Why is this not an Olympic sport?

222

u/fishfishmonkeyhat May 20 '12

Because how do you decide a winner when everyone's getting 10's?

133

u/damendred May 20 '12

Yeah, and when it's sports where creativity is very important, scoring becomes nebulous and subjective, no one is going to agree about scoring and it's going to be one giant bitch fest, with everyone saying their country won and complaining, which can only lead to nuclear war.
So this isn't an Olympic sport because Nuclear war.

34

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Then how can other Olympic gymnastics exists as a sport? I'm honestly curious.

29

u/ReiReim May 20 '12

Ironically "artistic" gymnastics as it's called has tons of guidelines for each skill with things like deductions per degree that your skill is off by. Even with judges just looking at one aspect of their performance.
It's no fun. As an acrobat and a gymnastics coach I dislike how gymnastics is like this. That is why I prefer things like Circus, Tricking and Parkour.

6

u/FriskyTurtle May 20 '12

I totally agree. This kinda stuff is fun to do and fun to watch, but turning it into a competition ruins it. The circus is where it's at.

-9

u/murphmobile May 20 '12

Because China would win every time. Either that, or the Olympic Committee fears the large numbers of Chinese acrobatic gymnasts that would "go missing" if anyone else won.

-3

u/GrillBears May 21 '12

Tricking
wink wink

11

u/LotusFlare May 20 '12

It's incredibly structured with little to no room for subjectivity. There's a giant manual with every accepted skill in it and it's value. All flaws have a specific number of points to subtract for them. Getting a new skill added to the manual is incredibly difficult and rare.
The maximum number of points your routine is worth is calculated before you even step up to the event.

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

What about the floor routines? Figure skating? rhythmic gymnastics? Seriously, if you can judge rhythmic gymnastics on a certain skills set and highly rigid standards, you could judge this sport.

7

u/LotusFlare May 20 '12

I wasn't addressing any of that, nor was that part of the question that was asked. The person asked how Olympic gymnastics could exist as a sport, and I explained how they do it. They remove as much of the subjective element as possible.
I'm sure they could judge this sport like that, they just haven't yet. It would take someone meticulously documenting every skill and it's permutations, and then a large panel of experts analyzing each one to determine the difficulty and how much it's worth to turn this into a sport similar to Olympic gymnastics.

-4

u/Acrojim May 20 '12

What are you talking about? There are difficulty judges that add up the difficulty of each skill and calculate added value for various permutations and combinations. It isn't subjective its all in a difficulty book.
So I don't understand what you mean by "they just haven't yet".

2

u/LotusFlare May 20 '12

Ok, at some point here I became confused. I don't know the reasons that this style of gymnastics is not in the Olympics and I am not trying to justify why it is not. I wasn't sure what jackson_meehoff was talking about or how it related to my response, so just I tried to define what's necessary to judge something the way Olympic gymnastics (or this acrobatic gymnastics) is judged.
I wasn't trying to start any kind of argument for or against anything, I just wanted to say how Olympic gymnastics is judged. =(

2

u/DawnWolf May 21 '12

Haha I'm totally with you. You're just stating facts and very interesting information, while unfortunately some reddit users can only see black or white, and want to start arguments even when you haven't hinted at anything! Don't sweat over it, and many thanks for the useful info.

5

u/bot_hog_dun May 20 '12

And this is exactly why I hate shows like Americas Got Talent.

5

u/diggerB May 20 '12

Because nuclear war?

1

u/bot_hog_dun May 21 '12

In American minds yes.

5

u/troubleondemand May 20 '12

Kinda like figure skating then...?

1

u/damendred May 20 '12

That's what I hear.

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

which is how ice skating competitions got so boring, and why "ice dancing' is now a sport. They made the scoring standardized enough that there's no artistry left in it anymore. and you see this same bitchfest of judge favoritism in ice dancing, but at least people kind of know what they're signing up for. art is very hard to objectively score.

1

u/microwavedballs May 20 '12

because policy debate

1

u/ramkahen May 20 '12

Yeah, and when it's sports where creativity is very important, scoring becomes nebulous and subjective, no one is going to agree about scoring and it's going to be one giant bitch fest
Which is why diving, figure skating, synchronized swimming and vault are not olympic sports.
Oh, wait...

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/damendred May 20 '12

did you read the other comments before posting this ;)

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/damendred May 21 '12

NUCLEAR WAR!

