The Summer Olympics just keep getting bigger. There are 302 gold medals up for grabs in Beijing. That’s a gold medal every 47 minutes for the sixteen-day span of the games. Doesn’t sound so special when it’s put that way, does it? But is that BMX gold medal really as significant as the historic one Michael Phelps won last night? No, and there are good reasons why. Follow the jump for an in-depth analysis of the most valuable gold medals and the sports that don’t even deserve to be in the Olympics.
The Olympic Games has come to mean, quite simply, the best athletes competing on the biggest stage. But if you look closely at the sports, comparing gold to gold is sometimes like comparing oranges to rotten apples. Some events being contested in Beijing aren’t even worthy of the medals they have at stake and should be removed from the Olympic program in order to preserve the value of Olympic gold.
Sports like Equestrian and Sailing, for example, require prohibitively high entry costs and obscure sporting knowledge, making them inaccessible activities for most humans on the planet. I didn’t play Little League or junior high basketball instead of joining the local Modern Pentathlon club. There is no culture on Earth in which youngsters grow up playing Modern Pentathlon. Why is it worthy of Olympic glory? To put this in perspective on an Olympic scale, the guy born on the exact same day as me in Uganda didn’t even play Little League! (Baseball will no longer be part of the Olympics after 2008. But Modern Pentathlon will.)
The point is that winning Olympic gold in a sport practiced around the globe by mere thousands is far less of an accomplishment than winning say, an Olympic running race, where several billion of your fellow humans had a chance to participate.
So, which sport awards the most valuable gold medal? Here’s how it breaks down:
The following sports should not even be part of the Olympic program, nuff said: Equestrian, Modern Pentathlon, Sailing, Handball and Field Hockey.
A medal in the next group of sports represents a lesser achievement because they are too ridiculous, quirky, obscure, regional, ethnocentric, expensive, or possess some other characteristic that decreases their competitiveness: Shooting, Archery, Judo, Badminton, Boxing, Wrestling, Trampoline, Canoe/Kayak, Diving, Fencing, Rowing, Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Weightlifting.
Soccer, Tennis, Baseball, Basketball, and Cycling are eliminated because the pinnacle of those sports lies elsewhere: the World Cup, the Grand Slams, MLB, NBA and the Tour de France.
The other team sports fall short because individual gold is ultimately more valuable than a team effort. These sports also receive demerits for not being international enough: Softball, Volleyball and Water Polo.
Beach Volleyball, Triathlon, Rhythmic gymnastics, Synchronized Swimming, and BMX don’t have the historical presence in the Olympics to make the cut.
That leaves Swimming, Gymnastics and Track & Field. Swimming gets serious consideration (it’s tough to argue Michael Phelps’ potential eighth gold medal could be worth less than anything) but ultimately falls short because of the awkward reality that swimming is mostly accessible to people of European decent (read: white) who live and train in a developed country. The Olympics are an international competition and the demographics of swimming don’t adequately reflect that.
Gymnastics gets the ax because, while it is contested internationally, it has been prone to state interference in countries like China and Russia, who select their athletes shortly after birth and raise them to be gymnasts. Not exactly equal access for all. Besides, have you ever seen a gymnast over 5′6″? Literally half the human race never had a chance to be competitive.
Thus, Track & Field, specifically the running events, is clearly the most democratic, international, non-body-type-specific, age-flexible, Olympics-is-the-biggest-stage sport. Each of the standard medal distances - sprinting, middle distance and the marathon - are worthy of bestowing the “most valuable gold medal.” However, we must choose a winner, and it must be the one hundred meter dash.
The 100m dash, also known as the race to determine the “world’s fastest human,” has been on the Olympic program since the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896. It is a distance anyone on any continent can run, and its place as the “premiere” track event elevates it above the 5000m, 10000m and marathon - the distances that billions of recreational runners around the globe are most familiar with.
Tomorrow night (Saturday) the world’s fastest man will receive the most valuable gold medal. Both the men’s and women’s 100 meter dash will be held this weekend in the Bird’s Nest and the men’s race, in particular, is shaping up to be an epic battle between Tyson Gay, Asaffa Powell and Usain Bolt.
By Ryan Quinn
27 responses so far ↓
1 Jeanne // Aug 15, 2008 at 11:09 am
“Handball and Field Hockey.”
Handball and Field Hockey shouldn’t be part of the Olympics? Why is that? Both are two very old (origins are in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome) traditional (European) team sports. They are not expensive or elilte, in fact - every town in Germany has at least one sports club that offers handball, it’s highly popular here as well as in France, all of Scandinavia, Eastern European countries and Spain.
I don’t want to judge anyone, but I got the feeling that an American wrote this article.
It’s not like I am saying that Basketball and Baseball shouldn’t be part of the olympics just because they are not that popular in Europe (very very few get Baseball here) and I couldn’t care less about them.
The presence of the equestrian events and the Pentathlon is easily explained by the fact that the olympics were refounded before 1900 - military was big back then (hence the modern Pentathlon) and the whole car thing was still a bit of an experiment (hence the horses - there were more people who spent their lives with horses back then).
