Top 10 Olympic Demonstration Sports That Didn't Quite Make It

I think the Olympic roster of sports is pretty comprehensive at this point. There don't seem to be any glaring sporting omissions other than golf, and that's being remedied at Rio 2016 (they're adding Rugby too, but I don't have enough global awareness to know whether that makes sense or not. That said, I'm already predicting Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa on the podium in some order).

That said, we're all familiar with the concept of "demonstration sports". Where some sport gets a trial run or two, then is either included or tossed out. Many of today's sports started as demonstrations: Curling, speed skating, tennis, taekwondo... the list goes on.

We're not here to talk about those sports.

What I want to talk about are the sports that didn't make it in. Those sports that for whatever unimaginable reason didn't get bumped up to full medal status. I mean, really. How could the sports below not be a part of the Olympic Games?

Let me start by saying this is not a comprehensive list. There have been a lot of demonstration sports so I'll just skip over some, such as the two times the US tried to jam American Football onto the roster (1904 St Louis, Los Angeles 1932), or when Australia retaliated by trying to slip Aussie Rules onto the list at the 1956 games in Melbourne (two sports which I have blogged about previously). Not that those are the only examples; half the countries who have hosted an Olympics tried to quietly stack the deck with an event they were pretty sure they'd win (can I get a "what up" to Calgary 1988 for the addition of Curling and Short Track Speed Skating as a demo?). So let's focus on the most awesome sports. In this case, the Top 10 most awesome.

But first, the close-but-no-cigars:

Cannon Shooting - Paris 1900
Literally, shooting cannons at stuff. In the most egregious example of ballot-stuffing in the history of the Olympics every competitor was French. Of course, considering what happened 14 years later I don't think the Germans were very impressed by their performance.

Fire Fighting - Paris 1900
By the way, the Paris 1900 Olympics get the gold medal in ridiculous sports. In this case it's fire fighting. Really? Fire fighting? This only makes sense when you consider that there was also:

Lifesaving - Paris 1900
My guess is that they had people show up for the event, lit the grandstand on fire, then saw how everything turned out.

Pigeon Racing - Paris 1900
Yep, we're back in Paris again where people are basically raising pigeons then hoping for the best. We're not really hoping for athletes in peak physical condition at this point, are we? Also, homing pigeons have to be bred in the place they're flying back to. Which means anyone wanting to compete had to move to the location of the games. A bit of a hometown advantage, no?

Cycle Polo - London 1908
Polo. On bicycles. Discuss.

Angling - Paris 1900
Fishing? Apologies to my fish-fanatic wife but this had to be the most boring spectator sport in the history of the Olympics:

HUSBAND:  "Hey honey, what do you want to get tickets for, Gymnastics or 'Old-Guys-Trying-To-Stay-Awake-In-Boats?"

WIFE:          "..."

HUSBAND:  "Honey?"

WIFE:         "I'm still thinking..."



TOP 10 DEMONSTRATION SPORTS THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE OLYMPICS:

10. BALLOONING - PARIS 1900
So pretty:

Eric Ward from Provo, UT, USA

I'm thinking that in 1900 there was a lot less in the way of safety associated with going up in a hot air balloon so we can give them some bonus points in the "risking life and limb" category. That said, isn't this exactly the same as turning the opening ceremonies into an actual medal event? Also, this is another sport that the French invented, put on the list, then subsequently won every event in. Way to go France! You're the best. Hey, did you know that I'm the Olympic champion at snarky blogging on Tuesdays in my pajamas? It's a demonstration sport in the Glebe 2012 games.


9. CAR AND BOAR RACING - PARIS 1900, MOTORCYCLING - ST. LOUIS 1904
I'm not a big fan of anything involving a motor in the Olympics and apparently the IOC isn't either, having unilaterally banned motorsports from the Olympic Games. Also, let's factor in that this event took place in 1904! What did it look like? Were there cranks on the front of these things to get them started?

Fortunately I was able to find footage of a race held in downtown Vancouver in 1900 where they actually mounted a camera onto one of the vehicles. I didn't know they had the ability to record sound back then, but it really adds to the video:

8. WINTER PENTATHLON - ST. MORITZ 1948
I found a transcription of the early meeting where they determined which 5 events would make up Winter Pentathlon:

GUSTAF:  We need to make sure those Biathlon guys don't get in ahead of us, so let's start with cross-country skiing and shooting. That'll kill their momentum.

