Why do we not send our best athletes to the Olympics? I've always wondered this. We did this in basketball till we started getting our clocks cleaned. We never send professional boxers..

wth?

The only sports that we don't are baseball, soccer & boxing. Baseball is quite obvious w/MLB season, and other countries w/MLB players or top leagues of their own don't send their best players either. Soccer has an age cap for all teams, so you can only send 24 & under, which all countries deal with. Boxing is quite different in the Olympics, and again pro fighters from any country that are making big money aren't going to risk losing to some no name who may be able to outscore them with weak punches. You don't see the Klitschkos, Cotto, Margarito, Calzaghe, Haye, Kessler, Hatton, Kotelnik, etc out there either. Hell, there aren't that many top American fighters right now anyhow, at least under 30.

Track, Swimming, Gymnastics & all the niche sports are the best we have.

[This message has been edited by Syd_X_Barrett (edited 8/13/2008 7:03p).]

Good Explanation Syd

Men's soccer has an age cap, women's does not

age cap is The Ghey. Money or not, I think these AMERICANS should do the honorable thing for their country and go out and compete. Why not try to prove to the entire Earth your the best at your sport? money changes everything I guess. sad stuff

Probably because the boxing federation doesn't allow pros in the Olympics...

NO professional athlete should be allowed to compete in the Olympics, PERIOD!!

The Olympics were ALL about AMATEURS athletes, it should have stayed that way!!

I'm fine with ditching the amateur status because I'm more interested in finding out who the best really are.

Here's a dirty little secret for you: outside of school atheletics, there are no amateur athletics anymore. Not with sponsorships, govt funding, etc. taking over. EVERYONE is getting paid in some way, shape, or form, and in many, many cases, getting paid A LOT.


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/15/2008 10:33a).]

I'm with Bob on this one. I wanna know who the very best of the very best are. not the best non-pro's etc. that sucks

best of the best should go IMO. Ancient greeks didn't separate (and I doubt they did in 1896 either) if one cares about preserving tradition.

Sorry, I could not disagree more with both of you.

fair enough, but amateur athletics are basically dead. that's just reality. all of these competitions have reached such an elite status and require so much training, that they are all making a living at their sport. no sense in pretending its somethign it isn't for 2 weeks every 4 years - when it's not that way the other 3 years, 50 weeks either. I found it refreshing when they quit pretending it was something it wasn't.

I want to know who the best in the world is. I guess some want to know who the best in the world while also holding down an office job or finding some other way to pay their bills is. Seems kind of pointless to me, and it's just not reality anyway.

By disagreeing with us, I assume you wish Michael Phelps wasn't in this Olympics? Dude is pulling in $5MM per year.

It's the American Way in my book. You can become elite at something via talent and hard work, you can make $$$ off the fact that no one else can do what you can do, and you can be properly recognized for the work you've put in and the talent you possess via a worldwide competition.


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/15/2008 12:36p).]

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NO professional athlete should be allowed to compete in the Olympics, PERIOD!!

The Olympics were ALL about AMATEURS athletes, it should have stayed that way!!

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That's so backwards thinking. Who the hell wants to watch amateur sports. You think NBC would shell out a billion dollars to televise amateurs?

Hey dumbass 99% of the swimmers that you are watching (one of the highest rated sports during the olympics-swimming) are amateurs!!

Yeah, the ones that lose

Soni is an amateur and will be swimming at the NCAA Championship here in College Station in March.

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Hey dumbass 99% of the swimmers that you are watching (one of the highest rated sports during the olympics-swimming) are amateurs!!

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Actually, dumbass, this isn't true at all. Pretty much any of the ones you see over the age of 22 (which is most of them) are pro's with endorsement deals. Many under age 22 already gave up at least some of their collegiate eligibility to collect endorsement $$$ and turn pro.
Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff turned pro so early that they never even swam collegiately. Aaron Piersol and Amanda Beard are just a couple of those that quit their college careers early to go pro.

You know why swimming is one of the highest rated sports? People want to see the pro-from-the-beginning Michael Phelps turn in the best olympic performance they've ever seen. It sure isn't his nonexistent amateur status they are tuning in for.

you actually proved my point by citing swimming - you have to either be ignorant or pretending to think olympic swimming is an amateur sport.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/15/2008 10:11p).]

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Boxing is quite different in the Olympics, and again pro fighters from any country that are making big money aren't going to risk losing to some no name who may be able to outscore them with weak punches.

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The current rules and format for Olympic boxing is a complete joke! Even IF a professional boxer wanted to participate, there is no way they would in it's current state.

