Would you rather win an Olympic Gold or Major League Championship?

Been playing tennis since I was 7 years old, although I don't really play anymore.

Winning Wimbledon would be number one for me by far.

 

Depends on the sport really

 

With the Major League, with a couple exceptions, you are going against the best of the best. In the Olympics, you might compete against a couple serious teams.

 

if i were a foreign basketball player...olympics

if i were a american basketball player...nba championship

...this is assuming that I am an equal quality basketball player no matter what. It would obviously be better to be good enough to make Team USA versus being a random player on an Olympic winning foreign basketball team.

 

This, completely. Also, is it a team or individual sport?

With some sports the epitome of greatness is an Olympic gold, like swimming and track and field. While other league-based sports like the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB a championship in those sports is better than the gold medal. Because you play only the best in the world in the league. In the Olympics, team sports talent pools are diluted due to country restrictions and increased player counts. I think the average NBA team could beat any Olympic team not named USA nine out of ten times. Same goes for baseball and hockey.

 

For soccer, I think a better comparison would be the World Cup vs UEFA Championship. I would say most would pick the World Cup.

 

I disagree with this with respect to team sports. I think a World Cup victory outweighs an Olympic gold in soccer. When baseball was in the Olympics, I think a World Series victory would win out as well as an NBA championship.

With respect to individual sports, it depends on the sport. Tennis - Wimbledon probably out ranks the Olympics as does the Masters.

 

Really tough call.

On one hand, an Olympic medal is far harder to earn, and most frequently an individual award. On the the other hand, there is far more guaranteed money in pro sports.

My preference would be to win a major Tennis or Golf Championship, since that is guaranteed money and prestige.

If we took money out of it, I'd rather win a gold medal (preferably a track sport).

 

Wimbledon would definitely be #1 for me in Tennis as well. As a kid I absolutely loved watching Sampras, and how much more exclusive grass courts are in comparison to hard courts.

 

For some reason I've never really cared about the Olympics, at least not as nearly as passionately as many others do*. I'll watch some of it if it involves great, rare talent like Michael Phelps. But other than that, I just don't care. I'll try to watch it and be interested, but I can't get myself to care about the medal count as much as I care about a single win or loss for any of the pro or college teams I follow. It's always been like that for me. Not sure why.

*Much of this interest comes off as phony to me, much like the sudden increase in interest in football around the Superbowl or soccer around the World Cup. This phony sudden interest bothers me.

 

I personally would rather win an Olympic Gold Medal than a Major League Championship.

I know that winning a Major League Championship might be more difficult in some sports due to higher level of competition vs the level of competition in the Olympics, but nothing compares (to me) like standing on that podium with the gold medal around your neck, while the National Anthem is played for the whole world to hear! Remember that for every four Major League Titles there is only one Gold Medal awarded! Regardless, I'll never win a Gold Medal or win a Major League Championship so it's irrelevant...
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GOLD Medal, definitely.

* You don't get to take the "Lombardi" or the O'Brien trophy home. Even with TEAM sports, you get an individual medal and it's made of the metal.
* There's nothing like seeing your country's flag above all others for that event, and seeing people singing your national anthem.
* The two-level podium is significant as to rising above the competition.
* Because there's less of a chance to win one only every four years, it is more of a prestigious award



The FIFA WORLD CUP is the only true WORLD Championship event of one sport, and that's probably the only major other competition I'd prefer winning over a Gold Medal.

That's a bit of a disrespectful thing to say about the athletes, but I digress. You don't think the best of the best are in the Olympic competitions? That's ludicrous to say.

What about individual sports?

 

I never said it wasn't important to play in the Olympics. I may be wrong, but I believe that Barkley's biggest lament in his basketball career is that he never won an NBA championship even though he was the leading scorer on the first dream team. I would venture to guess that if you secretly polled every American MLB, NBA and NHL player, the vast majority would choose to win the World Series or NBA Championship or Stanley Cup over an Olympic gold medal. I would also assume that the vast majority would consider it to be an extreme honor to represent the U.S.A. in the Olympics.

 

^^^
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(P.S) SwoLy is that you in the far bottom photobombing?...he's the only one in the picture who's not showing a medal...
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