This issue really evokes my emotions, because of how much I love sports. I think sports are a vitally important part of the human experience. I guess dance is, too, but we're not talking about dance, in and of itself.
Dance isn't a sport. Period. Ever. Nobody can change my mind about this. Dance is potentially expressive, beautiful, socially useful, entertaining, etc. But it IS NOT A FUCKING SPORT.
Only sports should be in the goddamned Olympics, and shoving non-sports into the mix is shameful and disgusting. It's a wad of spit in the face of every great athlete who has ever taken the field. It's a disgrace to the Ancient Greek tradition that the Olympics are attempting to continue.
I don't give a fuck that there are already competitions for breakdancing. Or ballroom dancing. People can hold competitions for whatever they want. I actually think competitions shouldn't be held for entirely subjective and artistic activities, but people can do whatever the fuck they want.
But not in the fucking Olympics. This shit makes me sick.
And before you start pointing out the other subjective, judged events that are already in the Olympics: THEY SHOULD ALL BE REMOVED, TOO. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. NONE OF THEM BELONG.
No more gymnastics (rhythmic or otherwise). No more figure skating and ice dancing. No more skateboarding. No more surfing. No more synchronized swimming. No more freestyle skiing. No more diving. No more BMX. No more ANYTHING that requires judging.
You might browbeat me into admitting that some of those subjectively judged activities are sports, but you will never convince me that they belong in the Olympics.
Olympic sports should be restricted to those which are determined by means of a clock, a measuring tape, the accumulation of OBJECTIVELY scored points, or a physical beating.
Even some of those should be on the chopping block. Some of the points-scoring events are too subjective. If a sport relies too much on fallible human judging, it should be excluded.
The vast majority of the events should be arbitrated only by the cold, merciless, absolute judgment of the clock or the measuring tape. Therein lies the truest purity of sport.
Honestly, the best thing to do would be to reset everything to the REAL tradition of the Olympics. Almost nothing, other than running, jumping, and fighting. With an absolute minimum of rules to get in the way, and all the athletes competing in the nude. Just sandals on their feet. No space-age materials to help anyone. Nothing for anyone to hide. Just human muscle and determination, on display at the greatest possible level.
But it's all a forlorn dream. Instead, we have to have our stomachs turned, as a bunch of revolting little shitheads wobble and headspin.
The ancient Olympians are going to be spinning in their fucking graves.
EDIT: YES, I AM AWARE THAT THE FIRST COUPLE MODERN OLYMPICS FEATURED NON-SPORT ACTIVITIES, LIKE SCULPTURE AND PAINTING. THAT DOESN'T CHANGE MY VIEW. INCLUDING ART IN THE MODERN OLYMPICS WAS A RIDICULOUS MISTAKE. JUST BECAUSE IT WAS DONE BEFORE DOESN'T MEAN IT SHOULD BE DONE NOW.
It appears that you don't understand how scoring works in those events. Maybe you should start there.
I understand that scoring is subjective, in those events. I reject them, on that basis.
Do you know what the word "subjective" means?
I don't care what those subjective events' rulebooks try to do, to somehow "fix" the nature of subjective judgment. That is a fool's errand. It cannot be done.
Therefore, I retain my opinion that judged events have no place in the realm of true sports. I reiterate my position: the only real arbiters of sport should be the clock, the measuring tape, and the sole opponent left standing.
Like I said, I am only marginally okay with most scored-point games. Most of them are degenerated, from the basis of true sports. Too much "oooh, but was the referee right? Did the ball go over this line? Did that guy's foot go over THAT line? Did someone get a boo-boo from another guy's elbow, when he shouldn't have? I'm not suuuuure."
That's degenerated. That's impure. Everything should be done to simplify rules and reduce things to pure, measurable quantities, devoid of any subjective judgment.
Which events aren't subjective by your rules?
What if I'm faster than every Olympic runner today, but only after 123m? Isn't that objective? The whole 100m distance was just a random round number decided by someone a long time ago.
What if I'm faster over 3m, because I have a much better reaction time to the start gun. Should we remove the start gun?
What if I'm faster because I can beat them up and then run while the rest of the field is unconscious? Objectively, I can reach the finish line faster because I can stop the rest of them.
High jumpers are only able to get that high because there's a super soft crash mat that lets them throw their bodies in dangerous ways in any other situation. Does that make any sense? It's not objective either.
Every single event, even "pure" events have psudo-random rules to make them sports.
I think that's the entire point. You have a 100m race. You're faster at 123m, train for the 200m or the 100m. Those are the distances that are recognized, period. This is a great unpopular opinion, but one I agree with complete. I've had this exact same argument in my house every Olympics. If it requires a special judge to tell me who's better, it doesn't belong.