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cosmicgypsy

Olympic Skydiving

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billvon

>That said, It's probably boring to the average viewer

Agreed there. But it would be competing with . . . . curling?

>and the risk is high.

After "the agony of defeat" it doesn't seem like there's much worse we could do. (And the Olympics sees the occasional death even now; heatstroke and collisions during luge or downhill has killed half a dozen or so.)



The "Agony of defeat" guy was minor injuries. It just looked really bad.

I still think most skydiving (RW of any sort, anyway) is right up there with curling for the average Joe Public.

As DJL said, how much can any viewer take of the touch/ repeat? Heck, I think most skydivers think that's boring unless you're really into it yourself and have a stake.
lisa
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gowlerk

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I thought the issue of skydiving as an Olympic sport was nixed mainly because it required powered aircraft and all Olympic sports had to be human powered only.




That's how I see it. Skydiving is a motor sport. As is tunnel flying.



In that case, you would need to declare downhill skiing is a motor sport, because the lifts are motorized.
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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ryoder

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I thought the issue of skydiving as an Olympic sport was nixed mainly because it required powered aircraft and all Olympic sports had to be human powered only.




That's how I see it. Skydiving is a motor sport. As is tunnel flying.



In that case, you would need to declare downhill skiing is a motor sport, because the lifts are motorized.

According to the news yesterday, the Olympic downhill ski race had a vertical drop of >2700 ft. That is enough height to do a accuracy comp, and almost enough for a swoop comp.
It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

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billvon

>"So it's just a bunch of people falling through the air like fairies while holding hands?"

Well, people seem to like watching people sliding down a hill wearing sticks on their feet like a bunch of 2 year olds . . . .



I'm not debating that at all. His observation of RW was amusing to me. He's had similarly amusing observations of other sports, too.

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skyjames

I thought the issue of skydiving as an Olympic sport was nixed mainly because it required powered aircraft and all Olympic sports had to be human powered only.

Don't recall where I read or heard this.



The kierin is a track cycling event that starts with a motorcycle leading a pack of cyclists around the track at increasing speed until it pulls off for the final sprint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wIuVrUxeW0

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A quick search showed several (different years even) threads on this subject. From 2006 by Ron:
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Re: [agent_lead] how long before we see skydiving events in the olympics? - NEW [In reply to] Quote | Reply | Report Spam
#1. Do a search...Been talked to death.

I'll give you the cliff notes.

Skydivers think that skydiving is the best thing ever, and that it smokes all other sports/activities.

Non-skydivers think skydiving is stupid, or just a cool stunt.

There are a lot more non jumpers than jumpers...so as a sport, skydiving appeals to only a very few.

Even some skydivers do not understand some skydiving competitions, the average wuffo has no chance.

Skydiving will never be a "popular sport" since:

1. It has no easy access for kids. They can't buy a rig and ride it down the street like with a BMX bike or skateboard...Which is why skysurf was dropped by the "X" games.

2. Skydiving is dangerous...Even if you want to debate that, the average person thinks it is very dangerous, so most people just frankly do not care about it other than a stunt.

3. People cannot relate to it. NASCAR, you can imagine driving one since most people drive. WWE most men have fought, even just for play so they can understand it...Same with boxing. Soccer, football, baseball, basketball...All very easy for kids to do, and most of us have played them. So we can relate to the skills the pros show. People have no clue about skydiving, so they cannot relate.

Try this...Throw a party full of whuffos. Put on the Nationals tape or world meet tape. Most will watch a few mins and then drift away. They do not get it. This is very hard for skydivers to understand...They do not get it, and they do not care to get it.

As for the Olympics...Well curling is in the olympics...So you could argue that none of that matters...

But the nail in the coffin thus far has been that skydiving requires a motor. We need a plane to get to altitude and no other sport in the olymics I can think of NEEDS a motor.



There are others.

"exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile"
'nother james

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You quoted an old post (12 years). Interestingly a few things have changed since then.

Quote

Skydiving will never be a "popular sport" since:

1. It has no easy access for kids. They can't buy a rig and ride it down the street like with a BMX bike or skateboard...Which is why skysurf was dropped by the "X" games.


