I wonder why aviation is not part of Olympic Games ?

[Pawelk198604]

I think mainly about motor less aviation sport like gliders, parachuting and maybe ballooning, if the sailing is Olympic sport why not aviation.

Now skateboarders want to make skateboarding official Olympic competition.

[astropapi1]

I guess it's just because flying doesn't involve using your body as much as skateboarding does. For example, it would be like making online gaming an olympic sport. You can't really compare a dude who does nothing but sit on a couch all day to someone who trains for his entire life for the competition.

[Flymetothemun]

I guess it's just because flying doesn't involve using your body as much as skateboarding does. For example, it would be like making online gaming an olympic sport. You can't really compare a dude who does nothing but sit on a couch all day to someone who trains for his entire life for the competition.

Maybe they could make a complex course like the Redbull race courses that would really test pilots. Make the courses give them some really high G to deal with for a few seconds at a time. By the way, does the "papi" in your name refer to the runway light system or is it something else?

[astropapi1]

Maybe they could make a complex course like the Redbull race courses that would really test pilots. Make the courses give them some really high G to deal with for a few seconds at a time. By the way, does the "papi" in your name refer to the runway light system or is it something else?

It's just the spanish equivalent of "Daddy". I know, I know...

I made it when I was younger, (trying to register to Club Penguin ) and surprisingly, "astropapi" was already taken, so I just added a 1 at the end. I still have no idea why I came up with that username, but I use it for everything nowadays.

[Nuke]

i would only bother with sports involving human powered aviation. i dont think any such sporting events currently exist. it takes a special kind of athlete to keep an aircraft in the sky.

[CaptainKipard]

I guess it's just because flying doesn't involve using your body as much as skateboarding does..

HAHA! That's rich! I guess dressage is out then? It shouldn't be an olympic "sport" but you shouldn't expect consistency from people. It's ridiculous.

The trainer does all the pre-work

The horse does all the actual work

The rider...sits there exerting as much effort as it takes to operate a computer mouse, and he gets the medal for some idiotic reason.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[KerikBalm]

I guess it's just because flying doesn't involve using your body as much as skateboarding does.

As a hang-glider pilot, and a participant on some hanggliding forums, we oftne have the same question as the OP. and may speak derisively of pilots who fly with a joystick.

There's 1 "hangglider" that sort of stradles the line between a hangglider and an ultralight sailplane (the millenium), jokes are often made asking if their wrist was tired after a long flight, and they'll make jokes after a long flight that their wrist is so tired (whereas in a normal hangglider, your arms can be quite tired after a few hours).

You wouldn't enjoy seeing events like this?

A race down a mountain analagous to downhill skiing?

There are of course cross country competitions... open distance or 100 km triangle races (which means that if you complete the course, its not a very long drive back to where you started, which is my problem with just going for open distance)

Edited October 5, 2014 by KerikBalm

[Kryten]

The rider...sits there exerting as much effort as it takes to operate a computer mouse, and he gets the medal for some idiotic reason.

I take it you've never ridden a horse, then?

[KerikBalm]

Well I have... and I can't say its very physically demanding....

Jockeys on a racehorse are one thing, dressage.... I'm sorry, I don't see it.

Some sports test stamina

Others test strength

still others test skill or coordination

and many test a combination of the above.

There are numerous "air sports" that require as much of any of those catagories as current olympic sports like sailing, or dressage.

Personally, I'd make a more "pure" olympics.

No gymnastics: not objective enough

No team sports: rules are too arbitrary

No "weird" sports like dressage or curling: the rules are too arbitrary.

How fast can you run X distance

How far can you throw object Y

How accuratly can you throw object Y (include archery and shooting - maybe)

How much weight can you lift

and maybe:

Combat: MMA style, no arbitrary rules, just rules that are enough to avoid serious injury.

[CaptainKipard]

How fast can you run X distance

How far can you throw object Y

How accuratly can you throw object Y (include archery and shooting - maybe)

How much weight can you lift

and maybe:

Combat: MMA style, no arbitrary rules, just rules that are enough to avoid serious injury.

I'd generalise it as "activities that test the combination of physical and mental prowess". I didn't even think about gymnastics rules, so I can't comment on that but the ability to do what gymnasts do should definitely fall into that category. Getting back to the topic, piloting and driving could also fall into it.....but not horse racing. How much input does a rider actually contribute to the overall achievement? It's nothing like operating an aircraft yoke. The animal has its own mind and exercises its own judgement to a great degree.

[ratchet freak]

Well I have... and I can't say its very physically demanding....

Jockeys on a racehorse are one thing, dressage.... I'm sorry, I don't see it.

Some sports test stamina

Others test strength

still others test skill or coordination

and many test a combination of the above.

There are numerous "air sports" that require as much of any of those catagories as current olympic sports like sailing, or dressage.

Personally, I'd make a more "pure" olympics.

No gymnastics: not objective enough

No team sports: rules are too arbitrary

No "weird" sports like dressage or curling: the rules are too arbitrary.

