Roller Hockey.....Olympics

[#1STUD 0]

Check this out>here I think you know which one to vote for. B)

[kovalchuk71 212]

that would be awesome.....Id love to watch olympic roller hockey. Lets just hope they dont mean olympic roller disco or olympic figure skating ;)

[Chadd 916]

that would be awesome.....Id love to watch olympic roller hockey. Lets just hope they dont mean olympic roller disco or olympic figure skating ;)

That's just about what it will be, figure skating on sportcourt. I hope to hell it doesn't pass, simply because I don't want to have another joke "sport" like (quad) figure skating in the olympics.

[MDE3 0]

I can just see the people who remain at USARS chomping at the bit to promote inline hockey..whose administration they have already petty much subcontracted to AAU so as not to have to deal with it any more, except maybe once a year.

[Gongshow11 1]

it won't be roller hockey. I'd rather see golf

[steve66 45]

I really don't think any sport should be at the olympics if it isn't the pinnicle of that given sport, it kinda takes away from the other events and athletes who train for 4 years fro the gold, whereas in other sports the olympics is something cool to do in the off season.

Off the top of my head things like Basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis are ones that stick out and really grate. I think the inclusion of golf would be an addition to that list. Yet roller hockey is a funny one since it is so fragmented. I'd like to see it there but it brings up the old issue of NGB's vs. tournament series etc etc.

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

I agree with Steve. I personally voted for golf. I honestly think both should be added but watching olympic golf would interest me more then Olympic roller hockey.

[steve66 45]

I agree with Steve. I personally voted for golf. I honestly think both should be added but watching olympic golf would interest me more then Olympic roller hockey.

Not sure if you slightly missed my point, but i'll re-iterate. I don't think golf should be included. Roller hockey should be because an olympic competition could and should potentially be the biggest prize in the sport, but i think it'll bring about the argument of which NGB's will be given the task and affiliation to enter the national teams.

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

Oh, ok. Well, still I would rather have golf.

[Chadd 916]

I think I used golf as an example when we were discussing tennis in the Olympics. It's simply an attempt to garner higher TV ratings and not really about anything else. The same people play in events all year long, there is nothing overly special about having an Olympic tournament. It's not like you get to see players that never face each other or players that only play in Europe. The best players in teh world play at least part time on teh PGA tour, you can watch 20-25 tournaments a year where nearly all of the best players participate.

[thunderbirds_are_go 0]

While I'd love to see inline hockey at the olympics, squash seems the one that would fit most with the Olympics, as it would be a focal point for the sport. Baseball? Golf? No way.

[Jim A 4]

The Olympics have long lost their impact for most people in these sports...the focus will always be

Track and Field

Swimming

Gymnastics

Key American's..ie. tennis, syncro swimming, odd story..

tons of heartbreaking stories on how an athlete from another country overcame such great odds to finish 34th out of 45 people...

people like Tyler Hamilton are getting more pub for being flagged on this new blood test..then winning the gold medal..which is akin to the Pan Am games when they found Vezina all doped up on nandrolone...it put roller on the front page of USA Today..and no roller hockey game or win will do that..

with ballroom dancing in the olympics..its over...

the sport needs a lot more help than the Olympics..its not the end all, be all fix all that people make it out to be..

[MDE3 0]

We look at the inclusion of roller hockey in terms of our own view of the sport, but there are several other criteria for a sport to be included in the Olympics...the first one is the number of countries which can participate, or which have participated at an IOC related event..I believe the minimum #' is 50, but I may be high there.

The Olympic committee also looks at the growth potential in third world countries for a given sport...how easily it can be adapted for play in the general population. Even though the version of inline hockey we are most familiar with..played on "the blue floor" may seem like a pretty expensive sport for those who play it at the club levels or above over here, (although still cheaper than ice) it is a sport that can be played with a ball on pretty minimal outdoor facilities, so it does have some growth potential for third world countries.

