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Fourth-Place Medal

Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:11 pm EDT

Hypocritical IOC backs rhythmic gymnastics, not softball

By Maggie Hendricks

Before the broadcast of the rhythmic gymnastics all-around competition, NBC's Jim Lampley noted that the sport had been dominated by Europeans. It's true. Since Canadian Lori Fung won the inaugural gold medal in the boycotted-1984 Olympics, a non-European has not won another gold. Among the top ten athletes at this year's games, only three were not European, and they didn't break the top five.

Whether rhythmic gymnastics is a sport is debatable, though some bloggers have definitely made their opinions known. That's not really the point. Softball and baseball are being eliminated, in part, because the sports are not international enough and too dominated by North America. Taekwondo is also rumored to be on the chopping block because it is dominated by a small group of countries. The fact that this "sport" keeps its Olympic status shows the hypocrisy of the heavily-European IOC.

Photo via Getty Images 

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148 Comments

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  1. Brian S (brianguy)
    1. Posted by Brian S (brianguy) Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    exactly right...
  2. Nigel
    2. Posted by Nigel Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:25 pm EDT

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    I don't know why you want Softball around after Japan humilated the Americans. Take your licks and shut up
  3. Robert L
    3. Posted by Robert L Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:33 pm EDT

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    The Europeans can't win anything that matters. The Japanese win was a fluke...the Euroweenies don't want to take a chance on the USA winning again...which they would.
  4. JL
    4. Posted by JL Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:29 pm EDT

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    Olympics need to keep "competition" type sports, not performances like rhythmic gymastics and syncronized swimming.
  5. Patpat R
    5. Posted by Patpat R Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:01 pm EDT

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    Since when can someone go to the Olympics and win a gold medal for twirling a ribbon or playing with a hula hoop? It's so true!
  6. April G
    6. Posted by April G Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:57 pm EDT

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    Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!! Tell the truth. Softball and baseball have been dominated not by NORTH AMERICA as you put it. They have been dominated by the US. Whereas Europe consists of many countries not just three.
    Stop your whining already!!
  7. Russian Bear
    7. Posted by Russian Bear Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:18 pm EDT

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    Any event with girls wearing skimpy cloth and a lot of leg spreading is always good.
  8. Flogger
    8. Posted by Flogger Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:35 pm EDT

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    BREAKING NEWS!
    Americans whine about sports they don't win! Uh... sorry... That's not breakings news. That's old news!
  9. Ha M
    9. Posted by Ha M Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:07 pm EDT

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    How is this a sport?
  10. Peter B
    10. Posted by Peter B Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:07 pm EDT

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    Rhythmic gymnastics should, of course, be scrapped, along with walking, all non-freestyle swimming events, softball, baseball, football, basketball, handball, volleyball, all horse-events, sailing and a few more. That would make medals more valuable and the Olympics more manageable. Look at some of the disgraceful softball fatsos and compare them with the winners of track.
  11. Flogger
    11. Posted by Flogger Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:35 pm EDT

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    Oh yeah Americans get to determine what sports are worthy for the Olympics. Ever watch the Winter Olympics? Yeah like skiing down a hill full of little bumps is a sport.
  12. zaku
    12. Posted by zaku Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:36 pm EDT

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    Shocking news shocking news!!!!!!!!!!!!! for the 1st time no blaming china forum,panda has helped japanese women softball team beat usa please blame 1.3billion chinese and report it to ion and nbc hurry up yanks
  13. flowergirl
    13. Posted by flowergirl Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:34 pm EDT

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    Number 2 owes the USA an apology, I have to agree with number 11. We are happy for anyone who plays a good game and gets a well earned win. Not just USA Americans, this is a time to enjoy all athletes and stop making it about country against country. Good sportsmanship is universal. Look at this dance stuff, doesn't belong in the olympics. Just because softball and baseball are primarily North American isn't a reason to drop it, then they should drop sports like pingpong, which is basically a China sport.
  14. flowergirl
    14. Posted by flowergirl Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:34 pm EDT

