There are plenty of odd sports in the Olympics. From team handball to pistol shooting to race walking to trampoline, people can argue about whether or not certain sports belong in the Olympics. But there is one "sport" that stands out like a sore thumb. Rhythmic gymnastics is not a sport and shouldn't be in the Olympics.
Some kind of weird S&M fetish? No, an Olympic 'sport'
Since when is hula hoop an Olympic sport?We can disagree about the validity of other sports with judging and whether certain sports are "real," but I think everyone can get behind the idea that rhythmic gymnastics is not really a sport.
Go for the gold, Dog!Basically, this is Randy Jackson's "America's Best Dance Crew," but the winner gets an Olympic gold medal. In four years, rhythmic gymnastics will be an event at the London Olympics, but baseball and softball will not.
Possibly the worst thing about rhythmic gymnastics is that by having the word "gymnastics" in the title, it forces all the Olympic websites to refer to real gymnastics as "artistic gymnastics" which sounds like a totally fake sport. It's insulting to the athletes who compete in real gymnastics to associate them with the dancers who compete in rhythmic gymnastics.
Take this nonsense out of the Olympics and put it back on "Dancing With the Stars" where it belongs.
42 Responses:
Amen to that. Not only are baseball and softball gone, but sports like Jai alai continue to get the shaft.
Yeah, but Latin America getting the shaft from the Olympics is a common theme. That's why they've never been held in South America or the Caribbean.
It really drives it home to put rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and synchronized diving in the "in" column with baseball, softball, jai alai, and pistol dueling in the "out" column.
Please, PLEASE don't forget to mention Marathon Race Walking. I was watching the 50k (yeah, you read that right) on USA last night around 11pm. If you ever wanted to see 100 men walking as fast as they can looking like they have rakes up their asses, this is for you.
Amen. If cat toys (e.g., ribbons, balls, hoops) are involved, it's just not a sport.
Do you think Rhythmic Gymnastic not a sport?!?!?!?! Fetish?????
Take look here and shame on you........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viu7U8_IhD4
I knew I should have addressed this in the post. Alex, I never said it was easy, I said it wasn't a sport. There are plenty of things that are very difficult, like dancing, but still aren't sports.
I watched some today, and I have to say the clubs are the dumbest discipline. I think the dude who does the flaming baton twirling at Maryland halftimes could win that shit.
You still so wrong about, I'm a choreographer and I work with Figure Skaters and Gymnastics,so I know this from inside, this sports takes minimum 8-12 hours of training every day, maximum concentration and extreme physical pressure, that's what this athletes facing everyday.
Practice and even more practice daily and trust me some "DUDE" will break his neck if he try even most primitive routine with clubs, "clubs" this is most difficult discipline an gymnasts learn this apparatus only when they reaching pre-senior levels.
and to be honest, in my opinion, baseball it's most primitive sport and even Big/Fat fella can do it, baseball not attractive and single event can take 6 hours........boring and not attractive, also I can't call them "Baseball Athletes" it's sounds sarcastic but "Players" is fine....well this is more like a "game show" than sportive event.
I don't mean to be root but that's my answer on your response.
I know a guy who practices Call of Duty 4 for 12 hours a day. It requires amazing coordination, reflexes, instinct, and choreography. It's still not a sport.
Brien: Ice dancing is an Olympic sport. Ballroom dancing is on the short list of events under consideration. They're really going just about as far from faster, higher, stronger as you can get.
Alex,
Honestly, I don't think difficulty has anything to do with it for me. When I watch rhythm gym (or art gym, diving, synch swim, etc) vs watch something like track (or race walk, swimming, shooting, etc), I just can't understand the scoring in group A.
Scoring comes across as subjective to me and I'm thinking "Wow, that looked hard as hell and they only got a 6? What did they do wrong?" They certainly don't explain.
Ex: There was the Chinese girl that won gold in vault, I believe it was, and she didn't even make the landing. In a 2 sec routine, I'm of the opinion that it's pretty important to actually land and major points gone if you don't.
On the other hand, group B has clear results. I know who won race walk, swimming, shooting. It takes no real knowledge of the event to understand who won. I don't even consider race walk a sport but I can at least tell who won.
I suppose there are a variety of reasons to mock group A events. Part of it is NBC coverage since they don't explain the basics in scoring. Part of it is that those events are on 1 of 4 years. Part of it is that it's very, very niche and the Olympics exposes it to everyone.
As to whether group A events are sports, it's an argument we can have until the end of time. I don't think training time should be the only criteria in making things a sport. Lest if South Korea hosts the Olympics, Starcraft becomes an Olympic event/sport.
gpb,
You hit the nail on the head. It is easier for the lay person to watch a contact sport like soccer or baseball where it is easy to see who is winning and who is losing. For technical sports like diving,gymnastics, synchro swimming or dressage, you need to be an educated observer who knows what to look for in a good round.
