Should Olympic events be identical for both males and females or Co Ed?

[tabitha2]

There was some controversy last Winter Olympics about some female Athletes lobbying for a Men's only Race In a skiing event ("My Uterus is not going to fall out if I do this") and others saying it was too dangerous for women. 

 

What say you?

[Maggie Mae]

1 minute ago, tabitha2 said:

There was some controversy last Winter Olympics about some female Athletes lobbying for a Men's only Race In a skiing event ("My Uterus is not going to fall out if I do this") and others saying it was too dangerous for women. 

 

What say you?

Alpine skiing events are the same for men & women. What are you talking about? 

I think curling should be co-ed. Our curling league, and most that I know, are co-ed. Curling requires more skill than power and isn't something where being stronger and faster matters. (Not that olympic level curlers aren't strong. They lift weights just like every other athlete. Each rock is 40 lbs.) It's just not about brute strength and speed. 

[tabitha2]

It was thr ski jumping competition.  After controversy and a court suit the females got to compete in ski jump. They have one event, the men have three.

[devoe364]

Well coming from a Gymnastics and Freestyle wrestling background (I've wrestled against Carol Huynh who is a 2 time Olympian in wrestling) I have some thoughts.

1) Both these sports MUST be seperate. For one thing, the strength of male athletes is always going to be different then female athletes. In addition, in wrestling, we cut weight. Because I am female, it is harder for me to cut weight. I can cut from 125 to 105 in a couple of weeks - I know guys who can cut 20lbs in 3 days. Coed wrestling would provide an unfair advantage to the men,

2) Gymnastics is designed to show off the beauty and strength of the competitors. I can't imagine throwing Gabby Douglas on Still Rings and expecting her to compete against John Orozco? Or have Sam what his name on balance beam against Aliya Mustafina? It won't work.

Men compete against men and women compete against women at these events for a reason.

[louisa05]

35 minutes ago, devoe364 said:

Well coming from a Gymnastics and Freestyle wrestling background (I've wrestled against Carol Huynh who is a 2 time Olympian in wrestling) I have some thoughts.

1) Both these sports MUST be seperate. For one thing, the strength of male athletes is always going to be different then female athletes. In addition, in wrestling, we cut weight. Because I am female, it is harder for me to cut weight. I can cut from 125 to 105 in a couple of weeks - I know guys who can cut 20lbs in 3 days. Coed wrestling would provide an unfair advantage to the men,

2) Gymnastics is designed to show off the beauty and strength of the competitors. I can't imagine throwing Gabby Douglas on Still Rings and expecting her to compete against John Orozco? Or have Sam what his name on balance beam against Aliya Mustafina? It won't work.

Men compete against men and women compete against women at these events for a reason.

Add figure skating to that list. Men can jump higher and rotate faster. Not having curvy hips is a huge factor in that (this is the same reason that there is often some junior girl that is a phenomenal jumper getting fans excited; then she hits puberty and it all changes by the time she is a senior skater). Very few women can do a triple axel (less than a handful have performed it consistently), but men cannot be competitive without one. Only one woman has landed a ratified quadruple jump , and she did it in juniors and never even attempted it as a senior. The top men all do quads and several do multiple ones in competitive programs now. 

Men would have the clear advantage in the upper levels of competition because big jumps get the most points in the scoring system. The women's 2016 World Champion would have placed 15th in the men's competition based on point totals. 

[devoe364]

Something else to consider - every sport in the Olympics can only have so many athletes. So when they add an event, they have to cut athletes elsewhere - ever wonder how we went from the "Magnificent 7" in 1996 in Atlanta to the Fab 5 in London? 

In order to accomodate Trampoline, Artistic Gymnastics had to eliminate athletes from their team events. If they add more women's ski jumping events, they have to limit the number of men who can compete, or cut their events as well. It is very much a delicate balance.

[WhoompThereItIs]

10 hours ago, devoe364 said:

Something else to consider - every sport in the Olympics can only have so many athletes. So when they add an event, they have to cut athletes elsewhere - ever wonder how we went from the "Magnificent 7" in 1996 in Atlanta to the Fab 5 in London? 

In order to accomodate Trampoline, Artistic Gymnastics had to eliminate athletes from their team events. If they add more women's ski jumping events, they have to limit the number of men who can compete, or cut their events as well. It is very much a delicate balance.

and now they want to reduce it to 4 in tokyo 

[bashfulpixie]

Every time they reduce it, they get rid of more specialists.  Which stinks, because it can be more exciting to see someone who is AMAZING at an apparatus than someone who is merely good because they're amazing at something else and made the team.

[Maggie Mae]

I thought they already reduced it for Tokyo, and it had nothing to do with adding a sport - It was to make it more fair for the less wealthy/powerful countries or something. I don't know. I don't really follow gymnastics anymore. 

I just hope that I can find decent coverage of the sports I want to watch. The last games were much better than I remember, because the major media companies who broadcast it have finally figured out that they can stream stuff on the internet too. I just get so sick of the constant advertising and interviews when we could be watching other athletes. 

[Gossamer1]

There are some shooting events that seem like a good option for combining. It doesnt seem like strength,  speed or weight would give one sex an advantage over the other. 

I don't really watch the equestrian events but that sport has been co-ed for a while. It's more about the relationship between horse and rider than anything else. 

Maybe table tennis? 

[Ali]

On ‎7‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 9:14 PM, Maggie Mae said:

I thought they already reduced it for Tokyo, and it had nothing to do with adding a sport - It was to make it more fair for the less wealthy/powerful countries or something. I don't know. I don't really follow gymnastics anymore. 

Yes, that is one of the reasons for reducing the team size. Also, countries that used to dominate such as Romania and Russia are struggling. Romania didn't even qualify to send a team. The will be two additional spots that gymnasts could qualify for through world cups and not compete with the team. With how strong the United States currently is in woman's gymnastics, there will likely two individuals sent to Tokyo in addition to the team of four.

[devoe364]

Yes, that is one of the reasons for reducing the team size. Also, countries that used to dominate such as Romania and Russia are struggling. Romania didn't even qualify to send a team. The will be two additional spots that gymnasts could qualify for through world cups and not compete with the team. With how strong the United States currently is in woman's gymnastics, there will likely two individuals sent to Tokyo in addition to the team of four.

Because of how strong the US program is, we've adopted the JO system in Canada.