Should Strongman be an Olympic Sport?

[IdrisH.]

I was talking with my mom about strongman and she asked if it has ever been under consideration to be an olympic sport. I did not think so, but I though that was an interesting concept. I mean, there are track events in the Olympics and I think strongman events would fit in just as well. I wanted to get you all opinion on this. Do you think strongman should be an Olympic sport?

[Joshua Davis]

no
no
no
no
no
no
no

[Eric Todd]

NO Not at all.
ET

[amy kelly]

the controversy in formating for it to be olympic that would happen makes my eyes loose focus just thinking about it. this is a sport based on rotating format and weight contest to contest and the olympics is about steady format and decision by world committee. try getting the world to agree, theres a little rumbling with local events chosen by a private group. look up the disagreement with pulling the ohp from oly lifting and the ref decisions during its time in rotation then x1,000,000. plus, having a constant setup would take the best part of the sport and remove it. the changing event and weight format is what makes the sport exciting because different athletes are better at different events and weak in others so the odds to win can change each contest.

[Corey DuCharme]

......No......

[Alex Klotz]

No.

Raw powerlifting, maybe, but probably not.

[Easton Taylor]

NO NO NO NO NO :disgust:

[Ryan Wells]

heeheehee ....ahhhh, and no.



Wait a minute :rolleyes:



no.

[Joshua Davis]

Actually, now that I think about it....













No, No, No No No, No No, No No

[Ryan Wells]

Rainman says, "definitely no."

[Jared Enderton]

No. No. No.

[Steve Trippe]

survey says...

no.

And I like it that way.

[IdrisH.]

Okay, I am defiantely seeing a lot of no's. I am not saying strongman should be an olympic sport (I actually do not care either way). I just wanted to see how others felt about it.

Can some people give me some reasons why they do not want it to be an olympic sport instead of just saying no?

[Paul Neuhaus]

Can some people give me some reasons why they do not want it to be an olympic sport instead of just saying no?
........no

[Matt Brouse]

Can some people give me some reasons why they do not want it to be an olympic sport instead of just saying no?

Because we already have SO MUCH beaurocratic BULL POOPY, I can't even imagine how bad it would get with the IOC involved.

I'm voting no.

[james rude]

it would be very difficult for strongman to be an olympic sport because of the broad differences in equimpent, venues, and olympic sports are drug tested. event's would have to be excruciatingly standardized, like in olympic weightlifting. flooring would have to be standardized too for events like drags, pulls, and flips. there is just too much variation in the sport. i think it would be too hard to standardize.

however, i would like to see it in the olympics.

[Tony Moses]

I'll say NO. Like somebody said, evrything would need to be standard from the surfaces to the implements. This is big because part of what makes Strongman a unique sport is the fact that nothing is standard. It is what makes MMA appealing, it is ecclectic, if you standardize it, you lose some of the history behind the sport and the 1st WSM contest. Plus, there would potentially be the fear of polotics and bullcrap and bannings to follow for anyone who wanted to compete.

Also I'm not looking to cross any boundaries and if somebody feels the need to edit this, I won't take offense (and I know all about Oly lifting and their dirty little secrets, or else SHWs would clean under 500lbs and 231s wouldn't be much stronger than the strongest college football players and there would be no 10 year old girls in China warming up with anybody's max), but strongman would face the problem the Weiders faced in trying to take bodybuilding to the Olympics and that is drug testing. If the system works, you'll have guys winning the olympics who are a lot weaker and winning with lighter weights and slower times than guys competing in shows throughout the year and that isn't gonna look good. Like w/ bodybuilding. You'd have an olympic champ who looks like a little kid standing next to that year's Mr. Olympia, hell he'd look like a little kid standing next to the guy who wins NPC nationals that year.

[lhprop1]

Can some people give me some reasons why they do not want it to be an olympic sport instead of just saying no?

Aside from the reasons others have mentioned, getting a sport into the olymics is an extremely lengthy and tedious process. I used to be fairly informed with the process that rugby has been going through to try and make it an olympic sport after decades of trying and just recently has it been given "exhibition" status and that's not even the true game on display (7s).

