Disc Golf in the Olympics?

[Donovan]

So how many more years do you think it will take before this happens or will it ever happen?

The fact that Ultimate has not made it seems odd to me except, I think there is a cap on the number of sports allowed in to the Olympics. That very well may keep disc sports out, as well as billiards, which is way over do as well.

 

[Three Putt]

If it ever happened, it would be a while. Disc golf does not even qualify for consideration to be in the Olympics yet. Something like 90% of courses are in the US, and there are only a handful of European countries with a very small number of players to compete against us. Disc golf would need to spread to many more countries and develop a larger International player base before it would even be a consideration. Never say never, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[maniak]

I often wonder why sports such as water polo are in the Olympics when more popular sports such as golf and as already mentioned, Ultimate are not.

 

[Russell Gore]

Well what is sandball? Seen that this morning, looks like soccer with an oversized hakey sack. pretty dumb! It's kinda like curling in the winter olympics.

 

[Evil_Poizon]

I think Paintball will hit the olympics before Disc Golf does. Maybe not, it may be to violent for the olympics.

I think they should make an olypics for hard core sports. Kinda like the X-Games, but not.

 

[cdavid74]

There are already lots of shooting events, paintball has a better chance then we do. If ball golf can't make it we don't have a prayer. How is it that team handball is an olympic sport and Baseball is not?

 

[mobster]

How is it that team handball is an olympic sport and Baseball is not?

*cough*baseball is an Olympic sport*cough*

 

[bikedoctor]

Very few games of skill make it to the olympics as opposed to athletic competitions. I think the IOC has a "would this be on ESPN2" criteria. If you fall into that catagory your pretty much out. Ping pong (sure, it's been on ESPN2) has international appeal and so I think that why it makes it every 4 years ..... yeah I can't think of any others. Oh wait. BMX. Sorry.
Besides they drug test. Of course they may only look for performance enhancing drugs and not recreation herbal treatments.
Otherwise it would be pretty cool to see the course they would put together to spotlight our hobby.

I would vote Ken Climo as ambassador. Guy teaches like a professor.

 

[tomschillin]

2012

*cough*baseball is an Olympic sport*cough*

Baseball will not be an olympic sport in the 2012 games...it's still undecided for the 2016 games

 

[grynreeper]

I would love to see disc golf in an international spotlight such as the Olympics as well, yet I think being Americans we sometimes have a tendency to overlook the more global picture on a lot of things. As Three Putt stated earlier, there is not quite the international draw towards disc golf that there would need to be for it to make it to the Olympics. Plus just searching around online, and even the forums on this site, it is easy to see that there is no "true" standardization for the sport of disc golf yet. So in comparison to other Olympics sports that have many further stipulations and regulations imposed and enforced on top of each sports basic governing body's set of rules, disc golf is very much an "immature" and underdeveloped sport.

Speaking of maturity of the sports, there are some questions as to why certain sports aren't in the games while other, seemingly less "popular" and less recognized sports are. If you look at the history behind many of the sports that are currently played in the Olympics it often spans one to many hundreds of years. Not saying that a newer sport doesn't have a chance of making it, but tradition and lineage does play a major part.

History is also the answer to other questions asked in this forum. People have mentioned things like "I often wonder why sports such as water polo are in the Olympics when more popular sports such as golf and as already mentioned, Ultimate are not." If you know (or look up) Olympic history you will see that games like golf, rugby, cricket, croquet and lacrosse have all been a part of the Olympics glorious past. Did you know that tug-o-war used to be an Olympic sport?

I have been involved in many sports during my short stay on this big planet ranging from the internationally known to very local and specialized games of foreign countries that I have traveled to. While "playing" some of these sports I have often wondered to myself why they are not in the Olympics. I am an avid rock climber and could not think of a truer form of sport per say. I mean it's pretty much you, a rock, up or down and life or death. Pretty finite "rules" if you ask me. So I did so my research and guess what - although it is not in the Olympic games (pretty hard to move a mountain just for that) it IS on the list of Officially Recognized sports of the IOC. So the Olympic games are really just a part of the the true spirit of Olympism.

