gregrowlerson
LS, to be fair, shouldn't sprinters in cycling get the majority of chances for glory though, since outside of the Olympics their chances to prove their greatness (or at least to be appreciated by a wider audience) are quite limited? Sprinters (in the pure sense) don't get to race in 20 monuments every 4 years (nor 12 grand tours).
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gregrowlerson said:
Track cyclists in general don't get that, either, it's just that it's harder for a roadie to swap to match sprinting or vice versa than to endurance track disciplines so you'll find a lot of pursuiters and endurance trackies will moonlight on the road, or countries without the level of funding for the track that the likes of the UK and Australia throw at it will entice road riders to enter endurance track with the carrot of an Olympic opportunity they mightn't otherwise have.
Track cycling is a completely separate discipline to road, to cross and to MTB, and as such its balance of events should not be dependent on that of other disciplines of the sport. I mean, we wouldn't say that the number of cyclocross races and mountainbike races on rough unpaved surfaces justifies downgrading Paris-Roubaix or removing Strade Bianche from the calendar, because they have their unique position within road cycling, so similarly I don't see why the IP or the points race can't exist as medal-paying events when the Team Sprint is, or if they feel there are too many medals given out, they can't have a sprinters' all-round event akin to the omnium to put the kilo, keirin and team sprint in and balance out the events like they had in the 2000s, rather than saying "anybody that isn't a match sprinter, unless you're from a country with four athletes, you'd better be good at the omnium".
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But a road sprinter hasn't time to bulk up like these gym monsters who do track sprint.
Well, the thing is... at the moment I'm watching climbing. Pretty much everyone I know in my age and younger does climbing/ bouldering from time to time. Some do it regularly, in clubs. But there is only one Olympic combined event, and only from this year on. I'm an advocate that the Olympics should have their broad base in everyday, leisurely done sports. Like I said, swimming is also very important, but there is no denying there are new sports (well, most not soo new, when a sport has been done competetively for decades I think it deserves some respect as such), and, like you said, if there are too many medals, it devalues the meaning of a medal. Also, for viewers it's not great.
There is a perception that Olympic sports are certain, special, classic sports, including something like shot-putting, with which the everyday exercises, sports in clubs, things you do for fun, have nothing to do. But that is not the core, in my opinion, and it will make it harder for children and teenagers to persue a sport, if it is practically a part of an Olympic bubble not at one, high-performance point, but from the beginning on.
I would rethink the whole system... the problem is that often the money/ support in a whole sport in a country depends on the medals gained in the Olympics, and also that there is only recognition for the sport through the Olympics, so that if you have only one event, it just can't sustain. I would like for a way to be found to change this.
Well, it's a complex topic. If you leave everything else the way it is and only cut half of for instance, the swimming and the cycling events, of course that has rather devestating effects. Hence it's all just mind play from my side. But if I think about what the Olympics should be, what the core is, it's not medal hording in a thousand events which are all pretty much the same, by one athlete. It also shouldn't be about certain countries strategically investing all their money into equipment and structures so that they can gain a bunch of medals and rake the international success. It should be the pinnacle of sports that people know and at best even do themselves.
Finding a balance between tradition and contemporary is difficult of course, but I would like to keep the "core" of Olympic sports, like wrestling, running, swimming, gymnastics, but not necessarily with the rules/ distances they have traditionally had, while integrating broadly done sports like climbing and karate.
Well I'm glad I'm not the one, who has to decide which sports make it in or not (or I would actually love to do it, but too many people would probably be offended by it ).
I would never think of climbing as an Olympic sport. I didn't even know it had been added, but it wouldn't be the first one I'd cut, if had the power though, that would always be golf.
They should bring back the invidual pursuit, and if not as a seperate competition, then put it back into the omnium instead. The omnium has been runied by the current rules IMO.
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King Of The Wolds
Climbing's a great Olympic sport. Think of the Olympic motto - it ticks all the boxes. And it's a basic human activity or endeavour - like running, jumping, swimming, weight lifting, sailing. No Olympic tradition, obviously, but it absolutely deserves to be there.
