonstrations of tough things to do.
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Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - Caution, may contain results!
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How is that the real athlete if human beings were built to fight each other for survival anyway. IMO since we're not fish or monkeys, swimming and back flipping are more of a demonstrations of tough things to do.
I hate people with this mindset, try hockey, or rugby. You'll flop like a dead fish. The people who act like this are the most irritating people in the entire world.
Are you talking about CONFIDENT people? PROUD people? Extremely talented or athletic people? I'm a bit lost.
Anyway, I don't want to start an international incident or anything... but you're kidding right? Wrestling is a pure sport. Just two athletes with nothing but their own strength and intelligence to get them to victory. No balls, no tools, no 'games', just pure athleticism. One on one. It is also the oldest olympic sport. Wrestling is working every single muscle in your body for 8 minutes of pure hell. It takes a level of extreme conditioning and work ethic, which frankly isn't remotely present in most major sports.
I'm just saying man... if you're going to bring up some comparable sports, try a little harder. The two you mentioned are laughable. Look, even Socrates has my back:
“I swear it upon Zeus an outstanding runner cannot be the equal of an average wrestler.” - Socrates 470-399BC
No people who think they are better because they play a certain sport, people who are arrogant and are really sincere that way. had the same thing with kids who played both wrestling and football in my high school.
They get all uppity and think they are better picked on me because I played sports for a challenge and for the fun of it. The day I beat them at 4 v 4 hockey and ran circles around them in soccer put it in perspective. They thought since our little high school didn't offer these sports they were better because their activities "used all their muscles and had actual games."
and I assume Socrates was mentioning something about them being naked and oiled. (okay that was just sarcastic not meant to be offensive.)
I think you missed the point of his comment a bit. The point he was trying to make was that everybody makes a big deal out of these b-ball players and such because they are well known... but in all honesty wrestlers (for example) work WAY harder than they do. Are in WAY better shape, and are in a sport which is WAY more physically demanding. He's saying exactly what you're saying... why are we only paying attention to these main sports? How about the rest of us? Why is LeBron James so much of a bigger deal than Henry Cejudo? Henry also skipped college to wrestle at an olympic level. He is actually the only HS wrestler in history to win a senior level tournament in the U.S. against olympic level wrestlers. He was 18!
And yet you've never head of him. He's competing in one of the most difficult, proud, intense sports in all the world, at a level almost unheard of... and nobody knows who he is.
That the case may be, it's his wording though. Had he thought about his point instead of taking that "I should be recognized for all my work" attitude a lot more people would agree.
I can be fine with his point, I just don't like the way he portrayed himself, and basically our country
There are proud people, and then there are arrogant people. If he thinks that wrestlers are the only real athletes. . . he's a fool. If he didn't mean it, then he is just talking smack. Why even say something like that in the first place? It makes him look like the typical ugly American: Only thinking of himself, putting what he does above what others do, looking down on others who are more popular.
I've nevered watched wresting - too boring. How demanding is it (I'm not being sarcastic, I actually want to know)? How would you compair wrestlers skill, endurance, and physical condition to say, running 26 miles in a marathon? Running for 90 minutes in a soccer(Futbol) game? Weight Lifting? Training from age 2 to be a gymnast? Boxing?
I've nevered watched wresting - too boring. How demanding is it (I'm not being sarcastic, I actually want to know)? How would you compair wrestlers skill, endurance, and physical condition to say, running 26 miles in a marathon? Running for 90 minutes in a soccer(Futbol) game? Weight Lifting? Training from age 2 to be a gymnast? Boxing?
He doesn't even have a wikipedia page! Why would we have heard of him?
The way it works in the case of b-balls etc. are that those are the ones that generate money. And they generate money because people watch them. There is a certain modern glamor about the entertainment value of that. Old values, like "purity of essence in hand-to-hand combat" and "testing your might" are ancient values that most people don't really subscribe to anymore.
I don't think wrestlers work harder. It's safe to say that every Olympian works just as hard...with a few exceptions or course.
Maybe he's just influenced by some mentality of "warrior training" imparted on him by his coach or something. It happens a lot in Karateka's and soldiers that are based on conquering another person in combat.
What happens is that part of warrior training is mental. It imparts a "blind-confidence" in its trainees such that they should be able risk their life and sacrifice themselves at seemingly overwhelming odds of death in order to achieve their leader's political objectives.
Some people just take it out of context and don't recognize that it's just a sport like any others these days since it's not all useful in modern warfare anymore...other than the mental state of mind part.
Lol at the Irish boxing coach not reinforcing stereotypes about his country with this quote (after getting their third boxer through to the semi-final stage): ""We've a good team, you know we're not a bad little country for fighting!"
Agree.
It's simple and takes into account all medal winners. Granted the focus is on the Gold, but Silver and Bronze are pretty darn good. I am sure many who didn't win a medal would love to have either a Silver or Bronze.
You're probably spot on there, of course.
Holly cow. That ... looks ... so ... bad! Nothing like having almost 400 pounds fall on you when you slip.
Surprised that he was not injured.
You also need to realize that he had probably been asked that question 10 times already at the games. What do you think of Phelps? How about James? Johnson? It's gotta be frustrating to someone who has undoubtedly put in more time, more energy, more pain, sweat, and tears than all of those people to continually hear that while they're preparing to compete against some of the best athletes in the world.
