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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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How unfortunate all the way around.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Hmmmm . . . yawn
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JOEY.F
Gym climber
It's not rocket surgery
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Bouldering would be better.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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as a climber, i have to say, there are few things more boring than watching climbing comps.
maybe golf in any form.
or bowling.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Feb 12, 2013 - 01:02pm PT
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One step closer to having climbing in the Olympics:
p://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/sports/olympics-may-drop-wrestling-in-2020.html?hp
Wrestling, one of the most ancient and elemental Olympic sports, was removed from the Summer Games in a stunning and widely criticized decision Tuesday by the International Olympic Committee.
In recent years, however, the I.O.C. has expressed concern about the growing size of the Summer Games and has wanted to cap the number of athletes at about 10,500. It has also said it wants to draw younger viewers among the international television audience. Among the sports that wrestling must compete with for future inclusion in the Games are climbing and wakeboarding.
Wakeboarding? Wassat anyways?
Scoring maximum free booze at the funeral of someone else's loved one?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 12, 2013 - 01:38pm PT
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The Rooskies tried to get that in 40 years ago. It is still as relevant as softball to a Zambian.
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Al_Smith
climber
San Francisco, CA
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Feb 12, 2013 - 02:01pm PT
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I think I'm going to be sick....IOC to drop wrestling from the Olympic Games in 2020. Sumerian cave drawings found in Mesopotamia indicate that the sport has been around for more than 7,000 years. In the ancient Olympic Games beginning in 708 B.C. wrestling was made into the marquee event in honor of the belief that Zeus had out-wrestled Cronus for possession of the universe. Plato got his name - not from his parents - but his wrestling coach (Platon, meaning, 'broad.') Homer wrote of Odysseus wrestling in the Trojan war. One of the first ever printed books was a wrestling manual by Albrecht Durer in 1512. Henry VIII wrestled King Francis I of France in 1520 (Henry lost, and few would imagine that he was a good sport about it...) This list of wrestling and its place in the history of athletics could go on forever. Instead of wrestling, the IOC is now considering bids for wakeboarding and sport climbing. Now, I love climbing, but are you kidding me? And Wakeboarding? Sports not dropped include shooting, curling, table tennis, and last but not least, the 'sport' of Dressage. Is the IOC serious? Is there anything more important in life than money and ratings? Is there no respect for tradition, actual amateur competition, and pride in the values that physically demanding athletics teach us? Mine as well just drop the Marathon and add skeeball. Ya know, because everyone likes Skeeball..
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Feb 12, 2013 - 02:32pm PT
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Bizzare about wrestling being dropped. Incredibly athletic worldwide sport with perhaps a longer history than any other.
Climbing should be an Olympic sport, not that it's exciting to watch for the most part but it's worldwide , clearly athletic and difficult.
Sport at the core is not about the money or spectating. It is the love dedication skill and competition involved and certainly climbing qualifies on those levels. If a person can make a living at it good for them but entertaining or sales and marketing are the real job titles in that case.
Competition climbing isn't particularly representative of the sport as a whole.. but so what.. Actually no particular discipline of climbing represents the sport as a whole. So many ways to be a climber and it's all good...
cept for bouldering. hehe. Ok just kidding.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Feb 12, 2013 - 02:48pm PT
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Maid no like.
Meh
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Feb 12, 2013 - 02:58pm PT
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I don't think we get to see the real Olympics in our hyper commercial TV coverage and it makes us jaded leaving a bad taste behind. Maybe the whole thing is just too commercial period.
I do like some things about it that I think are really great. The part of young folks dedicated to something they love. The excitement and honor of being picked to represent their country. Traveling to a special place and being around the other athletes in a gathering meant to showcase hope for peace and great future for the world.
What an amazing experience it must be. The opening and closing ceremonies seem like the kind of celebrations that can help the whole world focus on how great we can all be together.
That sounds a bit cheesy perhaps but there are worse ways to spend a little time every few years.
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John M
climber
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Feb 12, 2013 - 03:05pm PT
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What a sad day that wrestling is out. I lost a lot of interest in the olympics once pros were allowed to compete. I did thoroughly enjoy going to see the olympics in Los Angeles. It was nice to go to a sporting event where everyone was friendly. A big difference from a raiders game. I went once to one of those. I would never go again. Spent the majority of the game protecting my bosses wife from the mayhem in the stands.