2 Cyd // Aug 15, 2008 at 11:25 am
Some good points Ryan, but I also agree with Jeanne on her points.
Personally, I think most of the swimming medals are THE LEAST valuable of the whole Olympics - but I’ll be writing about that when the swim program is over.
3 Noah // Aug 15, 2008 at 11:54 am
Equestrian’s gotta stay. People have been riding horses for millenia. Just because we’re now dependent on oil for transport in the developed world doesn’t mean it’s an elitist sport per se.
And if I’m not mistaken, the modern pentathlon has something to do with standard military fitness in most nations who have active armed forces.
I’d get rid of badminton and ping-pong. And I’d bring back the tug-o-war which disappeared from the roster a couple of decades ago.
And the 100m dash is more about the glory of performance enhancing drugs, no?
4 maly // Aug 15, 2008 at 12:57 pm
handball is the most played sport in the french schools . judo is one of the most popular sport praticed by young french outside of school.
5 Jim Buzinski // Aug 15, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I agree that track and field is the most egalitarian of the Olympic sports. Disagree on handball — no reason the sport couldn’t catch on in the U.S. since it very easy to understand and play.
6 roguy // Aug 15, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Volleyball isn’t international enough? You’ve gotta be kidding me. You must know that countries have to qualify in international play to *make* the Olympics in the first place. I guess that Serbia, Egypt, Poland, Brazil, Japan and Cuba aren’t enough of an international pallete for you. Sad.
7 Jeff // Aug 15, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Ryan makes good points about some Olympic events being obscure or too costly, but I think that misses the point. Instead, I enjoy watching the Olympics to see the many different types of sport in which people can take part. In that light, I would support adding Cricket and Ballroom Dancing to the roster, even though I wouldn’t have a chance to win a gold in either. I also think more Third-World focused sports should be added (whatever they may be). I don’t mind the Chinese crushing everyone in badminton because I just delight in being able to watch world-class badminton in the first place (not readily available on US tv normally). I think if every “unequal” sport were removed from the Games, we would end up with a hyped-up swim and track meet and miss a lot of the diversity of global sport. In short, maybe the point of the Games is celebrating the wide variety of athletic endeavor in which our fellow humans strive to be higher, faster, stronger rather than providing “fair” or “equal” shots at gold medals for everyone.
8 Ryan Quinn // Aug 16, 2008 at 11:21 am
If the Olympics are to remain relevant they have to evolve. This is the very reason they’ve survived for a century. Not because they’ve clung to clubby sports like Equestrian and sailing, but because they’ve added women’s events and filled out the program with sports that are popular around the world. Sports like shooting and modern pentathlon may have been relevant one hundred years ago, but they’re not now. Maybe there’s a more modern version of an event that would be a tip of the hat to military training worldwide? The current incarnation is completely out of touch. Individual sports are inherently more glorious at the Olympics, so whether handball and field hockey stay hardly matters (except to the athletes and fans of those sports). Variety is part of the magic of the Olympics, but it must be balanced with the need to keep the level of competition high. It’s the best of the best in the truly international and easily accessible sports that make the Olympics the elite stage that they are.
9 Theo // Aug 16, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I still think that any sport that does not have a clear winner should not be considered a sportythat includes gymnastics; the judges rate the routinesthe athletes do not compete directly against each othersame thing with figure skating
10 j // Aug 16, 2008 at 1:34 pm
i don’t understand how volleyball isn’t international enough. there are 219 national federations across the globe. by comparison, track and field has 213, soccer has 208, and swimming has 194.
11 DaveO // Aug 16, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Ancient Pentathlon included: a footrace (about 180m), wrestling, javelin, discus, and long jump, things deemed relevant to the ancient Greek warrior.
Modern Pentathlon includes: epee fencing, pistol shooting, 200m swim, 3000m run, and horse jumping. These were judged relevant to the 19th century soldier.
What would be a modern equivalent? (a “modern” modern pentathlon, so to speak) I would argue the swim, shooting, and run get to stay. What would replace fencing and horsejumping?
12 Jeanne // Aug 16, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Tank-racing and mud-wrestling?
13 Kelly // Aug 16, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Ryan - I agree that there are a bunch of sports in the Olympics that shouldn’t be there. I’d like to add Rugby into the mix. It is played internationally and is MUCH more of a sport than most of the Olympic events.
Although I am thinking I could make Team USA in handball in 2012 - it looks really easy for anybody that’s athletic.
In my opinion the most valuable gold goes to the decathlete - he who wins is the World’s greatest athlete.
Love ya bro.
14 Eric // Aug 17, 2008 at 1:08 am
I started taking this article seriously. Eliminating everything but the 100 metre dash?
Upon rereading, I really appreciated the irony. Perhaps humor should be the next Olympic sport: it’s universal.
