Olympics

[OhhhNooo]

This is kind of stupid but than again I need an answer.

What the hell is up with "curling"? if thats in the olympics why the hell isnt paintball? that would be cool. like all the countries of the world sending their best Paintballers to shoot up the other countries.

Just me.

Go Team Italia!

 

[Duncster]

You know I thought exactly the same thing last night while flicking through channels and happening upon Curling.....I mean, CURLING??? WTF???!!!!!!!

Is figure skiing still a sport? I know they tried it out for a bit several years back.....but figure skiing??? CURLING???

mmmmmmm.........paintball...............

d.

 

[QuikSilver]

What the hell is curling?

 

[Tortoise-Licker]

curling????

haha you want to know the wonderfull sport of curling
its like playing marbles only the marbles are large stones of granite and the marble ring is about twenty metres away and on ice.!!!
one of the team hurls the stone down the ice and tries to get it as close to the centre as they can.
the next teamtries to either knock the stone out of the ring or get a stone closer to the centre or set up a guard stone.
oh and i forget to mention that when the stone has been hurled down the ice and still moving the rest of the team use brooms to sweep the ice in front of the stone to control thedirection as its moving.
beleive me this shouldn't be considered a sport thank god the bob's start today.

p.s. did anyone see the rather large women go down the luge??
i havn't laughed as much for bloody ages

 

[Hotpoint]

Forget Curling. The most ludicrous Olympic "Sport" is Ballroom Dancing! I sh*t you not. It's been featured!

For Paintball to stand a chance of getting into the Olympics it would have to be recognised by the IOC (International Olympic Commitee) and before that happens P'ball would have to be officially recognised by the Governing Bodies of Sport in many Countries.

Paintball was refused Recognition in France because it was deemed to be "Immoral". Meanwhile in the UK we are currently waiting for UKSport (British Sports Councils) to issue their formal decision on whether they wil recognise us

Other countries currently waiting to hear whether they recognise Paintball include Russia and Iran (I would personally love to see a US Vs. Iran "Axis of Evil" Grudge-Match)

Nb. - Another thing Paintball needs before we can start leaning on the IOC is a proper International Governing Body for the sport. At one point an organisation called the IPSA (International Paintball Sports Association) was on the cards and there was some movement on this in Europe for a while. Hopefully we can get this back on the agenda

 

[Liz]

It's probably 'cause curling's been around for hundreds of years. Even bobsleigh has been going for decades as a competitive sport.

Plus it doesn't have the "warfare" image, though if you've ever been hit by a curling stone you may disagree with that!

In fact, I can think of loads of olympic sports where the potential to wreck mayhem on the opposition is greater than you get in paintball - hockey (and not even the ice version) is out & out warfare even when played in girls schools.

I seem to remember many years ago that the EPSF (as was) tried to get recognition for paintball from the Sports Council which is a prerequisite of being considered for the Olympics as a sport, but were turned down. The 2 reasons I can remember were to do with needing a national organisation, hence UKPSF now, and they said that it was a subset of rifle shooting! The clay pigeon guys were almost as offended as the paintballers at that one.

 

[Liz]

Another parallel posting, that's 2 for me in a couple of days.

 

[Hotpoint]

Half-Right Liz

Actually the reasons for turning down Paintball as a Sport the last time we applied (1994/95) were that:

(i) Paintball was considered to be a "Commercially Driven activity in which the costs involved could be a barrier to participation"

(ii) Paintball was based on shooting which was already recognised

When I got the job of getting Paintball Recognised (about two and a half years ago) the first thing I did was a cost breakdown which showed P'ball to be considerably cheaper than about a dozen of the activities already recognised by UKSport

I also demonstrated that because our scoring system was radically different than target/clay pigeon shooting you'd have to be a idiot to consider us the same. Rugby and Association Football (that's Soccer to you Americans) have far more in common and they're recognised separately

 

[Hotpoint]

BTW Snowboarding is at the Olympics and that started properly in about 1976 only 5 years before Paintball!

Hope remains

 

[Robin Hood]

I mean for crying out loud, if they have freakin' sharp shooting and the likes in the olympics with real weapons then surely we have a chance of getting in!! The problem is, the second you mention paintball to some arse on the commitee they immediately thinks of the stereotype 'Rambo' rec-baller, and all of the vandalism that goes on in the states!!!

What they can't get to grips with is how much a team sport this is, what vast amount of technical knowledge that each pro player has stored up in that noggin of theirs. The complex strategy that can be involved within a game, the reliance on your teamates to help you through the game, covering your ass and putting your complete trust in them when you run, the synchronisation of timing between players and paint!! The list goes on, and if you compare a lot of these skill to those required for other sports you will find that on a pro level, you're incorporating the skills from a huge number of different sports all developed to a very high degree and then combined into the fast paced and action packed sport that is PAINTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!