BERTIL:    Great call Gustaf. What else?

KLAUS:    Downhill skiing right? I mean, that's kind of a tap-in.

BERTIL:    YES! Gustaf, Klaus, you guys are on fire! Only two left!

GUSTAF:  Uhh...

KLAUS:    Snowmobiles?

GUSTAF:  No, they're kind of out on the whole "motor" thing.

KLAUS:    Yeah, that's true. 

GUSTAF:  Dogsleds are an option...

KLAUS:    That's a great idea Gustaf. Let's just hand a gold medal to those effing Alaskans and their "Oh look at me, I'm so cold" Canadian neighbours. 

GUSTAF:  Aw crap, you're right. Sorry about that.

KLAUS:    ...

GUSTAF:  ... 

KLAUS:    ... 

GUSTAF:  Screw it, let's just tack on fencing and equestrian. We'll make 'em do it outside. 

BERTIL:    That's our five! Really awesome meeting guys, I'm super pumped. You guys pumped? Who wants to go to Applebees?

GUSTAF:  Shut it Bertil.


7. BOWLING- SEOUL 1988
Ok, so I know everyone is expecting a fat joke here. I think there are more compelling arguments out there:

Ouch. I'm sorry Bowling, we just can't have that lack of professionalism in an Olympic sport. I mean, I get it. Who wouldn't be upset when some guy has a bad run on the craps table at the Mohegan Sun and wanders into your professional sporting event at the worst possible time? But please, you need to tone it down for the cameras.


6. SAVATE and LA CANNE - PARIS 1924
Clearly seeking to recapture some of the event-rigging magic from the 1900 games, France introduced two demonstration sports that are french martial arts. Let me describe them for you, and I promise I am not making this up:

La Canne: Hitting people with a cane. For some reason they did not call it "caning".
Savate: Translates as "old shoe". It's kicking someone with your shoes on. No, really.

Here, I found some footage. Fast-forward to 2:38:

5. KORFBALL - ANTWERP 1920, AMSTERDAM 1928
Unlike the other sports I desperately want this one in the Olympics. Why? Because it's awesome! Sure, it is almost identical to basketball in about a thousand different ways (other than being able to play behind the hoop, and no backboard), but it specifically has to be played as a mixed-gender sport! I love this! There are definitely not enough mixed gender sports in the Olympics. For instance, curling should have a mixed team.

Still, it's one thing for a sport to have both mixed and mono-gender teams like tennis or badminton, but to specify that teams are mixed? That's fantastic. By the way, if you're wondering what Korfball looks like take a gander. Just scrub through to wherever you like:

Not convinced? Well I bet this ass-kicking promotional video will change your mind:

4. SPEED SKIING - ALBERTBILLE 1992
It's going downhill as fast as you can! What's not to like? If the slalom is the Winter Games' equivalent of the hurdles, this is the 100m sprint! So what does it have going against it? Well, for starters it's as boring as hell. Don't believe me? Watch this and tell me it wouldn't be tiresome after two runs (skip ahead to 1:47):

In the track events we at least get to see the other runners; you know who crossed the line first. Here it's just some guy moving in a straight line and you have no idea what the hell just happened when he's done. Can you imagine how boring the 100m sprint would be if every athlete ran separately?

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this as well:

"So, Princess Vespa. You see how large my helmet is..."

One last thing: In their demonstration year one of the guys hit a ski grooming machine at 225km/hr. Not the best way to impress the IOC.


3. KITE FLYING - PARIS 1900
Kite. Flying. People flying kites. How could this get more ridiculous?

Oh. It's a judged sport. With music. Like, for instance, "Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean. I'm going to move on now.


2. SKI BALLET - ALBERTVILLE 1992
Words... cannot describe:

But wait, there's more!

The second one is my favourite. I don't know what I like more: The ninja pole swinging, the moonwalk, or the fact that the announcer complements him with the word "slim".

Honestly... Ski Ballet?


1. MILITARY PATROL - CHAMONIX 1924, ST. MORITZ 1928, GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN 1936, ST. MORITZ 1948
I don't know what's more bizarre: That this was ever a sport, or that it appeared four times* in the middle of WWI and WWII. Are you kidding me? You've just come off the worst war in the history of mankind and the first thing you do is add a Demonstration Sport consisting of the military competing against each other? THAT'S WHAT THEY JUST DID! And it's not bad enough they did it between the wars, they also tossed one in after WWII because hey, why not?

