Olympic Sports (according to Ryan, Jenn & Lincoln)

If your home has been at all like ours, the Olympics have been on here and there. Michael Phelps & Usain Bolt were pretty darn impressive. And watching the U.S. Baseball team stick it to the Chinese was a lot of fun.

But be honest, there are a number of "sports" that just simply should not be part of the Olympic games. We'll provide two lists and include our justification for our decisions. Games that we, as the Gates Olympic Committee would cut:

1. Badminton -- According to Jenn, this a just a dumb sport.
2. Baseball -- If nations aren't going to send their best athletes, it should not be awarded a medal.
3. Boxing -- Only if the current scoring system isn't scrapped. The way the sport is "judged" today is way too open to corruption. See: Roy Jones, Seoul 1988
4. Flatwater Canoe/Kayak -- There are too many "rowing events," and some of them have to go.
   
5. Slalom Canoe/Kayak -- See #4
   
6. BMX -- This is an X Games event.
7. Mountain Biking -- See #6
8. Soccer -- There are already many HUGE soccer tournaments. Winning the World Cup is infinitely more prestigious than winning an Olympic Gold.
9. Rhythmic Gymnastics -- See #1
   


10. Trampoline -- See #1
11. Handball -- Why don't these folks play Basketball? Or Soccer? Or Hockey? Handball is the lazy person's version of the real sports mentioned.
12. Judo -- A "sport" in which the objective is to defeat your opponent, but for the purposes of "the Olympic spirit" has it's objective changed to judging ought to be banned. Similar in theory to #3.
13. Modern Pentathlon -- Who came up with this combination: Fencing, Pistol Shooting, 200m Freestyle Swimming, Show Jumping on Horseback & 3km Cross Country Running? What does a medal tell us about the winner? That he has some odd tastes and skill sets.
14. Table Tennis -- This isn't the Asian Games. We don't care about Ping Pong enough in the West to warrant a medal ceremony.
15. Taekwondo -- See #12
16. Tennis -- Wimbledon, The US Open, The French Open and The Australian Open do just fine to point out and reward the world's greatest tennis players.
17. Triathlon -- Mixed feelings here. The Iron Man in Hawaii is the sports most prestigious event. Therefore, it's on my cut list.

The remaining events would continue to be included in the Olympic Games if it were left to the Gates family:

1. Diving -- There is no more prestigious title in diving than Olympic Gold Medalist.
2. Swimming -- See #1
3. Syncronized Swimming -- I wanted to cut this, but Jenn and Lincoln voted to keep it. While it's a judging-based event (I'm not a fan of this) it's a skilled swimmer that can do this, and there's no greater pedestal for the "sport" than the Olympics.
4. Water Polo -- The oldest team event... we respect that, and we respect the athleticism it takes to play.
5. Archery -- We like including a sport that high-lights war-making capabilities.
6. Track and Field -- This is the definition of the Olympics: who's the fastest? who can jump the highest? the farthest? etc.
7. Basketball -- This is the only world basketball event that draws the world's best players.
8. Road Cycling -- Similar to Water Polo, we respect a sport that has been contested in some form or another since 1896. Points were definitely awarded for longevity of sport.
   
9. Track Cycling -- See #8
10. Equestrian -- Been around for a long time (1900), and still the world's premier stage for the sport.
11. Fencing -- See #8 & #5
12. Artistic/Gymnastics -- Synonymous with the Olympics. Again, not a fan of the judging events, but any event that's been around since 1896 stays in our games.
13. Rowing -- See #8
    
14. Sailing -- See #8
    
15. Shooting -- See #5
16. Softball -- There's no greater event for the sport than the Olympics.
17. Beach Volleyball -- While there are many, many tournaments throughout the year, the world clearly focuses a great deal of attention on ONE tournament, and that is the Olympics. The best athletes are there, and it's not about swimsuits, because the men are as entertaining to watch as the women.
18. Indoor Volleyball -- See #16
19. Weightlifting -- Longevity is one factor. Determining who is the strongest is one of the criteria that defines the Olympics.
20. Wrestling -- See #19

There you have it. The summer Games according the Gates, and only 20 made the cut. We'll post a winter cut list in a couple of years. Feel free to contribute your comments, compliments and criticisms.