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10b4me
Boulder climber
Somewhere on 395
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Feb 12, 2013 - 03:09pm PT
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getting rid of wrestling speaks to the commercialism of the olympics
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Bullwinkle
Boulder climber
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Feb 12, 2013 - 03:20pm PT
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I feel that climbing in the Olympics would be great fun, it would give a voice to a whole generation of young climbers and elevate the Sport. On the other hand watching men in tights wrestling with each other? really?
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RP3
Big Wall climber
El Portal/Chapel Hill
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Feb 12, 2013 - 03:40pm PT
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Huh? Wakeboarding? This isn't the x-games! Perhaps they should also include dirt-biking and snowmobiling...
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Hoser
climber
vancouver
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Feb 12, 2013 - 03:46pm PT
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On the bright side baseball is going...but I agree no wrestling...the same argument could be used for discus, shot put, hammer throw....pretty sure none of those are mainstream
soon it will be dream teams and x games
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steve shea
climber
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Feb 12, 2013 - 04:27pm PT
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"you have got to be kidding me" John McEnroe. Is the Decathlon still in? The best event resulting in the best all around athlete.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 12, 2013 - 05:36pm PT
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Sport climbing has been proven time and time again not to be a good spectator sport.
Nor is
Wrestling.
Wrestling, however, has ancient roots going back to the original olympics. It is also an egalitarian sport practiced in many countries.
How come
Equestrian....yachting....archery....shooting.....badminton, and sychronized swimming still in the Olympics?
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bigwall shitter
Social climber
the wild west
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Feb 12, 2013 - 05:37pm PT
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comp climbing is neither
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Feb 12, 2013 - 06:03pm PT
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If they do include wakeboarding, I hope the day of the event that gale winds blow the water into unrecognizable chop...
...any countries competing in it should get their officially sanctioned POWER BOAT ready to ship around the globe.
sad focking day for amateur wrestling--what a shame :-(
edit: I can't wait to buy the USA Olympic climbing holds to bolt onto the rock (sarc)
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Feb 12, 2013 - 06:14pm PT
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Climbing in the Olympics could be really cool...
Imagine deep water solo on massive wickedly overhanging artificial walls.
The men would have to don speedos, as well as the women (one piece suits c'mon, not topless).
Then they have to do a spectacular platform dive from the top if they make it.
Double the spectator pleasure. Climbing and platform diving. The falls could be spectacularly fun to watch. :-))
I think it would work. Pure climbing at its essence.
You know you want to watch this. Admit it.
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Hoser
climber
vancouver
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Feb 12, 2013 - 06:43pm PT
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as well as the women (one piece suits c'mon, not topless).
I hear ya, high end sport climbing women are so voluptuous and sexy....oh wait....maybe not a good idea
why dont we just have a sport that revolves around the Olympic beach volleyball cheerleaders they have had in 2004,2008 and 2012
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bjj
climber
beyond the sun
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Feb 12, 2013 - 08:48pm PT
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Sad about wrestling, but I would venture to guess humans have been climbing things since the dawn of time. Not for sport or recreation in the beginning most likely, but they were still doing it all the same.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Feb 12, 2013 - 09:17pm PT
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+1 for Mojede. Watching wrestling is very exciting, climbing is quite boring. Wrestling is one of the ultimate olympic sports. Maybew the x-games will pick it up.
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Erik
Trad climber
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Feb 12, 2013 - 09:21pm PT
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Excellent post, Al Smith.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Feb 12, 2013 - 09:54pm PT
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I still don't get how climbing competitions work since grades are height dependent. But I like climbing and the olympics, so it sounds good to me.
Sucks about wrestling, that sport is about as olympics as it gets.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Feb 12, 2013 - 10:21pm PT
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Sucks about wrestling, that sport is about as olympics as it gets.
+1
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Feb 12, 2013 - 11:01pm PT
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+1
+1
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ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
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Feb 12, 2013 - 11:39pm PT
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What about Waterboarding? U.S. could have a good team ready by 2020.
Arne
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Feb 12, 2013 - 11:47pm PT
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Time to separate out competitive gym climbing and not let it become the core of the sport. Then the Olympics can have it and do what they will with it.