You know what else? I don't even know what this sport is. All I could find out is that a) it took place in the snow, and b) it was judged by actual members of the military. In fact, here's a photo:

Those are the referees, they're from Italy, Switzerland, Poland, and um France. Wow, that must have been awkward. Apparently during judging Italy took France's vote while France just stood there, then Switzerland refused to vote at all. Meanwhile the Polish judge was never heard from again. By the way, can you guess who won that year?

The German Team

Norway. Yeah, I didn't see that coming either.


*Four appearances is the most for a sport that was never an actual Olympic event, but that's nowhere near the record for appearances as a demonstration sport. That distinction goes to Baseball, who suffered through demonstration sport status an incredible seven times (1912, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1984, and 1988) before the IOC finally took pity on it and gave it a courtesy run from 1992-2008 before dropping it in 2012.

Basically, baseball just wouldn't leave the IOC alone until they finally had sex a couple of times, only then the IOC realized it had made a huge mistake and dumped baseball. It told baseball a couple of things about "It's not you, it's me. The roster's just too big and we don't have the facility space for you", then proceeded to totally make out with golf. Now they're getting married, so baseball retaliated by getting a boob job and trying to send her A-game to the world cup but it's just kind of sad and awkward for everyone.


INCOMPLETE TANGENT:
It's hard enough to win an Olympic medal in one sport, it blows my mind when people win them in two. Granted, that usually happens when there's similarity between the sports, such as in tug-of-war and rugby (yes, those were both Olympic sports. France just used their rugby team for both events) or Volleyball and Beach Volleyball (I'm looking at you Karch Kiraly). But there's other people who've done it in sports that have nothing to do with each other! Who are these people? How do you find the time? What is it you were fed as a child? Here's some examples:

Clara Hughes (CAN) - Speed Skating and Indoor Cycling (1996-2010)
Yes, both sports require crazy pistons for legs, but we're giving some serious bonus points for the fact that these are Winter and Summer sports (and she's Canadian). That's a lot of training. Plus, she's won an astounding 6 medals across two sports and wasn't far off the podium in 2012... in road cycling.

Rebecca Romero (GBR) - Cycling and Rowing (2004-2008)
Umm... what pod did this girl come out of? She wins a silver in Athens as a rower, then a back injury forces her to retire in 2006. Now she's bored, so she takes up cycling... and two years later she wins a gold medal in Beijing. WTF?

Jacob Tullin Thams (NOR) - Sailing and Ski Jumping (1924-1936)
Ski Jumping and Sailing? What? What sequence of events puts you in those two sports? Shouldn't this guy be a duke or something? Who else has that kind of free time? Jacob, you are officially the most random athlete of all time.

Gösta Åsbrink (SWE) - Gymnastics and Modern Pentathlon (1908-1912)
Whaa?

Roswitha Krause (GDR, aka East Germany) - Handball and Swimming (1968-1980)
There's very little info I can find about this woman, but I think it's safe to say that she had gigantic hands.

Fernand de Montigny (BEL) - Fencing and Field Hockey (1908-1924)
Sure Fernie, why not. I mean, there's absolutely no overlap between those sports so why wouldn't you be good at them? Oh by the way, you know what else isn't like Fencing and Field Hockey? Architecture. Whoops, did I forget to mention he was the architect of the Antwerp 1920 Olympic stadium? Oooookay then.

I wouldn't want to be any of these people's kid, those are some tough shoes to fill.

Olympic Bonus Events!

If you're anything like me, you love the Olympics. I really wanted to compete in the Games when I was younger, even demolishing my body in the attempt. Unfortunately it turned out that I had barely any shred of natural talent for judo. So for all the moms at home: Yes, you can tell your kids that hard work will get you anywhere. But, uh... yeah. There's limits. (btw, a lot of people have been asking me just what the f happened in the men's -66kg final. The answer is: It was the right call, and I stuck an explanation at the bottom of the post if you want more details)

The thing with the Olympics is that the chances of medalling vary wildly depending on the sport you. Now, much has been written about "Boo... it's not fair that swimmers/runners/speed skaters/etc. get more chances at medals than, say, team handball" (btw, funny article about team handball here). Hey, I've been one of those people. But then I started thinking... it's not fair that those sports should have medals taken away from them. We should just add more to all of the other events! Think about it: All of venues are already built. Let's just use them more! (btw, I'm apparently going for gold on uses of colons, ellipses, and use of "btw" in this post). After all, judo hands out two bronzes, so who am I to argue about additional medals?

