The Olympics is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. In preceding decades it's expanded its retinue of disciplines to include BMX, golf, handball and now what some might consider action sports - skateboarding and surfing. Is it only a matter of time before downhill is included? And, more to the point, is that what the fans even want?
Inclusion in the Olympics could bring ever-heightening levels of exposure to a sport that often exists in the periphery. Suddenly, your favourite mountain bike rider might be boosted from relative obscurity to a national hero in their home country. Then there are the non-cycling industry sponsors that may well come into the fold. These out-of-industry sponsorship deals tend to be where some of the biggest cash injections can come into a sport.
Of course, a proper downhill race needs mountainous terrain and a large elevation change. This would no doubt be a stumbling block but, then again, lots of potential venues don't have world-class surf spots or sailing venues. For instance Weymouth, which is around 200K outside of London, hosted events during the 2012 Olympics.
Then there is the argument that niche sports don't always translate into the mainstream. Would we want to see a potentially overly sanitised course on a relatively small hill? Or nothing at all?
"Select one of the following reasons why including downhill in the Olympics is an absolutely awful idea that no rational person could ever support because its SO stupid"
inews.co.uk/sport/olympics/bethany-shriever-bmx-gold-medal-tokyo-2020-olympics-crowdfunding-uk-sport-1128218
Our national federation in Australia hates DH and puts a lot of support behind XC, mainly because of its Olympic status.
But I still think it would be negative for DH racing as a whole. The IOC are worse than the UCI and I could see them wanting to make a lot of changes that would really suck the fun and unique culture out of DH racing.
That said, looking at the figures from the rider survey, maybe we should just latch on to that Olympic teat and bring in the $!
How far is DH from this threshold?
It should go like this: "You won't believe what poll has shown when we asked about DH in Olympics!!"
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/50760437
Japan?
South Korea?
Brazil?
Russia? OK, I give you that one.
United Kingdom?
Canada?
China? OK, I give you that one.
Italy?
Greece?
United States?
Australia?
Japan?
United States?
Norway?
Spain?
France?
South Korea?
etc.
I'd say autocratic regimes are underrepresented.
(Netherlands doesn't have mountains, so can they use one of their former colonies? So do future Olympic hosts have to be colonizers? it wouldn't be out of character given the corruption and elitism of the powers that run the Olympics)
Colonial Power Olympics!!
Unless you're Russia and you can include militarily annexed states too.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Netherland
but Britain will have to fight the Netherlands for it
An olympic medal in action sport won't have the same value as a medal in a traditional sport (athletics, gymnastics etc). An athlete in a traditional sport has to sacrifice everything in their life to even make it to the Olympics, let alone score a medal. That's education dodged, friendships ruined, relationships gone, freetime non-existing. The path to the top is simply paved by hours spent painful training. Been there done that.
Enters the action sport athlete - spending childhood in a skatepark, hanging out with friends, taking substances and having FUN. Yes that is the difference, the traditional sport athlete doesn't have FUN throughout the process, all they get is loads of pain, stress, physical and moral damage for life accompanied with a distant vision of satisfaction somewhere in the future.
The action sports shouldn't turn the fun into drill.
If you are a professional athlete, you train, hard and often.
For various sports currently included, it isn’t. Football, tennis spring immediately to mind. If this would be the ultimate prize for DH, include it, if it isn’t, don’t bother.
I guess that comes down to prize money for pro sports.
I think in DH it would likely be a big deal as the prestige associated with winning (as regards sponsors etc) would go beyond prize money which I assume isn't loads in DH.
It's probably the most valuable one day event to win in career terms, for the mainstream coverage... But a lot of riders would prefer to win Roubaix or Flanders, I'm sure.
Every change made to the courses was purely to drive cash flow. And with the olympics being the pinnacle of the sport all other races started to follow that format. So again, f*ck YOU IOC. Go eat shit, don't ruin another sport that I love.
As for the death of natural singletrack racing and introduction to all these wide, manscaped "trails", I will agree with that. There are some more tech features in the sense of rock rolls or drops, but the bikes are way more capable today, which offset it.
TBH I think the NORBA format is still basically alive in the form of the marathon and stage race events that still occur all over the place. As racers if ppl want to scratch that itch there a loads of options, but nobody wants to watch (or lay out big money to televise) those races.
@Jamminator 's point about self support is really interesting though. I wouldn't be opposed to that at all.
More involvement from national cycling federations, could be a good thing if there's more funding or it could be a cluster f*ck. British Cycling don't a squeaky clean track record and having them involved in athlete development could more closely could be a disaster.
Never mind the fact that the IOC don't have any qualms about dilution of the competition. They neutered the track cycling after the UK dominated and restricted the number of entrants from each country. Do we want to hold up the Olympics as the pinnacle of the sport if that happens? No thanks.
To be honest I am a huge fan of watching gymnastics at the Olympics, but I sure as shit am no gymnast.
I'm not oppose to enduro, but downhill IS the F1 of mountainbiking, and it is the proving grounds for almost all gravity dependant innovation in mountainbiking.
If skateboarding can be an Olympic sport (and it should be) downhill 100% should be on that list.
"They need us more then we need them"
It's not really very fun to see random remixings of NBA players, or skateboarders/popular action sport of the week, etc. If we just include everything/everyone in the games, IMO they lose what little meaning they had.
-W
Flying 3km track
XC track time trial
Hill climb time trial up access road to DH
DH track
Individual time trial
pump track (no chain)
Winner has the lowest cumulative time, events must all be done in two consecutive days. Each event should take around 5 -15 minutes racers must do events in listed order. If you lose momentum in pump track you must run course carrying bike, any size wheels is acceptable for any event.
(Political,financial and social olympic debates aside)
I think that unconsciously the human brain is always seeking a tribe for maximum chances of survival and since humans settled some millenias ago this nature of us has been covered by society's organisation, but deep down it's still there at all levels (from skin color, religions, politics to sports team, flats/clipless, etc), so the whole idea of the olympics is meeeh to me.
That’s important because niche subjective sports tend to have more politics and controversy involved and are more vulnerable to outside influences. For example, judge selection at the olympics could change how the sport progresses and influence the image athletes present at these events. Might not want to invite an 800lb gorilla with wads of cash in.
But the clock doesn’t care what you wear, how long your hair is or if you say dumb things. And at the end of the day, you don’t have to have “Brage was robbed” type debates.
So I don’t know if DH belongs in the olympics, but skateboarding and surfing aren’t terribly similar.
XC can be in because they all race at the same time. BMX can be in because it's an elimination, so even if it rains it's still fair and equal inside each moto.
But DH... an individual time-trial during which the weather can change conditions significantly? I guess you could argue the same of the road race time-trial, but I think the variation/effect could be a lot stronger on a DH course.
I think the only way DH could be in the olympics would be if it was modified into an eliminator sport, like BMX. Think a widely-taped track with huge amount of line choice and "motos" of 8 rider mass-starts... Wait, that sounds awesome, why aren't we doing this already?
The IOC’s prime concern is how they can cash in.
Let's see them do Florideah Swampfest though
www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=XSdgYWwcs8o&feature=emb_logo
"XC is boring af and shouldn't be the only representation of mountain biking in the Olympics."
And just imagine what it'd do for ratings!? I don't understand why it isn't already.
Top guys have major advantages these