Is the Olympics growing into a stage for aesthetic hobbies and pastimes?

People who showed little to no interest in sport prior to the summer showpiece become armchair experts overnight amid the veritable feast of disciplines to digest.

In turn, they unearth new interests given the simple fact that some ‘mainstream’ sports are not currently part of the Olympics programme. Athletics, basketball, boxing, football and tennis are very obvious exceptions to that sweeping statement, but — as of 2012 at least — there remains no place as yet for cricket, golf and rugby union.

The latter two (golf and rugby sevens) shall be incorporated into the 31^st Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro in four years’ time at the expense of five other unsuccessful bidders (baseball, softball, karate, roller sports, squash and wake boarding).

Windsurfing also is to be replaced by kitesurfing come the next competition in Brazil, while Fifa president Sepp Blatter has seemingly been lobbying for the inclusion of beach soccer without much headway so far.

The precise make-up of any Olympic Games is pretty fundamental to its prospective success or failure and it’s clear spectators appreciate high adrenaline action more readily.

Thus, aside from the sports where your native country have done comparatively well, there appears to be plenty of time afforded generally to the likes of handball, volleyball (beach or otherwise) and water polo.

You sense though that too many of these other ‘sports’ exhibit a skill without much of the head-to-head competition for which the Olympic Games are famed.

For example, do diving and synchronised swimming constitute ‘sports’ in the term’s purest sense?

The exact same goes for archery, BMX, canoeing, equestrian, gymnastics, modern pentathlon, mountain biking, shooting, trampoline and weightlifting.

Without wishing to take anything away from the exploits of people who pursue these endeavours, their talent is in an aesthetic hobby or pastime, not an Olympic sport.

It’s eye-catching to see these competitors exhibit their skill, although would the Games suffer adversely or unduly if they didn’t appear on the schedule come 2016?

Some of them have scoring systems as well that are highly complex and subjective to the first-time viewer, thereby making them even more remote to a worldwide audience.

The Olympics undoubtedly is a great spectacle for the world to behold and cherish.

However, it could do with some introspection every now and again in the future to assess what works and what frankly doesn’t.

alex@khaleejtimes.com