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Opinion: I stopped thinking the olympics was cool when I saw a 14 year old win gold in diving. Now I think it's a business exploiting people for money. Like any

Opinion: I stopped thinking the olympics was cool when I saw a 14 year old win gold in diving. Now I think it's a business exploiting people for money. Like any other business, if they don't like it they can stop doing it. Sports has a bad ROI on average afaik.

dustyventure 2y ago
I think the Olympics in particular are mostly supposed to be a less violent outlet for nationalism, but I think we learned from the Anger Management craze that safe outlets lead to a normalization and more of the original problem.
- RonaldDump 2y ago
  It's an absolutely awful outlet for "nationalism" in a post-national diversified world. Table tennis, for example, is basically a bunch of Chinese people battling it out for gold for their host country. Am I supposed to root for the Chinese-Australians as if they're any more representative of me than the Chinese-Canadians?
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > Am I supposed to root for the Chinese-Australians as if they're any more representative of me than the Chinese-Canadians? It's particularly damning that you picked two countries with almost entirely modern colonial populations.
  - tuna74 2y ago
    The second best male player in the world* is as an ethnic Swede. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truls_M%C3%B6reg%C3%A5rdh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truls_M%C3%B6reg%C3%A5rdh
    - bllguo 2y ago
      no serious fan of the sport would agree. not even truls would consider him to be the 2nd best in the world. but yes, he did have an amazing run to the silver
rererereferred 2y ago
Then you see the Australian breakdancer and you see they are all in it for the fun.
- xhkkffbf 2y ago
  With her, I got the impression that it was some political protest thing, although I'm not sure I see the connection.
- cjs_ac 2y ago
  Nah, she's grifting now too. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c938l80ekejo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c938l80ekejo
  - foliovision 2y ago
    Breakdancing should never had made it into the Olympics. Breakdancing is art or it's not. It's certainly not sport. Cf. Rhythmic gymnastics free routine is borderline but there's a whole bunch more set pieces the young women do with balls and hoops which are sport. Figure skating is also borderline but does have figures and set moves and a high physical danger factor (you try leaping high, at speed on the ice, or being lifted). Freestyle skiing doesn't belong in the Olympics.
    - delichon 2y ago
      The ancient Greeks separated arts into the Pythian Games at Delphi, which celebrated Apollo and featured competitions in music, poetry and drama ... plus athletics. Rather than including the arts in the Olympics perhaps an international quadrennial Pythian Games should be established.
    - NickC25 2y ago
      Agree. Shame it made it into the Olympics over the likes of Squash or other sports that clearly have an international appeal and following.
PapstJL4U 2y ago
Financially RoI? probably, but there is more to life and sport allows you to do this.
- vishnugupta 2y ago
  Absolutely but you can enjoy playing a sport without making it your primary way to make a living is the point being made.
  - Boldened15 2y ago
    I would imagine people operating at an Olympic level are training and breathing the sport so much it's hard to have a normal career on top that isn't also related to the sport.
zem 2y ago
I stopped thinking it was cool when athletes were prohibited from publishing their diaries because it violated some "exclusive media rights" deal. that was pretty much the last time I paid any real attention to it.
braza 2y ago
I knew 2 former UFC fighters (circa 2010/2016) that got USD 20K in average for their fights. The issue is that this does not cover 100% of the whole preparation that they need to be in the octagon. For instance, from little things since food and flight tickets, going to special medication (one of them was suspended by the USDA and got banned from UFC), sparring, fighting camping, and so on. One of them told me that the UFC was only the marketing for his personal Jiu Jitsu academy as a top of the pipeline for new students.
- trogdor 2y ago
  >USDA You meant USADA, right?
- gamblor956 2y ago
  Can confirm, noting that the $20k actually on the higher end for a UFC figher. Most UFC fighters get paid significantly less than $20k as pay is based on a fighter's "seniority" as measured by UFC matches fought (see https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2024/05/ufc-fight-night-241-venum-pay-promotional-guidelines-compliance-program-total-passes-26-million https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2024/05/ufc-fight-night-241-v...).
  - insane_dreamer 2y ago
    While Dana White is worth $$$$ and on the board of Meta.

dustyventure 2y ago

I think the Olympics in particular are mostly supposed to be a less violent outlet for nationalism, but I think we learned from the Anger Management craze that safe outlets lead to a normalization and more of the original problem.