Let's use swimming as a template. Swimming can be summed up as "getting from Point A to Point B in water". But they're not content to just vary the distances like running and skating do. No, swimming says "No, no, no... it's also about how you get from Point A to Point B!". Brilliant! So without further ado, let's run through all of the Summer Olympic events and see where we can't spice things up a bit with a new medal-winning opportunity.

• Archery
• Right now archery is all about shooting at a bulls-eye (70m) as an individual or team and blah blah blah... since when has archery ever been about shooting a stationary target?
• Option 1: Hunting
• Model animals go roaring past on rails, or fake birds get lobbed into the air. Each one has a target on it. Bonus points if you hit a real-live seagull during the event.
• Option 2: Team Downrange
• In this one you have a blindfolded archer who is told where to fire by a teammate. That teammate is downrange holding a shield with a target painted on it. They can run around and try to catch the arrow. Steps should be taken to ensure the safety of the catcher so maybe they could have a bike helmet on or something.
• Badminton
• Right now you have Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles. Have you watched it? It's not fast enough, but there's an easy way to fix it:
• Double Racket
• Can you imagine this? Two dudes with a Racket in each hand just freaking givin' 'er? I'd watch that.
• Basketball
• H.O.R.S.E. Nothing spices things up like a trick-shot competition.
• LEBRON JAMES: "Off the bald I.O.C. guy's head, into the basket"
• BALD IOC GUY:   "What? Ungh..."
• Beach/Indoor Volleyball
• Same rules, but you can only use your feet. The Incas did this, but the losing team got beheaded. We don't need to go that far, but I wouldn't say no to some noogies for the loser, just to keep it authentic.
• Boxing
• Can't we all just agree that MMA is waaay more popular than boxing at this point? Let's just add an MMA event, call it Pankration to tie it in to ancient Greece, and watch the ratings pour in.
• Canoe/Kayak
• There's both sprint (like rowing) and whitewater obstacle-style races. Let's address them separately.
• Option 1: Team Kayak (winter)
• Kayaking came from the Inuit, and if you haven't noticed, the north pole is cold. Take this out, throw it into the winter Olympics, and have them navigate ice-floes.
• Optional: Stick a fake whale in the water for them to chase down and harpoon.
• Option 2: Authentic Canoeing
• Have you seen the canoes they use at the Olympics? Honestly, it looks like a sanded 2x4 that the canoererer (how do you spell this???) somehow kneels on. That doesn't look anything like the canoes used in the real world. My proposal:
• Each competitor's canoe has an extra seat in the front. 5-year old children are chosen at random from the audience and inserted into the seat for the duration of the race. At the half-way point the paddler has to serve the child lunch.
• Cycling
• There are so many different cycling races that I can barely keep track. Honestly, look at this list. Let's just break it down into a simpler list: Road, Track (velodrome), Mountain Bike, BMX. I'll give each one an additional medal, although it should be noted that there are already 18 biking medals. However, since they seem so pumped about using different kinds of bikes I'm going to insist we keep that theme for the new medals.
• Road: Old-School
• You know those bikes with the ENORMOUS front wheel? YEEAAAHHH!!! How great would that be? And why wasn't this included for London? They could have made everyone grow handlebar moustaches. Even the women.
• Track: Laid-back
• Recumbent bikes. I just think it would look hilarious.
• Mountain Bike: Ball-buster
• Unicycles. We're going to make this a co-ed race, the women would absolutely dominate.
• BMX: Tandem
• 2-Seater bikes going off jumps? Yes please.
• Diving
• They already have platform, springboard, synchronized, etc. But come on... they left out an obvious event:
• Cannonball:
• The USA would dominate, although Japan would give them a run for their money when they send all their Sumo fighters. Maybe we have weight classes for this?
• Equestrian
• How about they include a financial-class event, where the family's yearly income has to be less than $500k/year? Sorry, had to get that out.
• My beef here is that you have people competing for something like 75 years because they can just get a new horse every time their old one gets sent to the glue factory. So we need to add an event that either negates the horse somewhat or takes into account the, oh I don't know, athleticism of the rider.
• Option 1: Wild-West
• The event starts with the rider having to sprint at the horse and then leap onto it from behind like in western movies. At some point they have to steer with only their legs and shoot a rifle at a target (hey, it's not so crazy. Look at biathlon)
• Option 2: Menagerie Medley
• "Ooooh, look at me. I'm a horse. I'm so special because people ride me." Well you know what horse? You're not the only animal people ride. I propose an event in which you have to ride in sequence: a) a donkey, b) a mule, c) a horse, d) an elephant. In the event of a tie you have to ride a Bengal tiger because seriously, no rich kid is going to get on top of a Bengal tiger. See if that doesn't level the playing field a bit.
• Fencing
• They already have foil, sabre, and epee. I would add claymore. I'll let you decide which of these photos is more awesome: Photo 1, Photo 2
• Field hockey
• Holy crap, I have no idea. Indoor Field Hockey? Let's just move on.
• Gymnastics (Artistic, aka "hucking your body around events")
• Add a separate event for people past the age of 17? JUST KIDDING*. They can probably get away with just adding a new apparatus. They already have parallel bars, horizontal bars, balance beam, pommel horse, vault, rings, and floor; lord only knows how they came up with that list. Seems a bit random, doesn't it? In keeping with that theme I'm going to pop over to excel and grab 4 letters at random to use in making my new apparatus...