The ones I have the problem with are the sports where the Olympics aren't the very pinnacle of that sport - golf, tennis, baseball, basketball, football and, yes, road cycling. They really don't need the Olympics.
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Something enjoyable about all this money being poured into the track, having to constantly hear them drone on about it, then all the glory being taken by Piddles and a teaching assistant who had her funding taken 5 years back.
Tim Cahill said:
There was some clown on Radio 5 yesterday bemoaning the lack of gold and saying that the other countries had adapted "our" technology and marginal gains.
I expect feisty discussions within British Cycling when the next round of funding comes around. BMX-ers vs the track elite!
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Ganna Ganna Ganna!
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bigcog
Ganna pulled back 0.5s in last lap ...
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southwards
BigCoward said:
Yep, it really grips my *** how many swimming events there are, but track cycling is limited, individual pursuit is surely the blue riband event.
If cycling were swimming there would be even a "Penny Farthing Pursuit," "BMX sprint" and so on...
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King Of The Wolds said:
I mostly agree, but disagree about basketball. Sure, a great players career is largely rated via exploits in the NBA, but that's a bit like Messi being valued for Champions League and La Liga exploits despite lack of World Cup success; the World Cup is the biggest event, but not everything is dependent on it. Basketball is a truly international sport and easily deserves a place in the Olympics imo (whereas baseball isn't played by many countries).
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That was epic by Ganna. So glad they won as he was very unlucky with the ITT road course being so hilly. And if he could have fully focused on training for that (and lost a few kgs) he may have even beaten Roglic.
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Another crazy performance by Ganna, though the other Italians also did a great job just to hold onto his wheel.
Now the omnium should be a shoe-in for Viviani tomorrow.
It was so niche that the British Olympic Committee realised that if they spent a few million they'd get a medal haul as so few countries take it seriously.
Yeah, track is niche, the infrastructure is painfully expensive, the bike serves only for the track. Only european countries and ANZACs. In road we've got a South American Gold Medal and perhaps in the future the people from Africa will also be competitive.
But cycling is one of the most important and healthier means of transportation out there and showing cycling would send a good signal everywhere. I'm not a Brit, but the bike craze over there certainly was positive for the society (and bad for us fans of competitive racing because we were given that great Sky train...).
Watching the climbing now. Very quick. Waiting for the "pure climber" comment.
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southwards said:
Asian and South American countries have also done pretty well in track cycling though.
Sorry, Denmark, you're ganna get smashed.
Huge deal for Italy, if you asked me before the event even a 3rd place would have been a big win.
For Ganna a sub 4min IP and the hour record is probably next.
Landismo should never have skipped the Olympics!
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Pricey_sky
Could we keep this thread on cycling please ladies and gents.
A reminder there are Olympic posts in both the non-cycling discussion and the track sub-forums. It would be great to keep the track talk in its own place, but I understand there is a crossover.
Other sports should be discussed in the Olympics thread here:
Page 10 - Olympics 2021
forum.cyclingnews.com
Brullnux
And while the omnium does largely favour endurance, it's also one event replacing three, and 2 of its 6 events are sprint events (the kilo and the flying lap) and it basically pays one medal for the entire endurance program whereas the sprint specialists have three medals available to them, which is BS.
Omnium now just four events
Lamon's start was also really impressive, he was able to go toe to toe with the Danes.
I'd like to see Milan and Consonni in the Madison, Milan has both the sprint and the ability as a TTer/IP guy to mix things up.
Armchair cyclist
But when that thread appears on neither the "New Posts" nor the "What's New" tab, then it is no wonder that people who visit this forum several times a day are totally unaware of it.
I have said it several times before, the New Posts function here does not work reliably at all.
Netserk
Very well done, Italy. Supersonic speed. I'm very glad that the final was clean with no crashes or clear mistakes.
Netserk said:
It has to be said that the Brits tried everything to mess with your team's mind after yesterday...
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