There is quite a bit of interest from many of the latin countries already with teams from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Veneszuela, Italy (poetic licence), and the sport seems to be growing in popularity whenever it has been introduced in those regions. Additionally there is significant interest from Northern Europe, Russia, Japan and even recently from China. The potential for growth on a world wide basis is taken into account by the IOC in it's review criteria of which sports should be included. Obviously this also impacts the potential media interest.

Because sports like golf and squash require the kinds of facilities and financial capabilities not found so widely spread throughout the third world, as well as being sports which are individual competitions, more than team sports, the likely hood of these sports appealing to the broadest base of the Olympic audiences is low, hence they are less likely (in the current mentality of the IOC, long criticized for it's addiction over the years to "elitist" sports like dressage and fencing etc) to get a positive review.

[Chadd 916]

Golf already has participants from South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and North America at the highest levels of competition. Players have been able to excel despite lesser facilities and/or economic disadvantages in their home nations.

I'd also think that it would be easier to find a single individual from a given country, than to amass an entire team at the Olympic level.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Isnt there already something thats like a mini version of "olympic" golf : The Ryder Cup? Why dont they just add countries to that? I mean its already all of Europe....

[Chadd 916]

Isnt there already something thats like a mini version of "olympic" golf : The Ryder Cup? Why dont they just add countries to that? I mean its already all of Europe....

I'm not in favor of golf, for various reasons, but I think that rollerhockey isn't a good choice either. Let's be honest, Jacques Rogge was in favor of golf and it has the best chance of garnering higher ratings. The odds of it coming in to teh Olympics is better than any of the other options.

As for the Ryder cup, it was orginally a US - VS - UK event that was expanded to include all of Europe. That is a team event, not the same as the weekly PGA tour event. Those weekly events already have representation from all over the world, so the Olympics wouldn't be anything different from the other 50 events a year.

Using your same logic, we wouldn't need to have rollerhocker in the Olympics because of the annual world championships. And to get it in, you also bring in figure skating on wheels.

[MDE3 0]

Golf already has participants from South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and North America at the highest levels of competition. Players have been able to excel despite lesser facilities and/or economic disadvantages in their home nations.

I'd also think that it would be easier to find a single individual from a given country, than to amass an entire team at the Olympic level.

Well yes if you consider the continents golf has widespread exposure, however you will not find many players in mainland China, very few from Russia, or India, or Pakistan, and other than a very few exceptions(possibly three) from countries like Argentina, in S. A. there are almost no players from there at a world level. Hence you could not host "team events" as this would unduly penalize these countries who have so few top players. VJ although from the Philipines, honed his golf game mostly elsewhere. Name any other major players other than from Japan or S. Korea, that play in greater East Asia. The cost of facilities to have the sport touch the masses is very prohibitive. Like most other sports, having fans who played the game is something that is needed to create a unilateral fan base.

The one thing about golf, is that it does already have a large fan base in many parts of the world, but then once you get into the economically deprived regions..there are almost no players or fans who can relate to the game.

Roller sports has a much better chance of gaining entrance and widespread participation in these countries on a purely economic basis than most of the other sports in question. Although sqash is played already on a widespread basis geographically, the sport is still a tiny one when you look at the number of participants world wide..and unlikely to grow wildly anytime soon.

The growth of inline hockey in South American countries in a very short time..is a good indication of how popular it could be with international teams already being fielded from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Chile..Look for example how strong the international teams from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic and Great Britain have become..in 10 years...no other sport has seen such recent widespread growth on an international basis, and having it as an olympic sport could well fan those flames. All the asian countries seem to do well and have excellent participation in the ice skating venues..and at least the preliminary indications are that if given the chance, that would also be true for inline/roller.

I just think that roller sports have a better potential for mass appeal in the long run, than most of the others mentioned whihc to a large degree have "hit the ceiling". As such they may get a long look, not so much for the current state of the sports, but their future potential.