Olympics

[silverback]

Someone needs to get armwrestling into the olympics big time! These olympics are boring. It needs excitement, rivalry, and a dose of WAKE THE HELL UP!!! Who agrees with me?

[Will Sarty]

I honestly don't feel the Olympics is where Arm Wrestling needs to be. My personal opinion. We are not an exciting, crowd generating sport outside of Super Matches.

[Hugh Brodie]

And the last thing the IOC wants is another sport with assorted weight classes along with medals for each of them (a country like Kazakhstan could suddenly find itself with many more medals). Medals would have to be awarded by team or something similar.

[silverback]

So why don't they just cut out a few swimming events (since they have like a hundred freaking events already) and place them towards armwrestling. Lets have two or three weight classes to begin with and take it from there. We just need to get our feet in the door.

[Marc Vachon]

Armwrestling needs a lot of work with it's format/rules/table regulations.

It's a real mess.

[silverback]

For sure. We need to revamp the rules worldwide and go from there. We armwrestlers have been used to being able to adapt to new rules anyways so why not change things.

[Joe Gould]

Love the Olympics! But armwrestling should be there! Go Kazahkstan!!

[Maksim Khodau]

Aug 8, 2012 21:45:23 GMT -5 Will Sarty said:

I honestly don't feel the Olympics is where Arm Wrestling needs to be. My personal opinion. We are not an exciting, crowd generating sport outside of Super Matches.

Up to some few year back I used to be excited about the idea of Armwrestling being in the Olympics... I no longer think this is the way this sport is/should be heading... I really like the idea of professional leagues like ArmWars, PAL, MLA, etc.... In my opinion, that's where this sport would shine, just like other MMA/ full contact sports. Even though boxing is in the Olympic program, much more attention is paid to pro boxing events...

It would be nice to be a part of the Olympics but it does not feel as important of a direction to me anymore...

[John Milne]

Exactly the way I feel Maksim

[silverback]

So who does the average armwrestler contact in order to be a contender for these pro leagues? Is there a format or is it simply who you know?

[Joe Gould]

At Canada's #1 Pro league, the ARM MELTER, which is recognized by the Worlds #1 series - ARM WARS, if you win the qualifying tournament, you automatically get a Pro supermatch. If a competitor backs out of a match, I choose a replacement based on who has participated with good results in the league.

[John Milne]

I know that The Arm Melter is a good proving ground for Arm Wars - Neil Pickup watches videos and does in fact recognize the Arm Melter Champions. We've spoke about this on more than one occasion.

Another reason to become an Arm Melter Champion/Challenger is to gain supermatch experience. Tournament pulling is one thing and has many variables but is not a focal point for Arm Wars. Neil looks for supermatch experience (among other things) when selecting athletes to compete for him.

So basically, at least two solid reasons to hit up your Arm Melter Professional Series. Exposure and experience.

We're very lucky to have a professional league right here in Ontario. The Arm Melter is growing and gaining momentum, we need to support this if we have interest in getting into "the big leagues" so to speak.

It's a great thing you're doing Joe.

[silverback]

Thanks guys. I'll try and make the next Arm Melter.

[Rick Pinkney]

With Olympic recognition comes funding. Funding provides training resources and funds to travel to competitions. If people could see armwrestling on a world stage such as the Olympics they would be more inclined to get their kids involved, which will grow the sport. More people would be going to Nationals if they knew their way would be paid for to attend Worlds and other high calibre events. Many Countries in Europe already treat armwrestling as if it were an Olympic sport by providing funding to their athletes which is why countries such as Kazakhstan have passed Canada by on the World stage. And the gap is getting larger every year between Canada/US and the European countries. We're falling behind far behind in the armwrestling World and most of you don't see it. These "Super" matches may be nice now but they are not the answer to bringing us back to where we once were.

And yes there would need to be less classes and people per class. There would need to be a qualifying way to get in. As it stands now, if armwrestling were in the Olympics, Canada would be hard pressed to place anyone on the podium.


Also, the Olympics are boring? How can you call performances by the likes Usain Bolt boring? Also some of the stories, both good and bad, that have emerged are far from boring.

JMO

[silverback]

Usain Bolt wasn't that bad but when you have dozens of pool events it just gets too repetitive and boring. Oh and have you seen rythmic gymnastic! WTF!!!! You call that a sport! Gimme a break. If that so called sport is in the olympics then I guess anything goes. Your right about getting armwrestling into the olympics and how it would affect people showing up to nationals with more kids getting involved. Thats awesome, keep the feedback coming boys!