The method I always used to decide "sport" vs "Event" was simple: objective scoring.
And yes, that means that boxing and MMA is only "sometimes" a sport.
It says nothing about the amount of athleticism involved in practice and performance, but if a 10.0 20 years ago wouldn't get a 10.0 today, that's an issue that makes it an event, not a sport.
My cousin was a gymnist for years until she broke her back (its fused, she's fine now). She was a great athlete and worked very hard. I have the utmost respect for those people, because that's some really hard stuff to do.
Its still not a sport, though.
Wow, you all put the kid gloves on for Alex.
well i know for a fact i would much rather watch rhythmic gymnastics.the fact they have to jump,catch,leap,spin wahtever etc.amazes me.they have such control.i would much rather watch that than two men beat the crap out of each other.like boxing? rhythmic gymnastics is in every way a sport as anything else
How can you compare two totally different sports? Artistic Gymnastics is actually it's real name. Plus, I don't think that unless you have a depth of knowledge of both, you sholdn't complain.
I mean, trampoling comes under gymnastics, does it not? It is just a category, the same goes for track events.
I believe if you appriciated the sprt much more you would understand it. Yet, then again, a number of people are to ignorant to do so.
I think it's amazing, maybe because I am a rhythmic gymnast myself. But everyone is entitled to their opinion.
But who cares!?
Rhythmic gymnastics is in the Olympics 2008 AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!
Rhythmic Gymnastics is a sport. Lets see you train for insane hours a week becoming insanely flexible, throw things up in the air while doing walkovers and being so dizzy and trying to catch it again.
Baseball and Softball aren't in the Olympics because they're not played all over the world u idiot. They took baseball and softball out because some countries don't play those sports so they couldn't have sports that not everyone had heard of.
So do your research before making urself sound completely stupid.
Rhythmic gymnastics is much harder than softball and baseball. Softball and base ball all u have to do it hit a ball with a metal pole and run to a pillow and hope that no one catches it. So easy.
What exactly defines a sport?
Physical exertion, health benefits, endurance, commitment and hard work.
Doesn't Rhythmic Gymnastics qualify?
Wikipedia says a sport is "an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively."
Doesn't RG qualify that as well? You have the Gymnastics Code of Points (aka the "set of rules"). You have the National, World, Commonwealth and Olympic Games, all having Rhythmic Gymnastics as a sporting event ("engaged in competitively")
And to just single out RG as "not being a sport" (in your opinion, that is) is selfish and unapreciative to the gymnasts who dedicate years to this sport because they love it and want to be the best that they can be in it.
Every sport has its challenges. Each sport cannot be compared to another because of a completely different set of rules - meaning that there's no common factor to compare.
However, even if you DO compare Rhythmic Gymnastics to Baseball and Softball, you can perhaps see that they all rule down to one indivual putting in their best efforts to win the prize.
Try to use your brain a little, will you?
Just because you don't like a sport doesn't give you the right to discriminate it.
It's looks like Rhythmic Gymnastic defense that "torching nerves thread".
Amen on that and long life Rhythmic Gymnastic.
I can't believe some of the comments you have wrote!
The diversity in scoring methods does not define whether something is a sport or not.
Rhythmic Gymnastics is scored under Difficulty Value (The moves), Artistic Value (The apparatus handling), and Execution (How well, or not the gymnast is performing the Difficulty and Artistry).
Even if this sport is of a minority interest, does not mean it isn't a sport. I agree that you require a specialist knowledge to understand the Code Of Points, but you don't need to understand a Sport to enjoy it! My Dad watches all sorts of Sports, does he understand them all? No.
Rhythmic Gymnastics is something to watch, and admire! The International Gymnasts train over 45 hours a week; Blood, sweat and tears! It takes over 18 years to enter a top International level, and that's no garuantee you will win a medal!
Rhythmic Gymnasts have to master 4 GCO's; Balances, Flexibilities, Jumps/Leaps, Pirouettes. In 1:30 minutes, they have to perform 18 of these, to the highest ability. The harder the moves, the higher their Difficulty value. But that's not it, you have an Apparatus per routine, and unlike they have stated, you dont 'Play' with it! You throw it, the more dynamic elements you can do under it, the higher your Artistry Value! I know someone who has cracked their head open from practising a throw with a Club, (There not rubber!!!)
The ballet, the conditioning, the routines, the stretching... It's as much of a sport as everything else. Footballers stretch, and train.
As stated above, it has European Championships, World Championships, multiple World Cups...
The technicality of something doesn't define it's right to be classed as a Sport; Each Sport is individual in scoring, and systems. Just because RG is complex, doesn't make it any less of a Sport than Running perhaps.