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    To the person who calls themself "USA SUCKS" that is just rude. As an American (USA), I would not say anything so rude about another country. I am proud of my country. Now, regarding the Olypmics, they are about the athletes and it was that Japan played a better game. Syncronized swimming is beautiful but not a sport, the same goes for the rhythmic gymnastics. I love watching them, but they are more of a dance routine and belong with ballet and other of the performing arts. Give me a good game of softball, rugby, lacross, anyday.
  15. zaku
    15. Posted by zaku Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:36 pm EDT

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    Land of mr.mcdonald and miss.wendy will never good at any gymnastics boooooooooooooooo...................................................
  16. Peter B
    16. Posted by Peter B Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:07 pm EDT

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    Medals: There is nothing special about the Chinese and US medal hauls. Any combination of European countries with a combined population substantially smaller than the US will handily beat the US in any Olympics, summer and winter. And the EU completely blasts the US. For amazing national performances, look to Australia(pop 20m), The Netherlands(16m), Jamaica(3m), New Zealand(4m), Britain(60m) and others. Even Russia has less than half the US population but 60% of their golds.
    Peter B
    in Haarlem
  17. pam
    17. Posted by pam Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:44 pm EDT

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    US got walloped in softball and baseball. Why would anyone want to watch such a silly game.
  18. Rita
    18. Posted by Rita Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:04 pm EDT

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    i think softball and baseball should stay american sports...there are few other countries that play and even less that are good...they're great sports just the rest of the world will never understand...
  19. A Yahoo! User
    19. Posted by A Yahoo! User Sat Aug 23, 2008 5:18 pm EDT

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    Women's Pole dancing should be an Olympic event..I know I'd watch!!
  20. Maggie Hendricks
    20. Posted by Maggie Hendricks Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:23 pm EDT

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    April, I wrote "North America" because Cuba has been so dominant in baseball. The U.S. has not been.
  21. Steven B
    21. Posted by Steven B Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:06 pm EDT

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    The roster of events that have been shoe-horned into the Olympic Games rivals the plethora of reality shows foisted on a dumb-downed American public. As H.L. Mencken observed, ""No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." When the IOC began allowing the host country to add sports more indigenous than universal, the game was on to get your particular best-bet to a gold medal. Talk about throwing the dog a bone. Just because a child's game achieves the status of a sport (that's an adult playing a child's game) is no justification for inclusion in the Olympic schedule. If we want international sports, why isn't there a golf gold? It has substantially better credentials than BMX.
  22. europe
    22. Posted by europe Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:45 pm EDT

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    any type of sport involving swimming, running, or other real physical activity should be eliminated. more dancing with ribbons and horses
  23. Joe V
    23. Posted by Joe V Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:38 pm EDT

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    I believe their should be a watermellon seed spitting event. The player stands in the center of concentirc circles with five-foot circle increments.
    It actually requires more effort and the use of more muscles than the shooting events.
  24. d_plocke
    24. Posted by d_plocke Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:50 pm EDT

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    I don't see why there is a need to get rid of any of the current sports in the Olympics. This olympics has been wide spread for all countries winning medals in their selected specialites. We have had Americans dominating in their respected sports (usually softball except this year) and the Europeans dominating in theirs and all of the athletes seem to be ok with the way everything worked out. What we should be looking at is the biast judges who practically tried to blatently give the Chinese every medal they could if it was up to their scoring. The sports that any other countries medaled in were one's that they had to earn and the biastness couldn't take that away from them!
  25. Joe V
    25. Posted by Joe V Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:38 pm EDT

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    Also, many events should not be in the olympics. Archery, Shooting, Equestrian, Curling, just to name a few.
    In Equestrian, the Horses should win the medals -- they did all the work. The "gold medalists" stand on the podium and are saying, "Yayyy I won !". The horse is like, WTF?

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