15 Ken // Aug 17, 2008 at 7:33 am
I’ve never understood the rants about sports that are judged. The athletic skill, strength, and discipline involved in becoming a world-class diver, gymnast, or figure skater is as great as, perhaps greater than, that involved in many of the other Olympic disciplines. Why don’t we take a shot at getting rid of the track and field events because of the use of innumerable “special” techniques to gain extra strength without earning it the hard way — such as blood doping. What has that got to do with the Olympic ideals? Let’s dump swimming while we are at it because you can’t cut it in international competition without a multi hundreds of dollars body suit that can only be used once or twice. This whole Olympic movement has become an obscene pageant of excess. I read on a reliable media source that over $100 MILLION dollars were spent just on the opening ceremonies. Let’s just ditch the whole thing.
16 DMc // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:27 am
Wrestling was one of the original Olympic sports!! Canoe/Kayak is also a great sport. I just can’t believe you think Wrestling is not that legitimate.
I think it’s funny that the top sports you pick are the sports that Americans historically do well in. HA.
17 pablo // Aug 17, 2008 at 11:55 am
“… to people of European decent…”it’s descent.
18 q-friendlystraight // Aug 17, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Decathlon, bar none, not even a question, not even close.
19 Me // Aug 17, 2008 at 9:51 pm
The Article is deeply insulting, the author is one blind folded cretin American journalist whom have no respect to sporting people.Is totally disgusting idiocy
20 Kight // Aug 20, 2008 at 8:23 am
I agree a couple of sports can get the boot. Softball&baseball could go, along with Basektball. Only because the Olympics are not really the high point of the sport. For the althletics, the Olympics are not as big as deal as say the World Leagues & such. So, it is a bit anti climatic for those sports.However, i disagree about BMX. BMX can be more sportlike than gymnastics or diving. It is a hard sport to play. Plus, it is a ton of fun to watch them wipe out. Far more exciting to watch than BeachVolleyball. & i think all because a sport has no historical presence does not mean it should not be in the Olympics. If that were to be true, most of the sport would have to be cancelled.
Though, i do admit that some sports are not fair for everyone to play, does not mean it should be cut. Swimming is not fair to those who suffer aquaphobia or pole vaulting for those who have a fear of heights. A sport should be played globally for it to make the Olympics. However, all because one country or people of one race tend to win, does not mean it should be cut. Softball is an exception. It is no fun to watch the US pwn everyone else by such a large margin. I think a sport shoud not really be dominated to the point where it is only a tight match for the Silver/Bronze medals. Not fun to watch.
21 Jasper // Aug 23, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I really don’t think there is such thing as the “most valuable” gold medal. A gold medal represents all the hard work an athlete has put into his/her sport. It doesn’t matter if the sport is universal - just because it isn’t played by everyone doesn’t diminish an athlete’s achievement.
I think every sport has the right to be part of the Olympics. Many Olympic sports do not receive a lot of attention in non-Olympic years - so the Olympic stage is the chance to be recognized and appreciated. I live in the US - and it was because of the Olympics that I got into sports like handball and archery.
And to Kite - guess the US doesn’t pwn everyone in softball anymore.
22 rod // Aug 25, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Certainly USA media would like to eliminate every sport where they don’t win. Just look the medal table where USA media were the only ones in the whole world (And I mean the Whole world!) to put his country in the first place, even is an ancient tradition to consider winner the country that gets more gold medal, in this case China! It’s so tipycal of you people….
23 andy // Aug 25, 2008 at 4:49 pm
China won the Olympics, period! USA team should be a better looser…. Second place is good too, people!
24 rod // Aug 25, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Shame on you, miss Carl Lewis! Talking about Usain Bolt and the whole Jamaica team where dopes jus because The won the most important speed races! Did you forget that the last mayor doping scandal came from USA, with Marion Jones and the shot putter? And what about Florence Griffith? She paid with her life those incredible marks in the 100 and 200 meters, that obiously were made using drugs! Considering that, I’m almost sure that miss Lewis used them to win his/her medals….
25 rod // Aug 25, 2008 at 5:17 pm
By the way, in case you don’t know, Miss C. Lewis said that Jamaica team were doped in Mexican TV channel. Miss Lewis, your time is over long ago, so just shut up, litlle closeted drama queen!
26 Jeanne // Aug 25, 2008 at 6:52 pm
China won the Olympics, period! USA team should be a better looser…. Second place is good too, people!
Do you know that the 27 states of the European Union won 87 gold medals overall - exactly as much as the US and China together?
Not too bad considering the fact that all these countries together only have half a billion inhabitants, still 800 Million less then China and only 200 Million more then the US.
Makes you question the sense behind the organised sports systems. Of course, there were more athletes starting for the EU than for all the others and therefore the chance was bigger that some of them would actually hit their peak. But still - interesting…
27 jasper // Aug 27, 2008 at 10:48 pm
There is NO SUCH THING as a winner of the olympics!! The reason why the US is at the top of the medal table is because it has always been a tradition in the US to rank according to TOTAL medals. This is because they value bronze and silver - what’s so wrong with that? Just because you didn’t get first place automatically means you should not be recognized?
But the bottom line is - there is NO WINNER. China did not “win”, neither did the US. That is not the point of the olympics.
Leave a Comment