Olympics

I'm not a big fan of professional athletes in the olympics, at any level. The whole concept behind the olympics is that it is a forum for amateur athletes - I think allowing professional athletes in kind of voids what the olympics are supposed to be about. Hurts to say that, since I'm a huge hockey fan, and it benefits Canada to allow their pros in. Just my opinion.

Is the Thorpedo "Ian Thorpe" going to be able to make another run at the olympics?? cause that would suck if he isn't.

Everytime I watched a swimming event it was cause I wanted to see that man kick but and did he ever, no matter how his start was he always used a long and smooth stroke in his swim to get back and damn....

Couldn't even tell ya who swims for Canada anymore but hope I get to see Thrope again.

I Really Enjoyed Watching Olyimpic Baseball And Softball. It Was The Only Time That I Would Actually Watch The Sports Cause I Hate MLB. Even Baseball I Enjoyed Watching Because The Games Actually Ment Something (It Wasn’t Just 1 Of 162) And The Players Weren’t A Bunch Of Spoiled Athletes The Thought They Were Gods To The Opposite Sex.

I'm sorry Bamboo, but all I can say is blame the MLB again cuz there were one of the reasons the sport failed as an Olympic sport.

Benning an Island nation, Australia has great swimmers! We were number one in the world untill America and little indenpendent nations took over.

Thopy will be back, :smiley: he keep on going as long as he can swim, it’s scary to think that the Aussies almost lost him on 9/11! :frowning:

I don't understand why people get so excited about the Olympics. Hardly anybody cares about most of the sports in the Olympics at any other time, but when the Games are on it's suddenly a big deal. Canada would be better off hosting an event like the World Cup of Soccer. At least some people follow it and the costs involved could be split between the feds, most of the provinces, and the cities that get to be hosts. The bonus for the CFL would be new or at least improved stadiums across the country. Holding the 2016 Summer Olympics in Toronto would do nothing for the rest of the country and security costs alone would make it tough too break even. Let an emerging country like Brazil or South Africa have it.

Ok, sounds fair, but cities in Ortario would bennefil from a Toronto games, and I'm sure that the majore Canadain cities would host team sports like Soccer.

If you ask me, I think is stupid to build everything in one city. I think it should be spread out a bit to other cities like (using the Toronto example) Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Kingston, Windsor, etc. Let Toronto have the ceremonies and the basic events and the other cities can share in the other events.

Also, I love it if the city that is chose could pick the recognized Olympic sports it wants to host, that means that if Toronto is chosen, it could pick Gridiron football as a sport and play it under Canadian rules if recognized by the IOC. There will have to be some sports played because of tradition or popularity like Soccer, Swimming, Running, etc. but other events can be done accordingly. Also, if a recognized sport isn't chosen, the event can be held in another city or country of that sport’s federation’s choice on the Olympic year. So that means if Aussie Ball isn't selected and is a recognized sport, it can be still be played Olympic style in Sydney, Australia if it's chosen to host it by the sports federation, or Surfing can be held in Hawaii.

In the End, all recognized sports are played every 4 years around the world with a main host city and other event cities. This has happened once before in 1956, when the Australian government didn't allow horses on it's soil, so the Equestrian events were done in Sweden.

Great idea, eh? After all, it's the message of the Olympics world unity? And this is the best way to do it! And keep cost low in the main host city!

Here is to Toronto in 2016!

I agree with you Kanga, but the International Olympic Committee wants all of the facilities as close as possible to the athlete’s village so that it is easier for the athletes to get to. Traffic in cities like Toronto are already bad. If you add visitors for the Olympics, I can understand why the IOC thinks that way.

I used to agree with you but now I feel that the purpose is for each country to show their best at each sport. If the best happen to be pro’s well so be it

Are we talking Summer or Winter Olympics?