RonaldDump 2y ago
It's an absolutely awful outlet for "nationalism" in a post-national diversified world. Table tennis, for example, is basically a bunch of Chinese people battling it out for gold for their host country. Am I supposed to root for the Chinese-Australians as if they're any more representative of me than the Chinese-Canadians?
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > Am I supposed to root for the Chinese-Australians as if they're any more representative of me than the Chinese-Canadians? It's particularly damning that you picked two countries with almost entirely modern colonial populations.
- tuna74 2y ago
  The second best male player in the world* is as an ethnic Swede. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truls_M%C3%B6reg%C3%A5rdh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truls_M%C3%B6reg%C3%A5rdh
  - bllguo 2y ago
    no serious fan of the sport would agree. not even truls would consider him to be the 2nd best in the world. but yes, he did have an amazing run to the silver

rererereferred 2y ago

Then you see the Australian breakdancer and you see they are all in it for the fun.

xhkkffbf 2y ago
With her, I got the impression that it was some political protest thing, although I'm not sure I see the connection.
cjs_ac 2y ago
Nah, she's grifting now too. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c938l80ekejo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c938l80ekejo
- foliovision 2y ago
  Breakdancing should never had made it into the Olympics. Breakdancing is art or it's not. It's certainly not sport. Cf. Rhythmic gymnastics free routine is borderline but there's a whole bunch more set pieces the young women do with balls and hoops which are sport. Figure skating is also borderline but does have figures and set moves and a high physical danger factor (you try leaping high, at speed on the ice, or being lifted). Freestyle skiing doesn't belong in the Olympics.
  - delichon 2y ago
    The ancient Greeks separated arts into the Pythian Games at Delphi, which celebrated Apollo and featured competitions in music, poetry and drama ... plus athletics. Rather than including the arts in the Olympics perhaps an international quadrennial Pythian Games should be established.
  - NickC25 2y ago
    Agree. Shame it made it into the Olympics over the likes of Squash or other sports that clearly have an international appeal and following.

PapstJL4U 2y ago

Financially RoI? probably, but there is more to life and sport allows you to do this.

vishnugupta 2y ago
Absolutely but you can enjoy playing a sport without making it your primary way to make a living is the point being made.
- Boldened15 2y ago
  I would imagine people operating at an Olympic level are training and breathing the sport so much it's hard to have a normal career on top that isn't also related to the sport.

zem 2y ago

I stopped thinking it was cool when athletes were prohibited from publishing their diaries because it violated some "exclusive media rights" deal. that was pretty much the last time I paid any real attention to it.

braza 2y ago

I knew 2 former UFC fighters (circa 2010/2016) that got USD 20K in average for their fights. The issue is that this does not cover 100% of the whole preparation that they need to be in the octagon. For instance, from little things since food and flight tickets, going to special medication (one of them was suspended by the USDA and got banned from UFC), sparring, fighting camping, and so on. One of them told me that the UFC was only the marketing for his personal Jiu Jitsu academy as a top of the pipeline for new students.

trogdor 2y ago
>USDA You meant USADA, right?
gamblor956 2y ago
Can confirm, noting that the $20k actually on the higher end for a UFC figher. Most UFC fighters get paid significantly less than $20k as pay is based on a fighter's "seniority" as measured by UFC matches fought (see https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2024/05/ufc-fight-night-241-venum-pay-promotional-guidelines-compliance-program-total-passes-26-million https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2024/05/ufc-fight-night-241-v...).
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  While Dana White is worth $$$$ and on the board of Meta.