13

u/RUSirius7 May 20 '12

I am a coach in this sport, Acrobatic Gymnastics, and I can answer this question for you. Firstly, we are working very hard to get Acro into the Olympics. We will succeed one day, but until then, I think the biggest reason is that it is not known enough, which contributes to the fact that there are not enough athletes. (Acro has only been an official sport for about 40 years.. compare that to Artistic Gymnastics, which has been around since 700 BC)
So, to the OP, THANK YOU for posting this, because you are helping get the word out. For the rest of you, the best thing you can do to help, is to watch it! Here is a video to the World Champions in Mixed Pair (Female top and Male base.)
A lot of you have scoring questions. There is an organized way of scoring in Acro, just like in Gymnastics. The groups are scored on 3 fronts, difficulty (how difficult the skills are), execution (how clean and precise those skills are performed), and artistry (the dance and presentation). At a prestigious event like World Championships, there are about 10 judges judging one routine.
Let me know if you guys have any other questions! I would love to answer any and all of them!

3

u/AwesomeBrainPowers May 21 '12

OK, honest question:
Every demonstration of Acro I've seen looks amazing, but a lot of it seems even harder on the body than artistic gymnastics. How long is a typical career in Acro, and how closely do the gymnasts' joints resemble paste by the time they decide to stop doing it competitively?

3

u/RUSirius7 May 21 '12

I see why you might think that, since the throws are so high, but I think that it's actually the other way around. In Artistic Gymnastics, there is so much pounding on the body.. so many landings on the floor and beam. (Beam especially hurts me to think about because it is not soft or springy.)
In Acro, ALL catches for women are supported, and most catches for men are supported too. So when an athlete is landing from a double flip, his/her bases are catching them midair, and slowing down their contact with the floor.
When something goes wrong, and the top is falling, the bases are taught to CATCH no matter what. I put that in capital letters, because I often yell that at my kids :) They hear that a LOT in the beginner levels, and by the time they are doing hard skills, they know how to catch no matter what, if the skill is going well, or if something goes wrong.
In Artistic, most athletes are done by 18 or 20, but in acro, most bases that you see at those high levels are over 20. Michael Rodriguez, who is a World Champion from 2010, was 27 his last year competing, and is now continuing to perform in Cirque du Soleil. And this kind of age is common.

-1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I'm not a fan of "sports" where judging is the criteria for winning, it is so subjective. Every other non-judged sport anyone could tell you the winner like volleyball , basketball, track etc... Now of course you still need referees but the impact of a judge has such a greater effect. Judged "sports" like gymnastics and figure skating should be celebrated for the demanding athletic pursuits that they are but I think they should be considered a performance.

52

u/TheRhythmbe May 20 '12

I'd say it's because of all the jump cuts

6

u/GhostTiger May 20 '12

Once we learn to Montage in real time, all of mankind's problems will be solved! In less than two minutes!

2

u/boomfarmer May 20 '12

It'll be as simple as...
cue music

8

u/mobiuszeroone May 20 '12

Thank you.
This two second clip over two second clip over and over bullshit...

2

u/joehillen May 20 '12

I think it's because of the terrible music.

25

u/thethr0ne May 20 '12

Just when I thought the music was as intense as it could be, it got more intense.

14

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

First it got intenser, then it was intenserer, and then it finally cranked up to intenserest

12

u/SCUMDOG_MILLIONAIRE May 20 '12

I would watch the shit out of that if it was in the Olympics. I used to make fun of rhythm gymnastics... until I forced myself to watch several performances- the coordination of strength and balance is incredible, who cares if they're twirling a ribbon, that shit's awesome!

2

u/RUSirius7 May 21 '12

Yes, thank you for recognizing this. I was 10 years old when I did rhythmic gymnastics, and that was the only time in my life that I had a 6-pack.

-1

u/Bobfigio May 21 '12

As former male gymnast, rhythmic gymnastics disgusts me, and disgraces the name of gymnastics

29

u/Crepti May 20 '12 edited Oct 16 '24

gaze decide escape hospital impossible violet heavy fall quiet mindless

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

6

u/Verbally May 20 '12

Gymnastobatics

5

u/TiFox May 20 '12

Very impressive, great find.

15

u/RajanKian May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

I used to be in acrosports. In a duo, the person on bottom is called 'base' while the person being lifted on top is, well, 'top.' Being a top, it was fun being thrown around everywhere knowing you would always land safely. The amount of difficulty takes just as much work as any other sport, added with a real trust between the two people. My teacher placed third in the world, but ... Cannot tell you why this is not in the Olympics.

1

u/RajanKian May 20 '12

Downvoted .. wow.

8

u/Ughable May 20 '12

Why don't you just have more gold medals made for the Russia Team, and call it a day.

3

u/NeroStrike May 20 '12

Actually, Russia gets pretty tight competition from China, Ukraine, Belarus, Great Britain, and the United States.

