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08-04-2008, 03:41 AM
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#61 | | New Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 24
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yeah, believe it or not, ping pong is indeed an Olympic sport; I can understand the skepticism.
Call me hard core, but I firmly believe that breaking a sweat should be a requirement for an Olympic sport. lol INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE - SPORTS | 
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08-04-2008, 02:00 PM
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#62 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 1,347
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Sorry, I can't find it. Which list it is on?
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08-04-2008, 02:59 PM
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#63 | | New Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 24
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08-04-2008, 05:40 PM
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#64 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Over the hills and far away...gazing out, along the open road.
Posts: 1,543
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Diving -- unless you count the climb up the ladder -- doesn't involve much sweating. Table tennis, however, is a pretty wild game when played at that level (or with shot glasses in the corners, for that matter).
The problem I had with table tennis in the Olympics had to do with the fact that tennis (as in "the original tennis...not the table-sized knockoff") wasn't an Olympic event. It was like holding the biathlon with water pistols and not having the real deal. Or having a tobaggon, but not a bobsled. Or awarding medals for playing that game where you flick the triangular paper object through your opponents' index-finger goal...but not having real American football as a medal event.
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08-04-2008, 10:02 PM
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#65 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 1,347
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Diving does not involve sweating, but the amount of physical strength, agility, speed, coordination, and bravery it requires does require divers to work out strenuously.
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08-04-2008, 10:15 PM
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#66 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Over the hills and far away...gazing out, along the open road.
Posts: 1,543
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Same could be said of the guy who follows the circus elephants with the big shovel...
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08-04-2008, 10:36 PM
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#67 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 1,347
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um, true...but I think sanity should be allowed to play a role here, D'yer. 
Btw, would anyone like to explain how the award system works for softball? I don't really get it...
GO SABRE
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08-04-2008, 10:47 PM
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#68 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 90
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D'yer you have been away for too long.
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08-05-2008, 04:14 AM
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#69 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Beijing, China
Posts: 35
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I love watching fencing (foil more than sabre, oddly), but I disagree about ping-pong. Ping-pong is actually a very serious sport that requires lots of energy, innate skill, plenty of practice and quick eyes. It may just seem like the players are simply jumping around a table, but the serving of the ball requires lots of skill--skilled players usually "twist" the ball so that it does not follow the path it is supposed to. Doing this requires not only technique but tons of practice. The ball is also notoriously hard to follow when watching/playing because of its size. I truly believe that it deserves to be an Olympic sport.
I do agree that tennis should have been an Olympic sport before table tennis though. But there is tennis in the Olympics now (and I'm going to the stadium to watch!).
I can't wait for the Olympics to start! (Even though my parents will be watching the opening ceremony in the stadium (!) and leaving me at home to stare at our TV. )
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08-05-2008, 07:31 AM
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#70 | | New Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 24
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D'yer, you may have a point about bravery and the elephant poo scooper.
Regarding Tennis and Table Tennis, both sports started official Olympic play at the same time in 1988 Olympics. Tennis was an Olympic sport in the 1920s but fell out because of pro/am issues.
To my way of looking at things, beyond the outer edge of real Olympic sports, the former olympic sport of Tug-of-War is more a sport than Ping Pong (aka Flim-Flam). Gets worse, can you believe Bridge is a "recognized sport" by the IOC? Discuss.
Last edited by ELW; 08-05-2008 at 07:50 AM.
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08-05-2008, 09:59 AM
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#71 | | Junior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 189
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I think you guys are displaying some pretty serious cultural bias here. Table tennis and badminton are played at extremely competitive levels in Asia (home to 60% of the world's population). They also help to level the playing field, so to speak, for participation at the beginning levels. Not everyone has access to the kind of resources of space and equipment needed, for say, American football, baseball or luge. I'd love to see lacrosse go more international...
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08-05-2008, 10:52 AM
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#72 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,972
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If you've every watched the olympics, you've had to have seen the fluff pieces they do on the rigorous training for ping pong. Kiddies moved away from home in kindergarten for a lifetime of training. (Other sports, as well, but they usually include ping pong).
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08-05-2008, 12:08 PM
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#73 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: the South
Posts: 1,596
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Gets worse, can you believe Bridge is a "recognized sport" by the IOC? Discuss.
| Well, Poker is a sport if you watch ESPN (Every Sunday is Poker Night) regularly.
Actually, I enjoy playing bridge (I took it up in college), but yes it is not a sport. It is a game, just like Poker.
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08-05-2008, 12:51 PM
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#74 | | Member
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: second to the right, and straight on till mornin' for many days
Posts: 784
| rule of thumb
If you can drink beer and smoke cigarettes at the same time, it's not a sport.
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08-05-2008, 02:37 PM
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#75 | | Member
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Drive West on Sunset to the Sea
Posts: 902
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Then Tiger Woods is not an athlete!?!
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