• Ok, I have to use the letters GJLX. Ouchie. Do any words exist with those letters? Time to consult a scrabble word finder (which I don't use when I play. You don't have to when you play Fraleigh... BA-ZING!).
• Whoops, apparently there are no words of 12 letters or less using those letters. I'm gonna have to bust this out into two words...
• And our new event is... Coxal Jumping! I can only assume this involves sitting on the floor and leaping as high as you can into the air. I'm predicting demonstration sport in 2016, off the roster in 2020.
• Gymnastics (Rhythmic, aka "child's toys")
• Ok, this is the child's toy event, right? I mean... hula hoops, balls, ribbons, and clubs? Well, maybe not clubs. That's probably not a suitable child's toy. Maybe that's what this event needs, more weapons! I say we let the girls incorporate any of the fencing swords, and we bust out "Rhythmic Claymore Gymnastics" as it's own separate event.
• Handball
• See "Hockey, Field"
• Judo
• I think we can all agree that judo is pretty much perfect as it is, but I would add the classic "Open" category, where there are no weight restrictions.
• Yeah, I know. Not funny. But hey, make your own list.
• Modern Pentathlon
• Currently consists of pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, riding, running. It's meant to simulate what a turn-of-the-century message carrier might encounter during wartime. Shouldn't we add an updated version? Most people have never been in a war though, so we should use war movies as our inspiration:
• Super-Modern Pentathlon Events:
• 1) Mowing down a forest with a chaingun.
• 2) Bare-handed neck snapping.
• 3) Slowly emerging from the water with a vicious look on your face. Must go undetected by the judges.
• 4) Tank-hijacking, then driving down an obstacle course on a crowded city street.
• 5) Sprinting, then diving as a building blows up behind you. Points are given for distance and facial expression.
• Rowing
• New event: Rowboats. Not the fancy schmancy kind they currently use, I'm talking about the god-forsaken rowboats I've used that are twice as wide as they are long. Take that, rowers.
• Sailing
• New event: Piracy. You try and board each other's ships, last man standing wins.
• Shooting
• Well heck, this could be anything. Let's just throw bazooka into there and be done with it.
• Soccer/Football
• It's a big sport, but there's a few ways to a switch it up a bit:
• Option 1: Co-ed
• Not only would it be fun to see how the players incorporate the different genders, but it would be great to see who goes ballistic when one of the girls is spiked by a guy on the other team. In order of which country's guys would get most angry I'd say 1) USA, 2) Canada (because they REALLY need the girls to win), and 3)  Germany . Greece would just field 5 players (Seriously Greece... your women's team is ranked 59th? Behind soccer powerhouses like Vietnam and Chinese Taipei? For Allah's sake, you're ranked behind Iran's women's team!).
• Option 2: Indoor
• This would be insanely fast. Downside is the need for a new venue.
• Option 3: Charlie Brown Soccer
• Did you ever play this as a kid? Straight-up soccer, but with two balls. How awesome would that be? Complete chaos, more scoring, and teams would be desperate to try and get both balls under control at once. I'm all in on this one.
• Swimming
• This is the one that kicked it off. It basically seems like each event is based on varying degrees of efficiency moving through the water, so I'd say we add:
• Option 1: Dog Paddle
• Come on, this makes no less sense than the butterfly stroke does.
• Option 2: Underwater Swim
• This actually used to be an event. With underwater cameras this could work nowadays.
• Option 3: Upright Swim
• The speed-walking equivalent. You can't go below 80 degrees from vertical. Hey look swimming, you started it.
• Option 4: Water Hurdles
• I'm taking this from track. Stick a bar underwater at the halfway point for the athletes to swim under!
• Synchronized Swimming
• Just add a men's event already. It's sexist right now and besides, the whole world is missing out on some serious comedy. Plus, I'd like to see what an Arabic country's men's synchro routine looks like.
• Table Tennis
• Swap the ping-pong ball for one of those super-bouncy balls everyone had as a kid. Man, that sucker would move.
• Taekwondo
• Wrestling has versions where some things are allowed and others aren't. I think there's opportunity here. Taekwondo should add a division with headbutting.
• Tennis
• Tennis competes on different surfaces: Grass, Clay, Hardcourt. Olympics should do something to stand out. Like adding a teflon surface.
• Track and Field
• Ok, this is a huge freaking category and it's already a long post so let's just add an event for each:
• Track: Cartwheels and/or Backwards Running
• Hey, if swimming can just change the way you get from Point A to Point B, why can't track? I'd like to see the 100m cartwheel, wouldn't you? In fact, we should add a fourth mode of transport so they can do a 4x100 medley. Let's say Cartwheels, Backwards Running, Skipping (your hands have to alternate which side of your body they're on with each step), and "Freestyle".
• Field: Baseball Bat Spin
• Remember when you were a kid and you'd have a sports day or something and they'd get you to spin around with your forehead planted on a baseball bat sticking vertically from the ground? It'd make you super dizzy and you could barely run straight. You could add that to anything! I mean how funny would it be to see high jump or pole vault... no wait, they'd kill themselves. What about javelin or discus or... no, they'd kill someone else. Hell, they'd probably break a leg just doing long jump. Ok, I'm changing this one.
• Field: Obstacle Course
• I would love to see some sort of obstacle course. Can you imagine? You'd be blown away when some guy roars up a cargo net or hurdles a 12 foot wall like it was nothing. Make this happen I.O.C.
• Triathlon
• Toss in an Ironman division (can you tell I'm running out of juice?)
• Water Polo
• Let them use their horses. Ok, I should be shot for using that joke.
• Weightlifting
• Take a page out of the Highland Games/World's Strongest Man here. I want caber toss and truck pulling dammit!
• Wrestling
• SUMO!

