Bet you thought that this was about our cool, calm and collected President being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize :o)Nope, what I am shocked about is that Golf and Rugby are officially new Olympic Games sports, voted in by International Olympic Committee members today.
The sports will make their first appearances at the 2016 summer games which last week were awarded to Brazil and will be held in Rio de Janeiro.
The IOC stated: "Both golf and rugby are very popular sports with global appeal and a strong ethic," said IOC President Jacques Rogge. "They will be great additions to the Games."
The summer games have 28 sports. To make room for the two new sports, the IOC earlier jettisoned baseball and softball.
While I love golf, I would say that I do not believe that it is more of a sport than baseball. Interesting they took out two team sports and substituted an individual sport and another sport. One interesting fact is that both Golf and Rugby used to be in the Olympics, so they are returning sports that were once already there. Of course, baseball is a much more isolated sport than golf and rugby are, so perhaps in the bigger world scheme of things, they made the right decision.
What are your thoughts?
Can hardly wait to see Tiger play! Woohoo!
ReplyDeleteThis is long overdue. I think it all depends on where you are from. Nations who love golf would say the addition is late while those who don't play enough - Jamaica could't care less.
ReplyDeleteOnce the sport will spread the purpose of the Olympics why not? Put all of them in but at whose expense - the organizers? lol
This is neat! I hadn't heard it and am glad you reported it. I LOVE the Olympics!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure ... golf just doesn't seem like an Olympic Sport to me.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Marty
Ken I'm OK with rugby, but golf? Golf is one of the worst sports to watch, whether it is on TV or in person. I think I would rather another sport fill that space within the Olympic games.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite sports to watch are the gymnastics. But over all I am not much of a sports person myself. And I also been hearing lots of complains about golf in the olympics. However If i were a golf player I would have wanted my sport to be represented.
ReplyDeleteBaseball is popular in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. By my count three out of six populated continents is pretty damn good. But, it is *not* popular in Europe, and that's all it takes for the IOC to brush it off with a dismissive little wave.
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