Tell Speedo and the money they're spending that they're amateurs.

No kidding. I'm sure they are wondering what all these 5-10 year deals they've been signing many of these "amateurs" up to are.

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The Olympics were ALL about AMATEURS athletes, it should have stayed that way!!

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Many of them were amateurs in name only, even back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. All of the Communist Block nations were sending professional athletes back then. The best athletes from those countries had their living expenses covered by their governments so that they could train year round. Preparing for the olympics was their job.

Was there ever a thread on texags where people where getting PWND more?

Agree with Rex. No athlete in China, East Germany and former Soviet Union and these other "eastern block" countries was ever an amateur. Yes, officially, they held some military rankings or some government position but, in reality, they trained like professionals and they were professionals. In addition to that, they were fully sponsored/paid/subsidized by their governments.

If IOC allows only amateurs to compete, we are going to get our clocks cleaned beacuse we will play fair and send college basketball players to play against top European"amateurs".

Once again, the only sports we do not send professionals to are baseball (because of the MLB season), boxing and men's soccer. Every other sport we send our best (professional or not).

Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Swimming, Softball, Volleyball (many non college, older players), weight lifting, track and field, etc.

There are only 3 sports that we and every other country do not send their "professionals" to.

So what are you people crying about?

Men's soccer are professionals as well. No one is crying about anything just analyzing and stating the facts.

Jelly:

How many times did we sent NCAA basketball players to represent the USA?

It doesnt matter what we DID, it matters what we DO NOW.

The baseball players are professionals, just minor leaguers. There's only one college player, a pitcher who started the Netherlands game.

BTW, I believe the decision on amateurs or pros in each sport is left to the international governing body of that particular sport.

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Hey dumbass 99% of the swimmers that you are watching (one of the highest rated sports during the olympics-swimming) are amateurs!

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Self ownership! Dude is arguing for amateurs and doesn't even know what an amateur is.

Kind of funny that Andy hasn't shown back up in this thread.

I am right here and I stand by my statement 99% of the swimmers in the Olympics are amateurs.

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Actually, dumbass, this isn't true at all. Pretty much any of the ones you see over the age of 22 (which is most of them) are pro's with endorsement deals.

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You are talking out of your a$$. Please show me the list of swimmers over the age of 22 with their sponsors next to them!!

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Many under age 22 already gave up at least some of their collegiate eligibility to collect endorsement $$$ and turn pro.
Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff turned pro so early that they never even swam collegiately. Aaron Piersol and Amanda Beard are just a couple of those that quit their college careers early to go pro.

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You are talking about the top athletes in the sport that do not happen to be the norm!! That 1% that I mentioned in my reply above........dumbass!

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You are talking about the top athletes in the sport

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You mean the type that tend to go to the Olympics?

Almost ALL of the Americans and Australians receive a significant amount of money from Speedo or Nike. Even a lesser known like Cullen Jones is signed with Nike to a multi-year deal.

I bet not even a quarter of the medalists are true amateurs. They're either being paid by corporations or their own government to compete.

The only thing worse than seeing someone disappear after being owned is to see them continue to deny reality.

IT is still workign on my USOC Swimming Endorsement Database.

IN the meantime, you're the one with your head up your ass so I think you'd probably stand to get the most benefit from doing some simple searches as well as reading the US team's bio's on the US swimming site vs. me wasting my time researchign something I already knew.

I'll get you started though since you seem like the type that needs some help and I try to be a giver. Here's a link on Speedo's main page with THIRTY-FIVE of their athletes listed.

http://www.speedo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FSContent_10151_10202_-1_//content/explorespeedo/athletes/athletesbyname/athletesbyname-469.html


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/18/2008 12:23p).]

Apparently neither one of you can read.

I have stated that 99% of ALL the swimmers involved (that means-swimming an event at the olympics) ARE NOT being paid to swim like the names mentioned above.

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Almost ALL of the Americans and Australians receive a significant amount of money from Speedo or Nike. Even a lesser known like Cullen Jones is signed with Nike to a multi-year deal.

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Yes, and you are talking about the 1% of the swimmers in the Olympics.

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IN the meantime, you're the one with your head up your ass so I think you'd probably stand to get the most benefit from doing some simple searches as well as reading the US team's bio's on the US swimming site vs. me wasting my time researchign something I already knew.

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Yeah, whatever pal.

Unlike you, I don't have to do research on the computer like a geek because I actually was part of the sport for over 18 years of my life and I am very much in touch with the sport and with key people in the sport, Mark Schubert (head of the American team) was my coach..........and we still keep in touch, so no I don't have to look it up.