Shortly before the Oceanside tunnel competition on Tuesday there was a group of kids who were flying in the tunnel - looked like ages 5 to 9.
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3. People cannot relate to it. NASCAR, you can imagine driving one since most people drive. WWE most men have fought, even just for play so they can understand it...Same with boxing. Soccer, football, baseball, basketball...All very easy for kids to do, and most of us have played them. So we can relate to the skills the pros show. People have no clue about skydiving, so they cannot relate.


This is changing too. Ask a bunch of whuffos at a party who has gone skydiving, and at least out here 2-3 out of 10 will say "yeah! I did a tandem!" (That wasn't true 12 years ago.)

All that being said, I'm ambivalent about skydiving in the olympics. It would be nice in that it would mean more work for DZ's (and thus more accessibility by experienced skydivers, more employment for instructors and coaches, more tunnels etc) but it's not going to change what I do in the sport, or how I relate to it.

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The whole needing a plane thing is a big hurt as is the whole lack of being able to sell tickets to watch it. The IOC is nothing if not a business and likes events that they can sell tickets to and can sell the television rights to. Watching a tunnel comp is hard since the facility would need to be built to hold a few thousand people and none of the existing facilities designs could come close to holding even 250 people watching it let alone needing to hold 2500 plus all the cameras and media. Watching a freefall Skydiving comp would be impossible for selling tickets since the only thing anyone on the ground could see is the canopies opening and everyone landing. Watching canopy piloting could happen but the sport would need to then be held at a location far away from the general Olympic facilities due to airspace restrictions that it would be hard to get people to go 25-50+ miles away just to watch the events and it would be very weather dependent.

The weather is actually an issue this year and they have had to cancel many of the alpine events due to extremely high winds and blowing snow. CP has an even tighter tolerance than the alpine events do, its possible to see the events get delayed or postponed for multiple days on end depending on location.

Tunnels have the best option for anything but the problem is that there needs to be a recognized sport at the international level with a history of professional level competition and a full anti-doping policy and testing in place for all athletes. This presents an issue since I know that passing a random drug test is going to be hard for some of the teams. :D

The Olympic Charter indicates that in order to be accepted, a sport must be widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents and by women in no fewer than 40 countries and on three continents. The sport must also increase the ‘‘value and appeal’’ of the Olympic Games and retain and reflect its modern traditions. There are numerous other rules, including bans on purely ‘‘mind sports’’ and sports dependent on mechanical propulsion. This last one is why Water Skiiing was dropped years ago after being in for a few years.

If you look at the last few tunnel comps there are consistently only about 20-25 countries represented so there needs to be a large uptick in the number of people coming from other countries that are doing tunnel comps to even get on the list that could be considered in the future. Further there would need to be the establishment of Women's only teams at a level that would meet the requirements. Tunnels are now in 5 continents (only one in all of Africa though) so that would need to change to help get tunnel flying as a sport.

As a comparison if you look at the sport of Curling (since its considered a fringe Olympic sport) its US organization has a current membership similar to the USPA but worldwide its membership numbers of active club level registered participants is about 1.2-1.5 million so its a multiple of the number of worldwide active skydivers at any given point and tunnel flyers are an even smaller number than skydivers. There are curling clubs in 6 continents and in terms of TV rights its a goldmine since a game is about an 2 hours in length and 4 games occur at the same time so it lets them be able to steam multiple ones at the same time.

Best bet is for tunnel flying to be an demonstration level sport - never up for medals but able to showcase the athletes talents.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

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SethInMI

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Quote

I thought the issue of skydiving as an Olympic sport was nixed mainly because it required powered aircraft and all Olympic sports had to be human powered only.




That's how I see it. Skydiving is a motor sport. As is tunnel flying.



In that case, you would need to declare downhill skiing is a motor sport, because the lifts are motorized.

According to the news yesterday, the Olympic downhill ski race had a vertical drop of >2700 ft. That is enough height to do a accuracy comp, and almost enough for a swoop comp.

Do not be surprised to see speedflying in there in a decade or so.

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