I would contend that it is one of the most demanding sport in the world. Now, let me be clear, this isn't taking away from any of the other sports. They are all difficult in their own right, and I have a great deal of respect for any olympic athlete for the time and effort they put into the trade. However, if forced to compare them I would suggest that very few of them are comparable to wrestling. Unlike other sports, every single muscle is going 110%. You have to be so incredibly well-rounded. You can't just be fast, you can't just be strong, you can't just be incredibly well conditioned, you can't just be intelligent, you need all of it. It's a pure sport, and by that I mean it's one man against another. No teammates, no one to get your back if you falter, no tools or balls to mess around with... just a battle between two soldiers. Sports that might compare... other 'MMA' sports such as judo. Maybe (maybe) boxing. Both are sports which like wrestling pit one man against another, straight-up. Both feature weight cutting which adds tremendously to the difficulty and commitment required of the athletes. Doing something on a full stomach is one thing... doing it after not eating much for two days and working out 6 times a day is a completely different thing. There are many reasons behind my views... this really just touches the surface, but unless you've tried it for a good while you're likely not to understand. And that is ok.
Just my 2 cents. Well, maybe 3 cents.
That's cool.
To each his own... However, maybe you're not watching the RIGHT wrestling. Here are a couple good youtube vids:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJgiKN_tYNY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgswFluo8kU
DID YOU SEE THAT!!!!
So that's what he can do when he runs the whole way!!!
And nice to hear Michael Johnson on the BBC giving huge praise to the man who has just taken his world record.
So that's what he can do when he runs the whole way!!!
And nice to hear Michael Johnson on the BBC giving huge praise to the man who has just taken his world record.
And all along I thought evolution favored those animals that can work in a team to make humans the most successful species on the planet.
Wrestling has it's own merits but to say that it's the "ultimate sport" just because it's about fighting with your bare hands and put other sports down because of that is simply a narrow point of view. If anything, it's harder to coordinate and train a team to work together to achieve a common goal...whether it's about killing a tribe or shooting a ball into a net. If you want to just talk about who's "stronger", then what about weight-lifting? Is that more of a sport?
I don't think we should ask what sport is "harder" and compare wrestling with any other sport. Every sport in the Olympics takes years of dedication and training, whether it be wrestling, swimming, running, or even BMX. Each athlete is specialized to compete at his/her sport. Every athlete in the Olympics deserves equal praise.
wrestling is intense but so are other sports.
i guaranty that Phelps trains just as hard as that guy, and considering his (and most swimmers) calorie intake is through the roof i have no reason to doubt the intensity at the level of which he trains. one and one, strategy? does the skill of riding the stream of another swimmer, calculating stroke counts and kicking just under the return current off a kick turn, debating between a glide-in or half stroke finish count?
you think the diving teams train any less intensely? 1000 crunches just to start of their morning. they need strong abs/core to maintain pikes, flips, twists and Lord knows what else. not to mention the constant impact with water at 2-3 stories high, sure it might be fine and dandy if the dive goes as planned but i'm sure all of them have landed on their backs or stomachs. you ever flopped on a 3 story dive?
or how about gymnastics? can he flip on the rings like those Chinese gymnasts? can he beat Johnson on the beams? can he fill in Kobe's shoes on the basketball team? is he able replace Jeremy Wariner on the 400m?
yeah i know wrestling is tough (i train BJJ) but any of those sports mentioned above takes intelligence, speed, dexterity, planning, and execution. just like wrestling, on a cursory glance, one can't really tell the finer points of the sport.
pound for pound, this guy sounds like one of the bigger douchebags the U.S. has to offer this summer. at this caliber of competition he really ought to keep his mouth shut as i'm sure more than enough athletes will be happy to prove him wrong. hell, i'll even prove him wrong. just come to my rock gym and i'd like to see him go up a 5.13 or a v7.
i guaranty that Phelps trains just as hard as that guy, and considering his (and most swimmers) calorie intake is through the roof i have no reason to doubt the intensity at the level of which he trains. one and one, strategy? does the skill of riding the stream of another swimmer, calculating stroke counts and kicking just under the return current off a kick turn, debating between a glide-in or half stroke finish count?
you think the diving teams train any less intensely? 1000 crunches just to start of their morning. they need strong abs/core to maintain pikes, flips, twists and Lord knows what else. not to mention the constant impact with water at 2-3 stories high, sure it might be fine and dandy if the dive goes as planned but i'm sure all of them have landed on their backs or stomachs. you ever flopped on a 3 story dive?
or how about gymnastics? can he flip on the rings like those Chinese gymnasts? can he beat Johnson on the beams? can he fill in Kobe's shoes on the basketball team? is he able replace Jeremy Wariner on the 400m?
yeah i know wrestling is tough (i train BJJ) but any of those sports mentioned above takes intelligence, speed, dexterity, planning, and execution. just like wrestling, on a cursory glance, one can't really tell the finer points of the sport.
pound for pound, this guy sounds like one of the bigger douchebags the U.S. has to offer this summer. at this caliber of competition he really ought to keep his mouth shut as i'm sure more than enough athletes will be happy to prove him wrong. hell, i'll even prove him wrong. just come to my rock gym and i'd like to see him go up a 5.13 or a v7.