should DH be in the olympics?
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For what its worth I think the Olympics is one of the biggest organisations to jump on to whatever bandwagon it thinks will benefit it. That said I don't think it will ruin downhilling as far as the sport is concerned, although I know what you mean about having someone who used to present CBeebies commentating. To the dude who said about turning up to watch races as being the right way to show support, sure you're right but all those race series need a cash injection and the only way sponsors will show support is if they are being watched by people on the fringes. There is no point Fox advertising their clothes to people that already know about them and see their adverts in the bike mags that they already read. If they thought that a bunch of new blood would see their banners accross a televised event then they would put money into it. Fair enough they wont be allowed to "sponsor" the olympics but for DH to have the kudos of being an olympic event it will only earn them sponsorship bucks somewhere else. Generally over the last 18 mths bikes have become more expensive and their spec has become lower, if the interest generated by the olympics reverses that then I see it as only a good thing. If more people turn up to the uplift days flagging in numbers then maybe they will continue, if thats because new people come into the sport then so be it. I'm looking at this from the point of view of some one who comes from other "action" sports and have seen the situation arise before, not just with the olympics but with big sponsorship deals from out of industry band wagon jumpers. Someone always see's it as selling out but when people like Nike and Adidas get involved with, say, skateboarding, they pump a massive amount of money into the sport. All the hardcore diehards still wear Dvs or Globe shoes but they all benefit from the big corporate cash injection. When you're a "pro" trying to make a living at these minority sports any help is very welcome. There are "pro" riders on the DH and free ride circuits that are struggling by on shop sponsorships or less and that is not helping or progressing the sport.
Sorry if this sounds like a bit of a rant and I'm not having a pop at anyone, I just think that you can do what I will do, laugh at the stupid commentary watch the riding and reap the benefits of the increased interest. I can quite happily "keep it real" in my own back yard and ride the way I want to, mainstream interest will not affect that.
if you like blame the rant on the fact that its flooded here, I can't ride my bike and I have nothing better to do
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thanks alot matecovelove wrote:I would vote yes based on the idea that more coverage would get more peolpe involved in the sport and inject money into new projects/ trial centres. also DH would make for much better viewing than XC which looked a bit lame out at Bejiing.
Good luck with the talk!
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I have to do a speach on something random of my choice so i thought i would do "should dh mountain biking be in the olympics" but it is well hard to research about it because their is nothing on the internet saying out. and i cant even contact the olympics because their isnt any phone numbers or emails :evil: so this was my ownly idea to make a pollWhere are my stabilisers? wrote:Yes! It's more entertaining to watch than XC etc. Like, I find watching 100m way more entertaining than the 3000m. Also, I think it would get more people interested in MTB, as the image is a little more rock and roll than XC. It wont ruin anything - Snowboarding hasn't ruined Skiing in the winter olympics. Plus, we're pretty good at it 8)
Is this seriously English homework?? More interesting than the tosh I had to do!! 0 -
PLUS 1.blitz wrote:
Plus freakin' one.MacAndCheese wrote:...they should make way for it by removing all horse sports events particually the dressage.0 -
Obviously , for it to be a fair contest the bikes for all competitors would have to be identical.
they should be made to ride asda bso's at olympic level , that'll sort the men from the boys 0 -
Why? One rider might find these bikes brilliant to ride, the next might despise it, just because one bike might be better spec wise doesnt mean its an advantage to the riderbiff55 wrote:Obviously , for it to be a fair contest the bikes for all competitors would have to be identical.
they should be made to ride asda bso's at olympic level , that'll sort the men from the boys0 -
biff55 wrote:Obviously , for it to be a fair contest the bikes for all competitors would have to be identical.
they should be made to ride asda bso's at olympic level , that'll sort the men from the boys
They don't ride identical bikes in the current track racing, why would they need to for DH?0 -
Yeah, I don't think a bike is prohibitively expensive, in the grand scheme of a national Olympic team's budget. Probably less than buying/looking after a horse!
How about a duathalon, like in the Winter Olympics. Do DH with a rifle strapped to your back, stop, do some shooting, then ride down the rest of the mountain!0 -
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bails87 wrote:Yeah, I don't think a bike is prohibitively expensive, in the grand scheme of a national Olympic team's budget. Probably less than buying/looking after a horse!
How about a duathalon, like in the Winter Olympics. Do DH with a rifle strapped to your back, stop, do some shooting, then ride down the rest of the mountain!
What were you thinking of for targets?
Horses? roadies? Bus drivers?
(Errr...who else do we hate?
) Not really active0 -
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE DONE SOO FAR ITS PRETTY SHIZ BUT I DONT HAVE TO FINISH IT UNTILL 3 WEEKS
Hi I am doing this talk on should Downhill Mountain biking be in the Olympics
I think it definitely should be. The Olympics is supposed to be about human achieving a peak physical and mental condition there are three mane words Citius, Altius, Fortius these latin words meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger all thes are in Downhill Mountain Bking, well Downhill Mountain Biking is certainly swift with speeds reaching 40 mph ,with parts of the track being a metre wide and sharp corners you have to be strong you need to be able to keep on the bike for first there are huge boulders and big drops and second you cant stop pedalling because every 0.1 of a second matters and the starting point is usually quite high up where the mountain bikers start the race at 30 second intervals. I have got a pole on the internet where 88 people have voted yes and no 67 people have said yes it should be and 21 have said it shouldn’t be that is %76- %23 only people around the UK have voted on this even professionals.
