What sports shoud be dropped from the Olympic Summer Games?

Now they dropped Baseball & Softball were dropped what sports are next?

I think the IOC is done cutting for now... though they're constantly threatening Modern Pentathlon. Actually, they probably want to cut more, just to scale down the thing. The Summer Games have to be the #1 logistical nightmare in the world today, though cities usually deal well by actually listening to the IOC (I'm talking to YOU, Atlanta).

As a soccer fan, I wouldn't shed a tear if the IOC cut soccer. The World Cups are better competition anyway. FIFA and IOC keep having these battles, some of which do matter (IOC would have required all sport federations to impose minimum 2-year bans for athletes testing positive for banned substances, so thank FIFA for helping the NBA and NHL along on that battle). FIFA threatens to pull out on a semi-regular basis, it seems. Of course, rugby is waiting in the wings for that to happen, so the IOC is kind of covered, but rugby isn't soccer to TV networks worldwide.

BTW, softball has not caught on outside North America and Australia, and MLB doesn't release players, so bye bye.

I am disappointed that they didn't add Golf & Rugby for the 2012 Olympics in London. Don't they know that both sports were born there.

I have to say that I'm something of an Olympic follower. I've traveled to LA, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City, and I'm making plans for 2010 Vancouver. I've actually studied concepts of bringing the SUMMER games to my native Portland, much less the Winter Games (which has been considered by the Sports Authority in Portland), and even evaluated the Central Oregon town of Bend for same.

That being said, there's a bit of a scam involved. I'm one of the few people on earth who think the scam is sort of worth it.

The scam is getting these massive amounts of facilities built.

The problem is that people blame the IOC. At best, they deserve 25% blame.

The sport federations all but run the Olympics now. They want permanent facilities as much as possible. Promising that seems to attract the bid. Obviously, doing that for Portland was a bit less than reasonable.

Golf, not a problem in terms of getting a venue, but probably more of a problem of getting the club to shut down for a month before the games in order to get the security measures in place, losing summer revenue in the process (a very bad deal for the club).

Rugby... you must use that only in case of losing soccer. That's probably four more stadia in dispersed locations you're having to use... because no federation will tolerate ground sharing for more than one event (often, the soccer final is held in the Olympic Stadium itself).

Some quick additions:

I do think the Olympics should simplify itself, honing in on the classic and/or universal events. Gymnastics, aquatics and track and field should be the mainstays as that is where the Olympics have no true peer.

There should also be a clarification of sport: athletics vs sport:hobby actitivity. Ditch the extreme sports, walking, and sailing, as the latter inhibits locations. Modern pentatholon seems a waste, curling... If the majority of the globe can sustain the activity outside of the interest that lay in the Olympics, then the sport probably isn't worth it. I like playing handball, but I like playing dodgeball too. And as George Carlin put it (paraphrasing) "Taking the bus isn't a sport, why the f*** should walking be a sport?"

Who should host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games?

Your choices are:

Alma Ata, Kazakstan
Batumi, Georgia
Jaca, Spain
Peon Chang, South Korea
Salzburg, Austria
Sofia, Bulgaria
Sochia, Russia

Almaty, Kazakhstan
Borjomi, Georgia
Jaca, Spain
PyeongChang, South Korea
Salzburg, Austria
Sochi, Russia
Sofia, Bulgaria

You threw me for a moment with your spelling of PyeongChang, which has been in this process before.

So... '94 Lillehammer, '98 Nagano, '02 Salt Lake City, '06 Turin, '10 Vancouver. Logically, PyeongChang is the favorite, though I'm busy looking up Sochi.

Kazahkstan, I don't see it. The IOC isn't taking that risk... yet, though that might be tempting. Georgia doubly so, if I remember my geopolitical volcanic activity correctly (talking political fireworks, not actual volcanoes).

Sochi, not far from the Black Sea. Cacausus? Interesting. I still project Korea.

What I find interesting is Salt Lake already apparently putting in for 2018, along with Denver and Reno/Tahoe. Annecy in France has submitted for 2018, but I'll bet that the European and Russian / Old Soviet bidders this time are setting up for 2018.

How come the men compete in 1,500 Meter Freestyle and the women compete in 800 Meter Freestyle in swimming?

I believe there is a Men's 800 free. If not, there certainly used to be.

So if I'm correct, the question would be re-stated as "why is there no 1500 free for women ?"

I would think that is due to a bias that women don't have the physical wherewithal to perform well in endurance events. I'm not saying that I believe that, but I think that is where it comes from.

Before 1984 there was no women's marathon in track & field. It came to pass, when women entered marathons, after a while in numbers that led to creation of a women's division in the event, and then the IOC could clearly see that there were a slew of capable competitors for the event to be added to the LA Games.

Is there a women's 1500 meter free at the collegiate level now ? Once that is established, you would think the IOC would consider it.

