2016 Summer Olympics

[HP]

Maybe I wasn't being clear. Personally, I find the Olympics to be absurd. My point is that there are lots of sporting opportunities that aren't being supported. Instead the masses plunk themselves in front of the TV to watch amateur athletes do their thing once every 4 years and pretend to be experts in the topic of sprinting or volleyball or tandem downhill handball or whatever.

People endowed by nature to excel in a given sport competing against other people endowed by nature to excel. Other "average" or "normal" people are wasting their time trying to compete for the right to compete in the Olympics.

The goal of every amateur athlete isn't to get to the Olympics or professional sport. The Olympics are purely for the fortunate. I'd even go as far as to say that the best athletes may not even be IN the Olympics because life circumstances prohibit such a thing. Amateur sport does not mean 'recreational'. There are plenty of levels of competition between learning to walk and elite competition and simply wanting to excel and compete does not diminish the value of the effort. What you've said here is akin to saying that the Apple Triathalon is a waste because nobody in the race is going to the Olympics ( on that topic, I wish they'd have their danged triathalon someplace else but it's not my call - I'm just being snitty because it inconveniences me once per year for a couple of days )

Amateur sport has much more to offer than just the art of throwing a sharp stick at world record setting distances. There is much talk about people's lifestyles becoming dangerously sedentary, for example. Failing to see or support the effort of those who aren't bound for the elite levels of competition has just as much to do with declining enrollment as our perceived busy lifestyles sitting at our desks pondering problems that we have created for ourselves. In that sense, I wish every Canadian would support amateur sport and attend elite events for their entertainment value. In that way it IS your problem, DG. Maybe not something to address immediately. By making sport more accessible there will be upstream effects at higher levels - I've personally seen it - but that's a byproduct if done correctly.

[Glacier]

On the upside, 60 Canadians from Canada (or 1 in 560,000) won Olympic medals (an additional 2 Canadians are from the USA). No Canadians from the north or Atlantic Canada were Olympic medalists even though they should have won 5 based on population. 50% of the winners were from Ontario even though Ontario only accounts for just over 1/3 of the population. Not to be outdone, 1 in 11,000 people in Williams Lake won a medal. The only other winner in BC outside of Van, Vic, and Abby was the cyclist from Kamloops. 6 athletes from Metro-Vancouver one medals, that's 10% of all medals in the country.

[Donald G]

WADR, to me, they look like many other Canadians.

In some ways the Olympic Medals are just an adult extension of the gold and silver stars given for behavior when K-1 children begin school. They are earned by individual effort by individual students and are not considered a reflection of the child's genetic background or heritage.

[benhalsall]

I love watching water polo at the Olympics! Such a great sport!

There is a new Kelowna Water Polo Club starting up in town that will be a great addition to the cities aquatic clubs.