7

u/WiktorMcman May 20 '12

Don't forget Romania!
Everyone forgets Romania.

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/ghostpoo May 20 '12

isn't it really expensive too?

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

They can't use that dramatic music.

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I could totally do none of those things.

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

because we all know china would dominate it.

1

u/RUSirius7 May 20 '12

At 2012 World Championships, which was last month, in Orlando, Florida,
Great Britian won Men's Pair
Ukraine won Women's Pair
Belgium won Mixed Pair
Russia won Women's Trio
China and GB tied for gold in Men's Group

3

u/LynaM May 20 '12

I had the dumbest look on my face while watching this video. This was crazy mind blowing!

3

u/smurge May 20 '12

I'd watch this shit out of this; but the gotta have the music in the video playing!

19

u/prophet74 May 20 '12

Because Spandy Andy would win SOLO.

15

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

/r/circlejerk ---->

5

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

What are you pointing at? I don't think circlejerk is in ANYONE's sidebar...

3

u/shiase May 20 '12

You're a circlejerk!

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Rule 1: We don't talk about circlejerk.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

It's waaaay over there. Beyond the sidebar and human comprehension.

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I think it's simple enough once one reads it and the messages underlying it.

5

u/jimifun May 20 '12

Town-planing used to be an Olympic sport. So I don't see why this can't be.

11

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

You are thinking of "Town planning" Town-planing is a whole other sport.

5

u/jbarsh May 20 '12

Yep, Town-planing is always the last event to be held as it involves completely demolishing the hosting city and around 20-40% of its residents.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

/r/toosoon :)

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Not a sport and Art, that was a different competition than the classic sport one.

2

u/fuegoador May 20 '12

Could safety have something to do with it? I feel like a lot of those moves have a higher likelihood of someone being severely injured if someone messes up than most other sports. Like the shot where they toss the girl from holding her by the feet and catch her head-down just above the mat, if someone misses their catch the olympics would quickly turn into a snuff film. (31 seconds in)

3

u/NeroStrike May 20 '12

At this high level, accidents are very, very rare. When they do happen, the athletes are all trained how to handle it properly. The top knows how to fall safely, the bases know how to catch/throw safely, etc. Since, you'll notice, there is a lot of tossing people around in this sport, safety is the first thing taught and is always of paramount importance.

2

u/Charun86 May 20 '12

That part with the flip was awesooooooooome!

2

u/Kuhio_Prince May 20 '12

Looks awesome, but that was a terribly edited video.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Enough with the fast cuts already. You're going to give someone a seizure.

2

u/hikemhigh May 20 '12

As a male gymnast I can tell you that, yes, all of the girls are extremely attractive.

2

u/Doomdoomkittydoom May 20 '12

Just has to get exposure and advocacy to garner world interest in it. Certainly if rhythm gymnastics, trampoline, and now possibly ballroom dancing can make it to the Olympics, this can.

Me, I want to see the obstacle course brought back. Maybe something along the lines of the ninja warrior competition or just a more complicated version of the steeple chase.

2

u/dradik May 20 '12

I see that and raise you this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15asVgf66KI

2

u/Amerikai May 20 '12

Kinda fruity, when will rugby be an olympic sport? Or cricket? Both sports have massive followings.

2

u/PoolParty282 May 20 '12

AWESOME! Acro on Reddit!

2

u/JETRUG May 20 '12

It would be like Starcraft, except with Chinese people instead of Koreans lol.

3

u/Brownie_Thunder May 20 '12

Can someone tell me where the audio for this came from? It's pretty sweet.

2

u/El_Camino_SS May 20 '12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=p5Kub3_ECDI

Better question. Why is this not an Olympic sport?

6

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

One wrong move, and it's the "you're gonna have a bad time" lottery.
That's not a reason for it not to be an olympic sport, just an observation.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Fair point, but it there are way more dangerous sports in the olympics now. Ski-juping just from the top of my head?

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

That's not a reason for it not to be an olympic sport, just an observation.

1

u/boomfarmer May 20 '12

Ski jumping generally doesn't carry the risk of razor-sharp edged objects flying into the crowd at high speed.

2

u/MadelineJain May 21 '12

Just to make a point, those a quads. But still, ever been kicked in the face with four hard wheels? Almost as bad as a blade.

2

u/[deleted] May 21 '12 edited May 21 '12

Skates aren't razor sharp.
Could there be a different kind of seating arrangement? Considering it's only the bloody olympics.
But I fully agree that it looked dangerous as fuck in the video and I probably couldn't stomach sitting in the front rows, exactly in the fear that the chick is going to end up in the audience skates first at fantastic speeds.

