A Grown Woman: NOT a sport!!!

Okay, I'm going to have an Olympic rant in a minute here, and bound to offend someone, so you'll just have to get over it.

I turned the Olympics on this morning to watch the gold medal match for women's water polo - underwater warfare, WOOOO - and very angrily watched the US team completely blow it. This was the only women's WP match I was able to watch this year and it was pretty disappointing.

I did watch the women's beach volleyball final last night, and LOVED it. I've seen most of their matches and have been pretty hooked. I don't really understand why the women's team wears uniforms that equal less than underwear from Fredricks of Hollywood yet the men's team wears actual CLOTHES, but whatever - if I had a body like theirs, I'd wear those outfits too. Or maybe even go naked, heh. Anyway, I really like the sport.

But now today we have, right after the fierceness of waterpolo... rhythmic gymnastics. And of course that's a sport that is somewhat of a joke anyway, but... seriously now. I sat and watched it anyway, wondering how this qualifies for an Olympic event and then... and then came the GROUP rhythmic gymnastics. Like synchronized swimming, only a much bigger mess and the potential to hang your own teammate with a jumprope.

So here is my rant, like it or not. This is not a sport, and it should not be in the Olympics. Period. I'm not saying the activity is not hard, I'm not saying that I could do it. But I can't do salsa dancing either, and the dancers from SYTYCD and even Dancing with the Stars are in better shape than these "gymnasts", work just as many hours, have stronger bodies, and are NOT in the Olympics. Why? Because ballroom dancing is not a sport, just like rythmic gymnastics are NOT a sport. And I'm going to sit here and include synchronized swimming while I'm at it. I live in the synchronized swimming capital of the USA (Santa Clara County) but it is NOT A SPORT. Difficult, yes, but not an Olympic event. Speaking of synchronized - the synchronized diving almost brought me to fits too, but at least it involves AN ACTUAL SPORT. I did four years of marching band in high school, and we were worked as hard as the football players (for some reason marching band requires running laps and pushups) but I don't see synchronized marching band in the Olympics. But hell, maybe they're already on a waiting list. I mean, marching in straight lines across a football field, creating perfect circles and even building pyramids while carrying and playing a tenor saxophone is not much easier than dancing with a hula hoop. I'm just saying.

As I'm writing this an equestrian event is on, another event I don't quite agree is fit for Olympics, however I don't know enough about it to rant. BUT - they just announced that one of the horses tested positive for an "illegal substance" and GOOD GOD, now we're drugging horses???? I hope I heard that wrong.

Speaking of, the whole Marion Jones thing just makes me so sick I want to puke, honestly. I feel so bad for her and am so furious with her at the same time. I'm a little more furious than I am feeling bad, that's for sure.

On the other hand, the actual female gymnast bodies look a lot less disgusting and body-builder-ish than in previous years. They just look like normal athletic teenagers. I remember always being so repulsed by the muscles and veins in those poor girls' legs, but something has changed - I hope they weren't actually giving those poor girls steroids - but whatever, at least they look normal now.

I'll end the rant here for now. No need to leave long arguing comments about your beloved synchronized gymnasts/swimmers/gardeners, etc, because this isn't an olympic forum, it's my blog. Deal with it.

Oh, I won't argue with you that rhythmic gymnastics is not worthy of being an Olympic sport. I'm only sorry I missed it because I love to giggle at it.

Ballroom dancing might not be an Olympic sport, but ice dancing (ballroom dancing on skates) IS. THAT gives me fits.

Posted by: bluesleepy at August 21, 2008 2:05 PM

I watched part of one match of men's water polo last week and thought, "are you SERIOUS? Grown men in speedos alternating between preening by the pool and trying to drown each other while treading water and hurling a ball around? How stupid!"

Meanwhile, I live 12 months out of the year (yes, 12 MONTHS, my daughter *never* takes a break--by choice--not even in the summer, in fact we just spent 9 of the last 10 days at the rink) consumed with ice hockey--the game where you put on approximately 100 pounds of padded gear that covers you from head-to-toe so that you don't get hurt (except it is one of the higher rated sports for injuries anyway, gah!) and chase a hard chunk of rubber around with sticks, on ICE, wearing SKATES. At super-uber fast speeds.

Now *that's* a SPORT. An Olympic one, I might add. ;>

Heh. Guess it's all in what tickles your fancy...We definitely enjoyed Michael & the other fishies last week, spending quite a few hours (when not at the rink, that is) watching them in all their amazing-ness. I'm *still* not sure how he pulled off that one win (#7). Wow!

(My daughter, btw, caught a few moments of shot put on TV, a "sport" that puzzled her as neither of us follow track & field and so she is pretty unfamiliar with the different components and she wasn't sure what to make of this odd metal ball hurling contest...that's all they do? throw that ball? and that's it?? she asked...and commented that the women looked really scary, they were all bigger and uglier than guys! But as for the marathon runners, she kept wanting me to watch so that I could see the incredibly skinny anorexic women and wasn't that gross that they looked about to die any minute with their bones sticking out, how did they have enough energy to run with bodies like that???)

I love the Olympics. :P

Posted by: Annie at August 21, 2008 9:59 PM