Which Olympic sport is the easiest?
Discussion
This is slightly unrealistic, but if you were to be one of those generally 'sporty' people who is good at anything and were motivated purely by the desire for an olympic medal, which sport would give you the easiest path to success?
by way of an example, the marathon would be an absolute pig because there is no way around it, you would have to pound the pavement for years and be up against some seriously gifted, hard working people. Whereas, the archery for example would appear to be easier, if you had a god given talent for it, you could just buy the kit and turn up!!!
What do you think would be the easiest way into a medal?
by way of an example, the marathon would be an absolute pig because there is no way around it, you would have to pound the pavement for years and be up against some seriously gifted, hard working people. Whereas, the archery for example would appear to be easier, if you had a god given talent for it, you could just buy the kit and turn up!!!
What do you think would be the easiest way into a medal?
OldJohnnyYen said:
The easier they are, the harder they are to medal in. Take swimming, it's the hardest sport to get a medal in but with training we can all get withing a few seconds of the winning times.
I find that very, very hard to believe. Source?I agree with your first sentence, though.
Greg_D said:
This is slightly unrealistic, but if you were to be one of those generally 'sporty' people who is good at anything and were motivated purely by the desire for an olympic medal, which sport would give you the easiest path to success?
by way of an example, the marathon would be an absolute pig because there is no way around it, you would have to pound the pavement for years and be up against some seriously gifted, hard working people. Whereas, the archery for example would appear to be easier, if you had a god given talent for it, you could just buy the kit and turn up!!!
What do you think would be the easiest way into a medal?
This probably isnt true, but I heard the womens rowing team is made up partially by athletes who replied to an advert asking for "Tall Women". by way of an example, the marathon would be an absolute pig because there is no way around it, you would have to pound the pavement for years and be up against some seriously gifted, hard working people. Whereas, the archery for example would appear to be easier, if you had a god given talent for it, you could just buy the kit and turn up!!!
What do you think would be the easiest way into a medal?
OldJohnnyYen said:
The easier they are, the harder they are to medal in. Take swimming, it's the hardest sport to get a medal in but with training we can all get withing a few seconds of the winning times.
This is crazy...I competed at National level throughout my youth on the back of training 20hrs per week in the pool and 4 hours in the gym. At 18 I was swimming 23.5 for 50m freestyle & 51.3 for 100m freestyle. Both of those times are 2 & 4 seconds off the top guys.
A "Few Seconds" is massive in sport where the top 3 are generally split by tenths/hundreths of a second.
Merp said:
This probably isnt true, but I heard the womens rowing team is made up partially by athletes who replied to an advert asking for "Tall Women".
Height is a big advantage in a sport where long levers really help. You can teach a tall person to row, but you can't teach a rower to be taller. They still have to put in a lot of hours of training, it's just that starting that training with the right basic physiology will really help.This process is not new, the Chinese have been doing it for a long time, and with a massive population, and the fact that it is a way out of poverty for many of them, the results speak for themselves.
Women's rowing is sometimes (affectionately) known as assisted drifting though. Bless them.
I guess you want to do something that is:
1. Relatively inaccessible and niche. Fewer people who do it, the better. Archery would be good.
2. Something that is expensive. Sort of an extension of the first point - if it is expensive then not many people will do it. Equestrianism might be good - the horses are a real money pit.
3. Something that does not need physical strength/endurance. Rowing probably fits the first couple but falls at this hurdle - having rowed at a high level, I am in awe of the Nat Squad. I do have respect for coxes - at their best they are master tacticians, psychologists, coaches, steersmen (try steering a 60ft long boat that's 20ft wide with a rudder the size of a matchbox). Shooting might be an example.
4. A sport that nobody cares about in your own country. I think there was a campaign to find handball players in the UK because there were so few around. They were recruiting likely candidates. This will get you into the Olympics but not get you a medal.
However, I don't think anyone gets to be an Olympian without doing a lot of training. The Olympic double trap guys are going through a couple of thousand cartridges a day. The cox will sit in the boat for four hours a day, 6 days a week for many years before making it into the Games.
1. Relatively inaccessible and niche. Fewer people who do it, the better. Archery would be good.
2. Something that is expensive. Sort of an extension of the first point - if it is expensive then not many people will do it. Equestrianism might be good - the horses are a real money pit.
3. Something that does not need physical strength/endurance. Rowing probably fits the first couple but falls at this hurdle - having rowed at a high level, I am in awe of the Nat Squad. I do have respect for coxes - at their best they are master tacticians, psychologists, coaches, steersmen (try steering a 60ft long boat that's 20ft wide with a rudder the size of a matchbox). Shooting might be an example.
4. A sport that nobody cares about in your own country. I think there was a campaign to find handball players in the UK because there were so few around. They were recruiting likely candidates. This will get you into the Olympics but not get you a medal.
However, I don't think anyone gets to be an Olympian without doing a lot of training. The Olympic double trap guys are going through a couple of thousand cartridges a day. The cox will sit in the boat for four hours a day, 6 days a week for many years before making it into the Games.
hornetrider said:
None are easy of course, but perhaps shooting would present an opportunity for the sofa loving layman?
My thoughts. Even then though you have to have the innate ability. A good friend of mine is a very fine shot who (for the guns on here) has managed a left and right woodcock 3 times in the last 5 years. He will also regularly get 25/25 on a round (or whatever it is called) of clays when shooting from the hip for a laugh.He speaks in reverential tones about the abilities of a number of other local guns yet none of them would consider themselves worthy of more than enthusiastic amateur level competition.
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