When’s a Sport Not A Sport Part Two (aka what’s wrong with the Olympics)

Well that’s a long title and it remains to be seen whether it all fits on one line (update – it doesn’t).  A few weeks ago I wrote an article suggesting that the winners of BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year competition for 2010 may not have been athletes and frankly I stick by that.  Out of at the many finalists, the winner was a jockey, Tony McCoy and one of the runners up was a darts player, Phil Taylor.

I want to expand on that subject a little more now and turn to some of the ludicrous activities that are laughingly referred to as sport in the pinnacle of multi-sports competition – the Olympic Games.

Firstly I should say I have some rules for what comprises a sport and of course this is subjective but it should have two out of the following three qualities:

1. Some sort of historical context (i.e. been played for hundreds of years),
2. A practical background – archery, for example, clearly descends from hunting
3. Most importantly it should be physically tiring, an athletic endeavour.

4. (Optional but quite possibly valid) If it’s judged on artistic merit it’s not a sport.

So bearing that in mind, clearly there’s some nonsense going on somewhere. The first easy target is Synchronised Swimming, one of the most bizarre activities ever to claim to be a sport. It compares poorly to giving out Roulette Tips as a sporting activity. It has no history, absolutely no practical application and it’s judged on artistic merit. It might be tiring but so is running up and down the stairs and that’s not a sport. Well we shouldn’t forget the annual race up the steps of the Empire State Building but still. Have a laugh at the following clip:

Equestrianism is another one (you may notice my bias against horsey things), it’s essentially the rich’s opportunity to take part in the Olympics where otherwise they wouldn’t be able to. It’s not athletic, whatever the protagonists may say, it’s judged on artistic merit and that alone counts it out. Horsey types – play some Online Roulette, it’s more fun. It may have some practical uses but that still doesn’t count for enough. It’s not a sport.