Those competitions are based on subjective measurements that are graded differently among judges. Table tennis is actually scored and abides by objective rulings. I'm not doubting diving and gymnastics require a great amount of athleticism, fitness, and skill. The fact that they are judged subjectively can lead to controversy rewarding a winner as opposed to table tennis and races that have clear cut winners.
Sometimes there's controversy when it comes to sports like Basketball too, like bad officiating. Same can be said for table tennis when it comes to officiating. I see what you're saying, that it's an actual result for someone to win in Table Tennis while those other ones you're being judged, but not every sport is like that. You can't have a clear-cut winner in every sport. Doesn't make it any less of a sport.
Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with gymnastics and diving as Olympic sports (except maybe rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming). I enjoy watching the skill those Olympians display. I find it laughable that posters are disputing table tennis as a sport compared to others that I feel may be less deserving. I'd like to see where they draw the line for defining a sport.
Oh, I see. I've come to respect most of the Olympic sports. Even if I don't care to watch them, I just think about how much time and work one must put in to get to the Olympics for their respective sport and that's enough for me to have respect for it. I used to question why some sports were in the Olympics before, but now I might even watch something I didn't like before because I'm starting to like the competition of it, no matter how stupid it might look. I get what you're saying though, table tennis is pretty enjoyable.
Baseball is popular in the America, South America, and Asia (japan, south korea). It is much more popular worldwide when compared to ping pong and badminton.
maybe it's not about popularity but how spread out said popularity is? Maybe their justification is based on the amount of countries where sport x has a greater than XX% of participants. If baseball only has 16 countries that fit that criteria, but ping pong has 18 countries worldwide, ping pong wins. After all, the idea is to get as many countries represented as possible, and sports from as many different stages as possible. No one is arguing that baseball as a whole isn't more popular than archery, for example.
Hey, just for the record. I have played both ping pong and badminton and have enjoyed both. Although I haven't played badminton in about 40 years. I wasn't really saying those sports shouldn't be Olympic sports, I just don't understand how they decide what sports are included. They have equestrian sporting events, but they don't have horse racing. Why not? A Jockey on a racing horse is more of an athlete than the riders in the equestrian events. How about those lumberjack events. Those are entertaining. Probably be popular events with the spectators. Who doesn't like to see a chainsaw outfitted with a 90hp outboard motor slice through a 60' log in 2 seconds?
Severely late to this party but.....yeah. the best athlete PRC could find was journeyman slash bust Yi? Wow.
I would love it to happen, but you see all the padding they put on boxers to make sure they don't take damage. MMA is just too violent for the IOC types. Maybe in 20 years.
I don't have a problem with badminton and ping pong being sports, at least they are fun to play and make you sweat. Now why the heck rifle, pistol shooting are sports. How about archery?! As I watched the 3 out-of-shape south Koreans on TV today, the commentator marveled that they are the best in that sport. If that's a sport, eye staring contest gotta be a spot too.
didn't the US used to be good at swimming? phelps doesn't medal, hansen barely makes it to the finals, the women's relay gets a bronze, and beisel was apparently the favorite and got 2nd. although it seems tough to blame beisel because holy crap ye shiwen was shot out of a damn cannon on her freestyle leg. apparently her final 50 beat lochte's final 50 in the same event.
Kobe found his long lost brother at the opening ceremony http://instagram.com/p/NmahKiCTFV/ Another photo http://2012.sohu.com/20120729/n349285264.shtml