It would make a great 'coverage' sport, because it is set on a planned, short and predictable circuit. The TV and photography crews can set up heart stopping shots to please the crowd. It's much easier to cover something like Downhill Mountain biking than cross country (what is already an Olympic sport) because of the circuit length. On top of that, people are always most impressed by beauty and fear - the XC event has neither. And it's why I don't watch the long jump! No one ever died in the long jump... or looked sexy. I think if Downhill Mountain Biking did become an Olympic sport us british would get a lot more Gold medals because we have got really good Downhillers in our country .
The problem is quite a lot of Downhill Mountain biking is down to the bike its self so the bikes would have to be the same to make it fair (what would annoy quite a lot of supporters) and the other problem is that you could not make an Olympic World Record because all the tracks are different lengths and it is virtually impossible to make them all the same and if they did change it their would be no point in the sport because all the competitors would no the course the same and would no how to tackle it perfectly what is not the point either .0 -
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE DONE SOO FAR ITS PRETTY SHIZ BUT I DONT HAVE TO FINISH IT UNTILL 3 WEEKS
Hi I am doing this talk on should Downhill Mountain biking be in the Olympics
I think it definitely should be. The Olympics is supposed to be about human achieving a peak physical and mental condition there are three mane words Citius, Altius, Fortius these latin words meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger all thes are in Downhill Mountain Bking, well Downhill Mountain Biking is certainly swift with speeds reaching 40 mph ,with parts of the track being a metre wide and sharp corners you have to be strong you need to be able to keep on the bike for first there are huge boulders and big drops and second you cant stop pedalling because every 0.1 of a second matters and the starting point is usually quite high up where the mountain bikers start the race at 30 second intervals. I have got a pole on the internet where 88 people have voted yes and no 67 people have said yes it should be and 21 have said it shouldn’t be that is %76- %23 only people around the UK have voted on this even professionals.
It would make a great 'coverage' sport, because it is set on a planned, short and predictable circuit. The TV and photography crews can set up heart stopping shots to please the crowd. It's much easier to cover something like Downhill Mountain biking than cross country (what is already an Olympic sport) because of the circuit length. On top of that, people are always most impressed by beauty and fear - the XC event has neither. And it's why I don't watch the long jump! No one ever died in the long jump... or looked sexy. I think if Downhill Mountain Biking did become an Olympic sport us british would get a lot more Gold medals because we have got really good Downhillers in our country .
The problem is quite a lot of Downhill Mountain biking is down to the bike its self so the bikes would have to be the same to make it fair (what would annoy quite a lot of supporters) and the other problem is that you could not make an Olympic World Record because all the tracks are different lengths and it is virtually impossible to make them all the same and if they did change it their would be no point in the sport because all the competitors would no the course the same and would no how to tackle it perfectly what is not the point either .0 -
Some things to maybe think about:
Track suitability. Not all countries/host cities are going to have a quality DH track nearby (or within the correct region, politically speaking). You could argue that it's difficult enough to get an XC venue (see 2012 XC venue).
The number of countries with top quality DH mountain bikers is very small, this could be an issue with getting a new event accepted (the number will be much smaller than in XC).
DH "racing" has made some odd choices for a timed event. Clothing that would give you an advantage has been banned - I'm thinking of the banning of skinsuits and the fact that helmets need peaks. These image conscious decisions probably wouldn't fit well with the olympic ethos.
Dual slalom might be a better event for "gravity influenced" mountain biking. The visual of two riders duking it out is probably better for the common audience than one rider on the track of DH. 4X, IMO, seems to be who gets the best snap and is too random with people taking each other out.
HTH0 -
I GOT 2 A's for the speech and the article all thanks too you guys thanks alot.
this is for my GCSE btw0 -
No.
I think there are lots of 'sports' in the Olympics that should be binned off.
If you can't measure it with 100% proof (time, weight and distance) it should be binned.
For me, there's too many variables in DH to regard it as an Olympic sport. Sorry folks.Boo-yah mofo
Sick to the power of rad
Fix it 'till it's broke0 -
I like riding my bike as it's what i wanna do, i don't ride to be fashionable or whatever. unfortunately too many people seem to get dragged into things for the lifestyle aspect and it completely ruins things. I wanna be able to talk to like minded people discuss past achievements and future plans for my riding talk tech, imagine how many people would be about on commencal supreme dh's dressed in complete fox gear and wouldn't be able to jump a kerb it'd be crap.
Then again that'd mean once all the fashion boys got bored, there'd be loads of cheap Commencal supremes on ebay and cheap fox clobber that was never worn, so actually despite me completely disagreeing with the principles of it i agree it should be in the olympics 0