;>|
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Al_Smith
climber
San Francisco, CA
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Feb 13, 2013 - 02:33pm PT
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Thanks Erik and others.
I was awfully heartbroken yesterday. I wrestled Division I in college and spent most of my young life devoting myself to training for wrestling.
The lessons the sport taught me are almost impossible to equivocate. In an effort to do so though, I've recently started coaching at a small private high school in San Francisco. It has been the most emotionally and spiritually remunerative work I've ever done in my life. To see kids who would otherwise be playing video games, watching TV, or staring at screens face the almost never ending challenges of trying to wrestle (and wrestle well!) has been awe inspiring. The delight they take in overcoming their various shortcomings. To have pride in their efforts. To strive to constantly be better not just as athletes but as men has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Not only is it an obviously terrible decision, it also seems so abstract/bizarre that 14 people can vote behind closed doors, using secret ballot, to destroy the hopes and dreams of millions of kids and virtually end a tradition that began in 776 B.C. It was an especially huge drag coming yesterday as our league championship takes place this Friday. My wrestlers have been super pumped for Friday for several weeks now and yesterday they definitely seemed to have lost a step. A sort of pervasive sadness invaded our normally upbeat practice. I know they'll bounce back, but its no fun telling a bunch of kids that their dreams are no longer possible. So yesterday I thought long and hard about this and went to practice and told my guys what I believe: Wrestlers are some of the most determined winners on the planet. I know that we will do whatever we have to do to reverse this decision. We are highly motivated, disciplined people, used to facing adversity, and coming out on top. We certainly won't stop wrestling this decision until the final whistle blows. And even then, we'll probably keep pushing, because its just what we have come to learn to do.
I hope the IOC takes another long look at their decision. If any one of them had to come in to my wrestling room yesterday and explain their rationale to my kids, I'm sure they'd think twice...
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Feb 13, 2013 - 02:43pm PT
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Hey I wrestled in JHigh, Fairview Intermediate in Lafayette. I was okay, in fact won a couple of titles. But then climbing took over.
Back around, I think, 1971, Summit magazine ran an article on Russian Speed Climbing (I may still have it, somewhere), and the pundits at the time RR, YC and others lambasted the idea. But now, it is being mooted as an Olympic 'Sport'.
Now, climbing/bouldering/ice climbing competitions are, well, sort of dime a dozen. To each their own. But I could never want climbing to be a competitive sport like it is now. Just my opinion. And of course, if others want to participate, who am I to judge?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 13, 2013 - 03:14pm PT
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Speed climbing champion of the CCCP, Sergei Efimov, getting a new one ripped
by a KGB officer for trying to sweet talk him into letting Ben into the
Evil Empire without a visa. Wasn't gonna happen, even for a Master of Sport.
Dood could play a mean guitar and sang well too. One hell of a nice guy.
Did I mention he could crank? Yeah, he laughed his way up the Cassin.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 21, 2019 - 02:16pm PT
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Bruce, ya stole my thunda, bra! Olympics are a sad joke now.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Feb 21, 2019 - 02:40pm PT
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Haha, no pool or chess though.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Feb 21, 2019 - 03:29pm PT
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I just watched the bouldering finals on ESPN2.
Fifty years ago Pat Ament and I would joke about rock climbing and bouldering becoming women's gymnastics. And if that were so, the fluid graceful moves the ladies would execute might be a pleasure to watch. Not so much so in climbing comps with the emphasis purely on exclusion (I won't use the word "difficulty"), with desperate lunges and quivering limbs. No points for form, although I didn't pay that much attention.
I thought the comps might be as entertaining as American Ninja and similar venues. But they weren't for me. Maybe for others.
Pay no attention to me. A grumpy old man who barely made it midway into Verm's scale BITD.
Back in the 1950s national gymnastic meets would have compulsories and optional routines. The compulsories were fun to watch, for the levels of difficulty were fairly mild; the emphasis was on form and grace. The optionals were difficulty + form.
Rope climbing was in the Olympics until 1936 and in the NCAA until the early 1960s, and, although speed to the top was the only criterion, the climbers flew up the rope fluidly. Fun to watch.
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