<p>It seems to be all political and self-serving. I see no reason why there are so many medals in swimming. Yes, I understand that all the strokes and lengths are different, but compare it to track. Why is there no 100m in backpedaling? Or sideways running? Or skipping? They all seem legitimate to me. It’s insane how one guy like Michael Phelps can potentially win 8 golds in one sport. That’s not fair. Meanwhile, a marathon runner gets one. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>Also, baseball has been dropped for the 2012 games and beyond. While I’m not fan of baseball, I’ve heard talks that rugby might replace it. Rugby? Rugby?! Only Commonwealth countries play that game. At least baseball has the United States and Japan as active participants.</p>
<p>A few things, I’m not an expert on the Olympics, but I’m gonna venture a guess at it, having done no research. I would say that the IOC would get a petition or a recommendation of some sort and then it would hold a vote to decide whether a sport is added or removed.</p>
<p>Rugby is pretty big in Europe and countries like Australia, New Zealand (All Blacks?), whereas baseball is only popular in U.S., Japan, and countries in the Caribbean.</p>
<p>Political and self-serving? But it’s okay to have baseball because it’s popular in America? There’s someone in Australia right now saying that there should be rugby and not baseball because rugby is popular in Australia, not baseball. The Olympics isn’t about having a sport just because a small handful of countries participate. I love baseball and wish it would stay in the Olympics, but come on. The Olympics aren’t centered around the US. If the World Baseball Classic got as much attention around the world as, say, the World Cup of Soccer, then there would be a legit reason to keep it. </p>
<p>There are 34 events in swimming and 47 events in athletics (track & field) for men and women combined. I have no allegiance to either sport, but to me winning one marathon gold is just as impressive, if not more, than winning eight 100-meter swimming medals.</p>
<p>Why is Europe more important than U.S. and Japan? The combined population and GDP of America and Japan is more than most European countries combined. </p>
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<p>My problem is swimming is not that it has so many medals, but that ONE GUY can win so many medals. Track and field has a ton of medals, but it’s rare to see one person win more than a couple. Unless you’re Carl Lewis, that is. But in swimming, it seems that every Olympic year has a guy threatening to win up to at least 5 golds. That’s not right.</p>
<p>When trying to decide between “regional” sports like baseball and rugby, why shouldn’t population and GDP be used?</p>
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<p>Who said that? Stop using strawman arguments. One of my main points was that swimming was kind of a BS sport, and the U.S. dominates swimming. I’m not an American partisan.</p>