*I'm actually not.


COMPLETE TANGENT:
I think the best part about the Olympics is hitting the refresh button on the website. It's so thrilling. "What happened? Has someone done something amazing since the last time I hit 'refresh'?" I mean, nothing captures the thrill of an Olympic moment like seeing it displayed in text on a computer screen.

On a related note: ATTENTION AUSTRALIA! THE INTERNET IS NOT A PASSING FAD. YOU SHOULD EMBRACE IT. NO, REALLY. IT'S A BIG THING IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE. JUST GIVE IT A WHIRL, YOU MIGHT LIKE IT.

Honestly? How is it that my dorm room 15 years ago had better internet connectivity than a country that ostensibly holds 4 of the 10 most livable cities in the world? And why is nothing shown live on the internet? Waaaa??? Given how pumped Oz is about their amateur sports teams I assumed people would actually be interested in watching them compete. But No Cable TV = No Olympics for you. AAAARRGHHHH!!!


Therein ends the humour portion of this post. The part down here is just, y'know, other stuff.

Men's -66 kg Judo Quarterfinal Explained:
For those who are interested, and I can't imagine who wouldn't be, here's why the -66kg judo quarterfinal was correctly overturned:


Ebimuna almost scored in Golden Score, which should have been enough to give him the win. This is why the crowd went bonkers when the match was awarded to Cho – if the judges had to go to video review on Ebimuna's throw it should have been good enough to award him kinsa (advantage). Since the winner is supposed to be the player with the most decisive technique in GS, that kinsa meant it should have been Ebimuna. That’s why the IJF got involved.