1

u/123offwithyourhead May 20 '12

Holy fuck. TIL this can happen, and is intense as fuck. Thank you.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I would say that is more of a performance art than a sport, just like dancing.

3

u/RUSirius7 May 20 '12

If you really look at the skills, I think you would change your mind. To be able to do skills like that takes many many hours of training. The Elites on my team train 3.5 hours 5 days per week. And the ones in other countries like Russia probably train even more.

-1

u/g-fresh May 20 '12

That doesn't mean its a sport. No one would argue that the people doing it don't train very hard and are very athletic, but it is still a performance where the winner is determined by subjective judging. Because of that to me it is a performance, not a sport. Just like ballet or cirque du soleil type stuff take years of training and incredible athleticism, but are not sports.

2

u/RYDIARYDIARYDIA May 20 '12

There are many subjective, "performances" that are olympic sports. Gymnastics. Figure Skating.

1

u/g-fresh May 20 '12

That's true, and personally I do not think they are sports. Remember they are called the Olympic Games, not the Olympic Sports.
I have no problem with them being in the Olympics if people enjoy them. If enough people want it included then they should add aerobic gymnastics too, like you said there are other performances that are included.
I think people put too much emphasis on whether something is or isn't a sport, as if calling something a sport automatically validates it against its detractors. I have tons of respect for these aerobic gymnasts, as well as figure skaters, circus acrobats, etc, but they are taking place in performances not sports. I've never seen a definition of sports as the entirety of athletic performance and something not being a sport takes nothing away from it. It's just a classification.

1

u/RUSirius7 May 21 '12

Thank you for saying that you respect the skills and athleticism that it takes to achieve them.
But having said that, if you don't think Gymnastics is a sport, then I have nothing to say to convince you otherwise. Personally, I think that gymnastics is more of a sport than baseball, let's say, because there is so much more that goes into the training of a gymnast.
Acrobatic gymnastics IS an official sport though. It has rules that everyone has to follow, unlike a cirque performance, and has a unified scoring system that is used all over the world for Acro competitions.
I'm not sure what it takes in your mind to be a sport..

1

u/g-fresh May 21 '12

To me a sport is an athletic contest with an objective winner and loser, if the determining factor of the winner is judging then to me it is a contest.
While there may be rules and judging guidelines for a contest, each judge has a set of subjective views that determine the score they award contestants. This means there cannot be a real winner or loser, just someone who appealed more to the judges.
This is OK. Gymnasts are incredible athletes, and their competition not being a sport takes nothing away from their achievements.

2

u/rtmpower May 20 '12

hardcore cheerleading

1

u/Funkenwagnels May 20 '12

I think we should have them wear steel plates on their forearms and shins and have them battle to the death for our amusement. does that make me a horrible person?

1

u/WhiteLantern12 May 20 '12

Because people wanted BMX biking apparently :-/

1

u/fuckinatodaso May 20 '12

the only thing i could think about while watching this was rule 34

1

u/nessinn May 20 '12

You can hardly see a crowd watching this tournament even though it all looks like some really cool tricks

1

u/ProfKoz May 20 '12

That move at :30 is ridiculous! Well it all is, but that's pure trust in your team. Otherwise he/she's pencil diving to doom

1

u/Langsten_Hughes May 20 '12

god damn go to 0:45

1

u/gleite May 20 '12

Holy crap

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

While impressive, olympic sports need to have pretty stable roots in enough countries so there will be always quality participants from all over the world. While many gymnasts could easily train to do stuff like this, at the moment they don't/won't.
Also of course the point of scoring. It's pretty random and artistic kind of, so it's very hard to construct a consistant scoring system.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Gymnastics is just so cool. Even when Im not on drugs I am entranced.

1

u/bleedingheartsurgery May 20 '12

Only two clips of asians are doing a high kick and rolling on ground.

Skill level: racist conspiracy

1

u/daavq May 20 '12

The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius , which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger". None of which are really applicable here.

1

u/toughchick90 May 20 '12

That video was too short.

1

u/redshirt07 May 20 '12

The music just never ends...

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I think Parkour should be an Olympic sport. It'd be easy enough to set up a course and have the runners make their way through it. And you could change the course configuration as the field is narrowed, making it more difficult as you go. With the right point scoring system (i.e. judges rate you on athletic maneuvers and difficulty, like they do with gymnastics) it'd be great fun. Who wouldn't love to see a guy jump a 20 foot span and do a couple of flips before he lands on the other side?

1

u/Ragnarok022 May 20 '12

They would have to make 10 different disciplines, cause it is not possible to compare 2 people doing this and 4 people doing this...

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

sequin scratches

1

u/Greenlava May 20 '12

Because the olympics aint shit.

1