Rugby is a sport with millions of players worldwide and a legitimate, unified international governing body with representatives from every rugby playing nation (IRB) that conforms with the WADA policies and testing procedures. To think that strongman would even be remotely considered as an olympic sport by the IOC in our lifetime or our grandchildrens' lifetimes is pointless.

[Corey DuCharme]

Because we already have SO MUCH beaurocratic BULL POOPY, I can't even imagine how bad it would get with the IOC involved.

I'm voting no.


Way to go Idris........you went and made Brouse try to spell bureaucratic........hope you're happy.

[Ryan Wells]

like she said, "no means no."

[Easton Taylor]

On second thought about the whole thing....NO

[Pat Brody]

Based on the IOC bureaucracy that would kill the purity of the Strongman ideal, I would have to say, No.

The answer would be to promote on a massive scale- local, state, national, and world Strongman events to bring more award $ amounts and recognition- much like the way the IFBB did for bodybuilding.

The appeal to Joe/Jane Average is developing functional strength for living.

We need a "Pumping Iron" movie version of Strongman training-competition and living.

http://www.tvparty.com/vgifs7/strongman.gif

[MalachiMcMullen]

I've had to seriously contemplate this conundrum for at least .5 seconds. I know, I know but that's how long it takes me to think of and then say...


NO

Raw powerlifting has a good a chance as anything outside Oly lifts and I don't see that ever become an olympic sport.

[Mike Pelosi]

YES! YES!























Someone had to say YES!

[IdrisH.]

Way to go Idris........you went and made Brouse try to spell bureaucratic........hope you're happy.

I could go either way. :D :LOL:

Man, I did not think this strongman becoming an Olympic sport issue was a sensative one. Well, thanks to everyone who answered this thread.

[Benjamin Kieren]

No, it will never happen. And if it did, the drug issue would be big. Blah, blah, blah. I like the idea of raw powerlifting.

[Jonathan Macfarlane]

Just so everyone knows, Olympic lifting is in a precarious position with the IOC due to large number of drug positives in the last 2 or so years (up to 40 bans a year recently). There has been talk of Oly lifting not staying in the Olympics past 2016 if the sport does not clean up.

As a result, I find it hard to believe they'd even consider another strength sport, even raw powerlifting.

[Scott Markowitz]

What would they call the snatch and c&j then? Seems that "olympic lifting" ought not be so named if it's not in the Olympics.

[Matthew White]

They could call it a dirty.......nevermind.......I don't want to go there. Oh, Idris......NO!!!

[Ryan Wells]

Just so everyone knows, Olympic lifting is in a precarious position with the IOC due to large number of drug positives in the last 2 or so years (up to 40 bans a year recently). There has been talk of Oly lifting not staying in the Olympics past 2016 if the sport does not clean up.

As a result, I find it hard to believe they'd even consider another strength sport, even raw powerlifting.

Wow. Where did you get wind of that?

[Kevin Cronin]

What would they call the snatch and c&j then? Seems that "olympic lifting" ought not be so named if it's not in the Olympics.
Weightlifting. It's governed by the Int'l Weightlifting Federation, and I've heard some take offense to any other form (besides the snatch and c&j) of lifting weights being referred to as 'weightlifting.'

[Kurt Hessenbruch]

yes?

*takes meds*

no wait...

NO. definitely no.

[Jonathan Macfarlane]

Wow. Where did you get wind of that?


They recently did an IOC review into the sport. Just know from talk in Weightlifting circles. The amount of positives recently has been unbelievable.

[Kÿle Vezeau]

No, but I think that RAW powerlifting should be, as well as arm wrestling.

[Justin Warren]

Yes. I don't know anything about the beaurocracy involved in the Olympics so the standardization issue didn't even come to mind for me. I don't see why it would need to be standardized other than for the sake of record keeping. Strongman seems to fit into the Olympic ideal of nations competing against eachother to see who is the best in the world. I may be wrong, but aren't the athletes in the Olympics amateurs? If thats the case, having a different Olympic and World champion would not necessarily reflect poorly on the sport.