In the old days it was about who was more aggressive overall, which may be why they called Cho on the mat; old habits die hard. They’ve changed the rules though so players are more decisive in their attacks instead of just trying to look busy.


The IJF put a full explanation up on their website: http://www.intjudo.eu/News/cikk2249

Paul’s 3 Tried and True Methods for a Country to Achieve National Sporting Pride

Yes, I’m capitalizing every sport. I haven’t gone insane; I just made a choice for this post.

Have you ever noticed that it’s really important for countries to have a sport where they can pimp themselves out as being the best in the world? It doesn’t matter what it is, the country will find something and say: “Yo, maybe you got basketball down but we kick yo’ ASS at Ping Pong”.

Unfortunately there’s a bunch of sports played by multiple countries so it’s really hard to be “the best” at those ones. For instance, most everyone would like to be globally regarded as the best at Football (Soccer). But there’s no clear-cut winner. Nobody can go out there and say “Yay! We’re the best!” because someone will counter with “Well, that’s not true because of reasons A, B, and C”. In Football’s case you’d probably say Brazil has the best claim but then you’d get a bunch of northern hemisphere countries who say “Pfft. That’s just because your summer is during the winter so you’re all rested for the World Cup and even then look at all these years where we beat you”. It’s a no-win situation. So where does that leave you when you’re looking to be the best in the world?

I would suggest starting with Paul’s 3 Tried and True Methods for a Country to Achieve National Sporting Pride. They are:

1. Take an international sport nobody’s all that pumped about and throw everything you have behind it to a grossly disproportional degree.
2. Take a sport you’re already good at and force it on the globe so you can achieve international success.
3. Say “Screw it. We’re never going to be good at any of these sports. Let’s just pick something as our national sport and go with that”.

Let's break them down one by one.

For your convenience I’ve provided an explanation to go with each example. Or just made a comment. Whatever.


METHOD 1:
Take an international sport nobody’s all that pumped about and throw everything you have behind it to a grossly disproportional degree.
(aka the “Whoah buddy… if it means that much to you go ahead” method.)

Examples:

AUSTRALIA: Swimming (Hey, they got sent to prison on an island. I'd be surprised if they weren't interested in swimming. What? Was that offside? I’m just getting started!)
ROMANIA: Gymnastics (They love them some gymnastics. Did they invent it? Hell no. Does every gymnast on the planet now have a 300 pound Romanian coach? Hell yeah!)
USSR: Every amateur sport they could get their hands on (“Ve vill crush you vith ze iron fist. You are weak and coddled and vill break before ze might of ze communist regime. Also, ve has steroids”.)
NORWAY: Cross-country Skiing (When the closest town is 400km away through waist deep snow you better learn how to ski if you want to look beyond the local wildlife for dating opportunities.)
NETHERLANDS: Speed Skating (Same as Norway but with canals)


METHOD 2:
Take a sport you’re already good at and force it on the globe so you can achieve international success.
(aka the “Fine, fine we’ll do it. Look at us… yay, see we’re all doing it? Just let it go already” method.)

Examples:

CANADA: Hockey (Also an example of Option 1. Canada said “Let’s be good at hockey. Everyone else who’s freezing their asses off and looking for a way to warm up during the winter will eventually sign up and we’ll have a huge head start.)
ENGLAND: Rugby, Cricket, and Field Hockey
  ENGLISH GENT #1: "Good day chap. What shall we do today?”
  ENGLISH GENT #2: “Well, perhaps we should head down to the cricket ground? Leichesterburmingshire is playing Middlesburingtonishcastle. It’ll be a jolly good go I’d think.”
  ENGLISH GENT #1: “Hmm. I was thinking of perhaps invading several countries and teaching the locals how to play our sports so we can give them a good old rogering on behalf of mother England. What do you think of that then?”
  ENGLISH GENT #2: “Oh good show. That would be capitol!”
JAPAN: Judo (They only invented the sport in 1882. Then when they hosted the Olympics in 1964 they just said “Mmm yeah. We’re all doing judo now”. They only lost one match and were PISSED about it.)


METHOD 3:
Say “Screw it. We’re never going to be good at any of these sports. Let’s just pick something as our national sport and go with that”.
(aka the “Take Your Ball and Go Home” method.)

Examples: (Note that I don’t include any of the official national sports, of which many fall under this category. Also, if you disagree with anything, well, I invite you to change the Wikipedia page I got it from.)