And hey, if everyone didn't think it was a sport, it wouldn't be in the Olympic programme. Correct?
Although I do think RG is a sport, I won't talk about that now. I wanted to mention that competitive dance is considered a sport and is part of the World Games (a multi-sport event for sports not in the Olympics).
At some point in my life, I've played most of the usual American guys' sports--football, baseball, basketball, etc. And I was actually a pretty decent wrestler in high school and for a while in college (until I blew out a knee).
I now have two daughters in rhythmic gymnastics, and I can assure you that it is a "real" sport in every way. Success comes from strength, coordination, balance and agility--coupled with an extraordinary level of technical proficiency. In fact, it requires far more athletic talent than many so-called sports, such as golf, shooting/hunting or motor sports (most of which are really games rather than sports). And it requires much more technical expertise than the raw talent sports like basketball and football.
One thing I notice is that all of the "not a sport" comments appear to come from people who have little if any exposure to rhythmic gymastics. Which is fine, I guess, as long as you think ignorance is a good basis for an opinion.
Brien, you are the VERY REASON why we, Americans, are often labeled as being "narrow-minded, egocentric and self-centered." You just refuse to see all the wonderful things that exist outside your petty, small world. Olympic is not an American event, but a world event. It does not matter which sports Americans like. To be included in Olympics, a sport should be played in many countries. Baseball and softball are not. You will probably write a blog soon, titled as "why Football is not in Olympics?" Just don't make yourself an idiot by saying this stuff. More importantly, don't shame us, Americans, by saying these idiotic remarks.
I was a gymnast for years and I always had an issue with calling rhythmics 'gymnastics'. Rhythmic gymnasts have far more in common with ballerinas than with artistic gymnasts. Case in point, artistic gymnastics combines dance with tumbling, but there is a high degree of tumbling difficulty. Rhythmic gymnastics, though undeniably difficult, has more dance than tumbling by far. You'll see plenty of leap passes, and maybe a few walkovers or handsprings, but none of the intense tumbling runs that define elite gymnastics. Likewise, the absence of events that characterize the sport (beam, vault, bars, floor) also pushes it closer to dance for me. By categorizing both the same way, it gives the impression that these two artforms are the same or even remotely similar, when in fact they are not.
I suppose my point is that if rhythmics is allowed to be part of the Olympics, they should allow all forms of dance, because in essence, that's what it is.
You have a wrong point, back in time I was professional dancer and now I'm gymnastic coach/choreographer, so to be honest between R/gymnastic and Dance/Ballet a huge difference.
Well I can agree they use some similar movements but nothing more than that, technical difficulties build in completely apposite impression than dance, technical values are completely uncompilable.
If you compare ballerinas to gymnast that means you know nothing about both of them.
RG is a sport not an art. Please don't mix this two things, this is very primitive point of observation.
Actually the definition of sport is "an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition." The last time I checked, RG requires heavy physical exertion and competition. Just because it involves hula hoops and ropes doesn't make it any less of a sport as baseball.
That is insulting to gymnasts and dancers alike. There are many different types of sports and just because some of them don't fit within your ideals doesn't make them any less viable.
I am a Rhythmic Gymnast and- aside from the fact that this blatantly calls all of us out- I will say that it is more or less a 'hollywood' sport.
Yes, there is make up.
Yes, there are sparkles.
Yes, there are ribbons.
But just because it's made to seem all glitz and glamor, doesn't mean that it's worthless when compared to more documented activities.
I'd like to point out that making it look easy is apart of the job.
What's disgusting is that you refuse to refer to us as real athletes. If you consider artistic gymnastics a sport, you simply must think the same about Rhythmic. It does not belong next to 'Dancing with the stars' because it takes a lifetime to perfect the craft.
I just wanted you to know that you've insulted us all with your generalizations.
I am totally agree with alex, Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport. It combines elements of ballet, gymnastics, theatrical dance, and apparatus manipulation. Gymnastics events test the strength, rhythm, balance, flexibility and agility of the gymnast. Rhythmic gymnastics is a very challenging sport. It requires commitment, confidence, attitude and a lot of practice. The only main difference between rhythmic and artistic gymnastics is that acrobatic skill is not allowed.Rhythmic Gymnastics requires a lot of strength for execution of balances, pivots and leaps. hey say id not a sport because they are jelous and need to get a life!!!!!
hell no it is a sport... exactly it is one of the brightest sport..
you need the flexibility of an acrobat.. same strong legs as a footballer/basketball/tennis player...same daintiness as a diver/Ballerina.. join the up all together...and add an equipment to it... seems hard aint it...
It's not just a dance.. there are also skills:
walkovers..
rolls..
jumps..
turns..
trows.. and ect..