They can not add too many swimming events however, as the preliminary heats for endurance events eat up a lot of pool occupancy time, which becomes precious during a 2-week duration. I guess you could always hold them in the middle of the night and not televise the prelims, though....

Denver, huh ?

Remember Denver had won the bidding to host in 1976, and something happened (referendum ?) causing Denver to bail out at the 11th hour ?

So the IOC hurriedly awarded it to a European location, that I believe had all the infrastructure in place from hosting it before (Innsbruck or Grenoble ?)

I wonder how favorable the IOC would look upon a Denver bid ? Do they hold a grudge ?

MANY years ago, I recall that the IOC did hold a grudge against Denver.

Of course, the IOC was also all but assured of awarding the 1996 Games to Athens and 2012 to Paris. There are things held deeper than grudges in the IOC, and if Denver has the moolah and the wrists with which to fling it, I think they can overcome a couple old coots who might still be around from that time.

Only thing: if 2014 goes Korea-style Asian, then 2018 may very well be a European siting. If one of the old Soviet bloc or Euro contestants get it, then the doors might fling wide open. If they get to the point of an American bid, however, in playing the facilities game we talked about earlier, the USOC will tell Salt Lake to cool it and watch Denver and Reno play one-up.

One thing I'm curious about- Squaw Valley had the 1960 Olympics, and held at least some figure skating and hockey OUTDOORS... but I wonder if anything was sited on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe? I'm guessing not, but sit ready to listen.

I was 3 in 1960, and didn't follow the Squaw Valley games too closely, but when you mentioned Reno, it did immediately occur to me how close the Tahoe / Squaw Valley area is.

I suspect their proposal leverages the hotel room space in and around the gambling meccas of Reno and South Lake Tahoe (Nevada Side), and makes use of the bigger ski resorts in the Tahoe Area (Heavenly, etc.).

I would imagine the facilities like Bobsled tracks and ski jumps and speed skating tracks would all be new, since facilities used for Squaw would be 50 years old by then.

The Winter Games are much smaller in scale than the logistical nightmare of hosting The Summer Games. I would think you can host a Winter Games for an investment of less than $1 billion (in today's dollars anyway), although Salt Lake got the Feds to kick in for security and a major expansion of I-17. between Salt Lake and the venues. Honestly if Lillehammer can handle it, how bad can it be ?

I had one other point, actually. I believe the IOC has sort of had a tradition of not awarding consecutive Summer Games or consecutive Winter Games to the same continent. Europe and Asia count as two different continents in this reckoning. Not sure if a site like Moscow is considered European or Asian....

That is why you see no North American proposals for 2014, since Vancouver is hosting in 2010.

Africa has never hosted an Olympics, and I don't believe South America has either (closest would be Mexico City in 1968).

Australia has hosted the Summer Games twice (Melbourne and Sydney). Their Summer and Winters are inverted form ours, so they have to bump the schedule forward or backward about 6 months when they host.

I think the IOC would look favorably on a South American bid. Africa is problematic, in that not many countries there have the financial wherewithal to pull it off..... perhaps South Africa, now that apartheid is behind them, but could they mange the logistics ?

The World Cup goes to South Africa (with much criticism) in 2010. I'm sure the IOC will be paying close attention to that. Mind you, a World Cup is a different beast (usually one stadium per city, 8-12 cities unless another joint bid like the Japan - Korea Republic share is proposed).

The Melbourne Games of 1956 were held in November... but the 2000 Sydney Games were held in September as a concession to TV (read: NB-freaking-C, who is one of the major financiers these days). NBC will probably prevent a South American winter bid simply because they don't want to show skiing events in August to an American audience... really short-sighted IMO. From some of what I've read recently, Rio de Janeiro is probably going to get a Summer Games in one of the next 4 go-arounds.

You're right about the Winter Games. It's only rather recently that these games started being awarded to "larger" markets like Calgary, Nagano, and Salt Lake, and it's a step "up" from there to Turin and Vancouver. Atlanta was impossible to drive around near downtown, while Salt Lake City was appallingly easy. Actually, Los Angeles was pretty easy to manage, but that's because they convinced most of downtown to shut down for two weeks... it was far easier to get around during the LA Olympics than it is to manage the normal LA rush hour. OTOH, if you flew in for the LA games, getting around had to be a problem simply for the spread of the events... something Atlanta tried to "correct," but went too far the other way.

Really, Park City was the "cultural center" of the Salt Lake games... and I kind of wish that the Winter Olympics would return to that. Most every journalist who went to Lillehammer still raves about that city and those Games. However, it's pretty hard to justify building suitable arenas in those size towns. I'd like to think that there's a logical meeting place in a town like Bend, Oregon... though I can imagine a pretty hopping closed-off Virginia Street if Reno gets a Games.

How come women compete in kayaks but not in canoes?