2020 Olympics-Wakeboarding

[jmhatchett]

A press release from the IOC (Olympic Committee) said that wrestling has been dropped from the 2020 summer olympic games program. Along with wrestling, seven other sports have a bid to be voted on in September to be on the program for the 2020 Olympic games. Wakeboarding is among the 8 sports hoping for the votes to allow them to participate.

This would be another HUGE stride for the water sports community and would put water sports out there more than it is right now.

[Duncan]

Seems odd to drop wrestling and retain something like pentathalon.

I bet wake boat manufacturers are chomping at the bit to have wake boarding added to the lineup! Imagine the competition to be the official Olympic pull boat.

[NICKYPOO]

It'll never happen. They've been trying to get waterskiing in for as long as I can remember.

[KTLW]

The main reason it has been so hard to get waterskiing in the Olympics is because of the additional human element other than the athlete, mainly the boat driver. This is why cruise control was introduced into competitive skiing, but it still required a boat driver to steer the boat. If you have ever ran shortline, you would know that the boat driver could give a skier a major advantage if they wanted to, this is why in record tourney’s they have video at each end of the course. They did do some testing of lasers in the slalom course to take the driver element totally out of it, but it was not very successful. But with the cable all that goes out the window and the only human element now is the rider and I think this really going to help our chances of finally getting into the Olympics.

[talltigeguy]

We can't keep wakeboarding at the X games, there is no way it will stick with the Olympics. The main problem is that it is extremely difficult to watch live. Watching someone do a killer trick from 1/4 mile away just doesn't do it. Now if we can have a little investment in camera equipment to capture nice film and a chase boat/camera, we might have some TV that is worth watching. I would hope to see it happen, but won't hold my breath.

[Duncan]

My bet is that climbing gets the nod over wakeboarding.

[TonyTheTige]

As much as I love wakeboarding, I'm COMPLETELY AGAINST it being in the Olympics at the expense of wrestling.

I grew up wrestling and help coach one of the best youth programs in California. I think it would be a huge mistake to get rid of one of the original Olympic sports.


Plus, international relations really flourish.....just check out how happy these two look.