Bdw I'm both a Rhythmic gymnast and an Artistic gymnast... and I'm proud in both of them..
Are you smoking!!!!! Rhythimics is as good of a sport as stupid basketball rythmics in fact is better than basketball becuase you get more of a workout and plus there really is no skill to threowing a ball in a hoop :P so FYI it is a sport and uh your a fagtard.
NO WORDS! You described rhythmic gymnastics like a stupid sport... If you described them on this way, every sport won't look a real sport... I can describe the football on this way: "Some people kick a ball to throw it in a goal net". If I describe the football on this way, it doesn't seem a real sport, it seems a stupid sport! All of we are good at get on bad light a sport, if we describe it in a manner...
However, you are the only one (or one of a small group of people) who thinks things like these about rhythmic gymnastics...
I'm very curious to know a thing: WHAT IS, according to you, a REAL sport?
Please shut up and don't compare Rhythmic Gymnastics with some STUPID American programs like "America's Best Dance Crew" or "Dancing With the stars". STUPID comments like "Some kind of weird S&M fetish? No, an Olympic 'sport'" "Since when is hula hoop an Olympic sport?" ...denote your STUPIDITY, 'cause you maybe think that they can make people laugh. You only have obtained people like me who think that your article is STUPID. NOT Rhytmic Gymnastics. Why isn't RG a sport? ...Because you are too ignorant to think about other sports who are REALLY stupid! ...but you love those sports, isn't it? In America RG isn't popular, but you can't insult it only 'cause your coutry don't win anything! I'd like to kick you... With my STROG LEGS, legs of a girl who practise this SPORT since 2001, when I was 6. And now I'm still doing it. Publish your address if you have courage in your STUPID brain. I live in Italy, but I can take a plane and go to America tomorrow if I want. Yuck. Unfortunatly here is a lot of STUPID people in the world. Shame on you.
Try to throw a ball into the sky and then do 3 walkovers and recatch it with ease. Try to do 10 leaps in a routine with your legs hitting oversplits and your back leg touching your head. Try doing multiple turns without getting dizzy. Try to spin 5 times when you squat down on one leg. Try to lift your leg up to your chest and hold it without the help of your hands. Try to perform 4 routines like that in a roll. Try doing these things and you will realise how much physically demanding it is. It requires far more than flexibility and the ability to dance.
I'm so glad that my voice wasn't alone in that Blog.
Amen to that.
For the future, before you do some sentence about something... do little research.... just not to look that stupid next time when you trying criticize something :)
Cut the bitchin Brien, you're sore about them droppin baseball????? then when the brits decide they want to have cricket in the olympics (and don't tell me it ain't a sport, sport) lets see how the yanks do then!!!!!! And beleive me brother, if Ryhtmic Gimnastics was easy it would be called baseball!!!!
you are so stupid to think that RG isn't a sport...please shut up and surf you tube: watch some videos for ex "ritmic is not easy" and much more.
I can reasure you that rhythmic gymnastics is definatly a sport.
I am 15 year old gymnast and i have tried manyy sports ( hockey, swimming, football, dance, tennis, soccer). I have yet to find a more challenging one than RG. I spend SO many hours a week in the gym, it comes before social and school. And this is the same for many gymnasts.
It is a hard sport and I'm sure any rhythmic gymnast that reads this article will be VERY offended as am I.
It is a sport and takes much more than "twirling a ribbon"
It is selfish and just plain Rude to say that RSG is not a sport. Young girl dedicate their Lives to this sport just as other people do to football or swimming.
There is a code of points, rules and regulations. Just as any other sports.
This sport is complex and takes alot of commitment from coaches parents and athletes.
I can reasure you that rhythmic gymnastics is definatly a sport.
I am 15 year old gymnast and i have tried manyy sports ( hockey, swimming, football, dance, tennis, soccer). I have yet to find a more challenging one than RG. I spend SO many hours a week in the gym, it comes before social and school. And this is the same for many gymnasts.
It is a hard sport and I'm sure any rhythmic gymnast that reads this article will be VERY offended as am I.
It is a sport and takes much more than "twirling a ribbon"
IF RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS WAS EASY IT COULD BE CALLED FOOTBALL OR BASEBALL.
Mmmm I am not going to rant about it, but I think that suggesting that this discipline is not a sport is rather insulting....
You clearly have never seen a competition (I take it you are from the States where the sport is, sadly, not popular) or have ever bothered trying to understand it...
Do some research and then re-read what you wrote in the article, see if it makes sense...
Defenitly, saying RG is not a sport is a nonsense.
softball is a sport???? jejejej
La gimnasia Ritmica es la reina en europa ....viva la gimnasia!! el problema es q en america no teneis buenas gimnastas .
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