How fast can you run X distance

How far can you throw object Y

How accuratly can you throw object Y (include archery and shooting - maybe)

How much weight can you lift

and maybe:

Combat: MMA style, no arbitrary rules, just rules that are enough to avoid serious injury.

aka just athletics swimming and MMA?

[lajoswinkler]

I take it you've never ridden a horse, then?

Dressage is a stupid crappy "discipline" that should be banned from the Olympics. It's not horce racing. It's a horse doing pretty dances. WTF?

Did you know they are going to ban Greek wrestling? It's one of the cores of the Olympics. A display of strength and dexterity. A proper sport.

Everyone knows the Olympics are becoming increasingly stupid and corrupted. No secrets there.

aka just athletics swimming and MMA?

Any disciplines where people are deliberately getting hurt is not an actual sport, anyway. The sole reason they've been pushed into this domain is because boxing made it first by English corrupted lobbying a long time ago and it was a slippery slope.

I have the utmost respect for martial arts such as karate, judo, etc, but they're a show of skills. Strict rules. You don't hurt people in karate.

But when people fight and hit each other? That's not sports. That's fighting. Call it something else. I'm disgusted by the stuff Japan has presented to the world recently, with criminal assholes bashing the crap out of each other, all bloody. That's not sports.

Thing where you hurt others, that's not in the Olympic or sports spirit. Maybe one day people will understand it.

Edited October 5, 2014 by lajoswinkler

[Creature]

Everyone knows the Olympics are becoming increasingly stupid and corrupted. No secrets there.

Yes they should definitely bring back the good old days of club swinging, live pigeon shooting, obstacle course swimming and I want to experience again the intense moments in tug-of-war finale of 1908!

[CaptainKipard]

Yes they should definitely bring back the good old days of club swinging, live pigeon shooting, obstacle course swimming and I want to experience again the intense moments in tug-of-war finale of 1908!

What we should first do is understand how not to propose arguments. You can start here and here. Enjoy the information age.

[Creature]

What we should first do is understand how not to propose arguments. You can start here and here. Enjoy the information age.

Or perhaps learn the dark secrets of humour before trying to be clever and sassy on the internet by linking wikipedia articles on argumentation

My point was merely that olympic games are not becoming silly, they have always been silly.

[KerikBalm]

aka just athletics swimming and MMA?

I'm not sure about the MMA, but generally... yes athletic feats are what should be demonstrated, no?

As to another comment about gymnastics... yes it requires a long of skill and physical conditioning... but until we have some sort of computer program that can objectively judge it, it will be too corrupted by the bias of the judges for my tastes.

I could easily agree to a more open definition, as long as its not extremely arbitrary... curling, for example, just seems to contrived for me.

Downhill skiing fine... ski jump... :/ I don't know... with all the regulations abotu ski size, so that the skis are only marginally effective as wings.... you might as well cut it, or go all out and allow wingsuits and all other manner of contraptions - and open up the games to air sports.

For that matter if we allow bobsled, sailing, and horseriding, I really don't see why we couldn't have hang gliding, paragliding, wingsuiting... etc

It may be a matter of popularity... but I'd wager they are more popular than dressage... and more accessible to a lot of people (particularly paragliding, but as someone who hangglides, it pains me to say it )

[CaptainKipard]

Or perhaps learn the dark secrets of humour

No. I refuse.

[AcidSludge]

I want submarine races.

[Seret]

I wonder why aviation is not part of Olympic Games ?

Because the governing bodies of those sports either haven't applied or haven't qualified for them to be included.

[cantab]

Historical accident and commercial pressures. Gliding and ballooning are not likely to make good spectator sports. Red Bull Air Race style stuff does, but motorised sports just aren't seen in the Olympics.

[KerikBalm]

Hence the gliding analogues of downhill skiing.

stuff like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLKVx60I5BM

or

Crowds could gather at the various turn points or LZ to watch, like in this video

^maybe just skip to 2 min for a better example. The forum won't seem to let me just link a specific time.

I would also suggest this:

But as I've already said, I hate stuff that must be judged.

Edited October 6, 2014 by KerikBalm

[Sean Mirrsen]

I want submarine races.

I want tank biathlon.

[Kulebron]

In-stadium spectators are not a concern for many olympic sports. Attendance of water jumping is ridiculously low, and sports like canoeing and rowing probably gather even less spectators, and are impossible to watch from a grandstand: canals are just too long.

I think if we walk through different sports, orienteering would make a good candidate, and mountain bike orienteering is even better: you need all: stamina, force at times (to ride uphill), and brain. Unfortunately their true versions, in forests, are mostly invisible for local spectators. You can calculate gaps as in ski with separate start in classic version. In score race, you have no clue of each player's performance. Although, recent advancement of smpartphones with 3G and NFC makes it possible to track players in real time.

Besides, unlike handgliding, MTB orienteering (which is more fun than foot orienteering) is open to any casual sportsman who has an MTB.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Kulebron

[KerikBalm]

Well, I think that hang gliding is at least as accessible to the masses as dressage is....

[CaptainKipard]

Well, I think that hang gliding is at least as accessible to the masses as dressage is....

That's a good point. I don't watch olympic games. Are there any other games that are difficult to train for like this?