I guess my final thought about this is - play for the love of the game, increase your proficiency for your own personal edification and then test your mettle against the best there is - it can be your own Personal Olympics...

 

[kvanorsdel]

Golf used to be a Olympic sport. It's been a century since golf was an official sport in the Olympics, with George Lyon of Canada claiming the last gold medal in 1904.

Curling is an awesome sport. I miss Canadian TV in Feb. when its Curling championships all the time. Its a great game of strategy. but to each there own

 

[MattK]

...not in my lifetime. Too much of a niche sport, even in this country.

It may be fun to list sports that will be included before disc golf:
Ball Golf (used to be)
Ancient Pentathlon (bringin' it back)
Rugby (this would be awesome)
Cricket (rather see baseball come back)
Sand Soccer (like beach volleyball...sort of)
Motoball (was more fun when the goalkeeper had to be on a motorcycle)
Skateboarding (if one American X sport gets in)
Billiards (though you'd have to let bowling in, too)
Bull Riding (if PETA stays out of it)
Log Rolling (maybe a demo sport first)

There are just so many sports out there that are more popular worldwide, have a more established history, and frankly are more exciting to watch.

 

[ERicJ]

It may be fun to list sports that will be included before disc golf:

Racquetball

 

[Donovan]

Racquetball

Well, they do have handball now. ;o)

 

[ERicJ]

Racquetball

Well, they do have handball now. ;o)

They have Team Handball. Does anyone ever watch that??

Team Handball is nothing like racquetball or Americal/Court Handball (which is similar to racquetball).

ERic

 

[MattK]

Racquetball

Forgot about that one. Squash would work, too

 

[MattK]

... People have mentioned things like "I often wonder why sports such as water polo are in the Olympics when more popular sports such as golf and as already mentioned, Ultimate are not." If you know (or look up) Olympic history you will see that games like golf, rugby, cricket, croquet and lacrosse have all been a part of the Olympics glorious past. Did you know that tug-o-war used to be an Olympic sport?

I have been involved in many sports during my short stay on this big planet ranging from the internationally known to very local and specialized games of foreign countries that I have traveled to. While "playing" some of these sports I have often wondered to myself why they are not in the Olympics. I am an avid rock climber and could not think of a truer form of sport per say. I mean it's pretty much you, a rock, up or down and life or death. Pretty finite "rules" if you ask me. So I did so my research and guess what - although it is not in the Olympic games (pretty hard to move a mountain just for that) it IS on the list of Officially Recognized sports of the IOC. So the Olympic games are really just a part of the the true spirit of Olympism.
...

I forgot about lacrosse. It's Canada's national sport. The team in Buffalo often draws 10000+ per game. It has the popularity, not just in participation, but in audience, which may be more important.

I'm glad you mentioned rock climbing, as I enjoy it as much as disc golf. But I wouldn't expect someone to tune in to watch either on TV. Some sports just don't translate well to broadcasting, and that's where the money is.

 

[Midnightbiker]

Part of the problem is most people in this counrty have never heard of Disc Golf.

 

[garublador]

It seems to me like neither disc nor ball golf don't look like very attractive attractive sports to the pepole who plan the Olympics. They both take a lot of space, time and manpower to run properly. You'd need at the very least one world class course and you'd probalby only get 2 rounds a day out of it. You need a lot of space for that course, a grounds crew to keep it up, lots of cameras, people for crowd control, spotters and officials. I don't know the geography of Beijing, but I'd guess that you'd have to be out in BFE just to find a piece of land that would be even close to adequate.

Compare that to water polo where you need a pool and a couple of refs or handball where you need a court and however many refs (I'd assume one per game). The seating for spectators is easy for either of those and it's easy to set up cameras. They're also both inside sports so weather isn't a concern.

I'd imagine that Ultimate or guts would be a lot more attractive sports to pitch to the Olympics.

 

[bikedoctor]

Bravo.