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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Olympics grab bag -- Who would win?


Olympians like Shawn Johnson, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt are incredible athletes. Their bodies tell astounding stories of weight lifting, skill training, and scientific nutrition. The athletes have built foundations of skillful, athletic precision that have earned them the title of "Best in the World" in their respective sports. But what if we mixed things up a bit?

Imagine an event that no one in the world has ever seen before: The Olympics Grab Bag.

Here's how it works: At the end of the Olympics, after all of the medals have been awarded, all of the medalists would write down their names, place them in a large spackle bucket, and then wait for the event raffle. Each Olympic event would take place once more, only now with athletes from different sport. How would it turn out?

The divers would probably be pretty quick swimmers, the bicyclists would excel at long-distance running, and the badminton players would ace everyone else in their tennis serves. But the exceptionally out-of-place Olympians would truly ensure hilarity:
  • Shot putters on the balance bean
  • Female gymnasts in the Taekwondo ring
  • Basketball players fencing
  • Rowers shooting
The Olympics Grab Bag could also combine single sports into new ones:
  • Shooting and equestrian
  • Weightlifting and water polo (let's see them tread water with weights around their ankles)
  • Golf and handball
  • Soccer and boxing (no more yellow cards)
  • Cycling and archery
Please feel free to submit examples of out-of-place athletes and combined sports. A full listing of Olympic sports can be found here.

4 Comments:

  • At August 20, 2008 4:00 PM , Blogger Steve said...

    I would pay good money to watch Equestrian Shooting or Cycling Archery.

    How about Diving Shotput? Gymnastics floor exercise Cycling? Pole Vault Javelin? Whitewater Kayak Cycling? Whitewater Kayak Discuss?

    Actually, Javelin with ANYTHING would rule.

    Scott, I believe our new financial goal should be to have the money and connections to pay athletes to do exactly this type of thing after the 2016 or 2020 Olympics. I'm sure we could get TV coverage and sponsors, so it will be more about connections than sponsors. Beyond the silly factor - it would be cool to get like 20 athletes and pay them each a cool million to compete in every event we can put together. They get 1-2 days between each event to rest and prepare. In the end, we find an overall winner and call them the ULTRA HUMAN. It would be the decathlon times 10.

    My prediction - there will be a lot of competition between the athletes that have overall conditioning and coordination - swimmers, maybe some runners, soccer players, water polo players, etc. I think the cross sport action would put people like weight lifters and gymnasts too far out of their comfort zone. But then again, I might be way off - only the competition will let us know for sure what sport best prepares you to be THE ULTRA HUMAN (TM). Would that TM hold up?

    -Steve
    stevescookingjournal.blogspot.com
    www.iHateWheat.com

     
  • At August 20, 2008 4:18 PM , Blogger Steve said...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing

    Yeah

    That's what I'm talking about.

     
  • At August 21, 2008 10:29 AM , Anonymous Bruce said...

    pole vaulting from the 10M diving board would be fun to watch.

     
  • At August 22, 2008 3:31 PM , Blogger brian_guppy said...

    How about wrestling and hammer throw? The ability to bludgeon your opponent would definitely make life a little more interesting.

     

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