AFGHANISTAN: Buzkashi (All you need to know is that in order to score a point you have to throw a decapitated goat across the goal line while on horseback. I kid you not.)
BASQUE COUNTRY: Jai Alai (Ok, so Basque Country isn’t a country, it’s a region. But the Basque government promotes it as “the fastest sport in the world because of the balls” and I just had to get that in here somewhere.)
CAMBODIA: Bokator (A thousand-year-old technique for savagely beating the crap out of someone with whatever is handy. The name means “Pounding a Lion” for crying out loud. On a related note, 96.4% of the country is Buddhist. Go figure.)
IRELAND AND AUSTRALIA: International Rules Football (Ireland has Gaelic Football, which is awesome and all but there’s nobody to play against. Australia on the other hand has Aussie Rules Football, but nobody to play against. They’re all “Yay! This is fun!” at home, but they’re so lonely out on their islands. So what do they do? They basically looked at the rules, said “Meh, close enough”, and fudged the numbers so they could play each other)
USA: American Football, Basketball, and Baseball (I love that the US has 3 of these. But let’s face it, America kind of has a massive superiority complex and needs three sports to reinforce that. Ok, that was a joke, but you get my point*. They’ve also invented negative terminology to describe anyone who plays sports they’re not the best at, e.g. Soccer (pansies), Hockey (goons), or Math (Chinese))


OFFICIAL NATIONAL SPORTS:
In addition to those above there are the “Official National Sports”. These are sports where the country in question has actually declared in law what their national sport is just so there's no question where they see themselves as the best. Otherwise it’s up to debate. Since there are only 13 of them I decided to put the whole list down, along with a brief description of each:

ARGENTINA: Pato (AKA Polo combined with Basketball on the back of a horse. Umm, ok then.)
BAHAMAS: Sloop Sailing (Why sloops? Is it the most chill? Can you drink a rum and coke while sailing one?)
BANGLADESH: Kabaddi (Basically reverse Red Rover while holding your breath. I don’t know how else to explain it) SPECIAL NOTE: Ok, I found some footage of this. It's AWESOME!

BRAZIL: Capoeira (Dancing while kicking people in the face)
CANADA: Ice Hockey and Lacrosse (We have two because of our national inferiority complex. Ice hockey is obviously a sport where you skate around on ice and try to whip a hard piece of rubber as fast as you can at a net protected by a goalie, while occasionally hammering other players as violently as possible and punching them in the face when the referee isn’t looking. Lacrosse is the same thing without ice. Way to overcompensate Canada!)
CHILE: Chilean Rodeo (Rodeo with different rules than everyone else)
COLUMBIA: Tejo (It’s Horseshoes with gunpowder. I couldn’t make these things up)
INDIA: Field Hockey (What the girls you went to high school with played. I’m not making a judgement call here; I just don’t understand why it’s a girls sport in Canada. It looks fun)
MEXICO: Charreria (Rodeo with different rules than everyone else. Sensing a trend?)
PHILLIPPENES: Arnis (Beating the crap out of people with sticks. Think of that next time you want to yell at your nanny and she’s holding a broom)
PUERTO RICO: Paso Fino (This is a kind of horse. Was there a paperwork error or something?)
VATICAN CITY: Ultimate Fighting (Just seeing if you were paying attention)
SRI LANKA: Volleyball (Are you kidding me? Volleyball is the National Sport of Sri Lanka? Are they even good at Volleyball?)
URUGUAY: Being a Cowboy (No, seriously. That makes three countries with rodeo, all of whom use different rules. So of all the countries with national sports 23% are rodeo)

So that’s my thoughts on national sports.


COMPLETE TANGENT:
I went to the mall today to buy a pillow for Erika. I hate malls. Every mall on the planet looks the same and shares the same “please God, just shoot me” traits. This one was especially enjoyable because it didn’t have any guides! How am I supposed to be a hunter instead of a gatherer without a mall map? Ooo… then I discovered that they have digital guides on advertising boards instead of static maps. Really? What was wrong with the old style? I just walked up, looked, and went where I needed. Instead I have to push 12 buttons for each store I want to find? That’s not better!

If someone told me I had to choose between going back to this mall and choking a baby panda to death well, I hope you don’t like bamboo.


*Note to international readers: Totally not a joke