Should Cricket Be A Part Of The Olympics?

[cricket_icon]

Why do people keep suggesting Tennis players consider it a nuisance. The greatest player of all time has been desperate for a Gold medal for years. He cried when he won a doubles gold medal... he never bothers playing doubles normally

Football is only taken with a pinch of salt because of the ridiculous money that is staked in each players welfare by clubs paying stupid salaries. Every other sport, the Olympics is a chance for World glory and increased sponsorship/boosted revenue streams. It's also about honour and pride, which is something that died within football many decades ago.

If you saw Federers final against Murray in the Olympics you could see he didn't give a damn. His all play was a bit "meh, I've already won everything of note".

 

[puddleduck]

Err did you also see Federer's doubles game Beijing? Where he cried and collapsed in complete joy? Easy to look like you don't care when you're playing in the one set of conditions you struggle in against someone who is spanking you.

 

[Prithvi]

So if cricket is played at the Olympics in a T20 form, one would have to probably let me it be a Under-23/25 tournament or something.

If it is this, no one will even look at the scores what their countries have scored.

 

[Bevab]

There is no England contingent in Olympics. Great Britain is the contingent, in which all the English fall.

No offence, but my previous post was a sarcastic one.

 

[1iram1]

If it is this, no one will even look at the scores what their countries have scored.

Why not? Its not like its u-19 or something. Almost the entire Bangladesh squad could have been playing.

 

[cricket_icon]

Err did you also see Federer's doubles game Beijing? Where he cried and collapsed in complete joy? Easy to look like you don't care when you're playing in the one set of conditions you struggle in against someone who is spanking you.

That was 4 years ago and when has Federer not cried? Plus 2008 was a pretty dry year for him, I think he only won the US Open that year, having just lost to Nadal in one of the greatest games of all time. Finally winning something would have meant a lot to him.

 

[puddleduck]

He made it very clear he desperately wanted a Gold medal. You can pretend you know him better than his own comments, but you'd be placing your own bias onto him

 

[cricket_icon]

I've never heard that interview but anyway, I wasn't simply talking about Federer but a number of tennis stars AND I also mentioned football and basketball as examples of discontented players who could care less about the Olympics. Spain have already said it is "ruining football" and a number of top American stars were reluctant about the games, till they were put under pressure and started singing the right tunes.

By no means am I against cricket at the Olympics, I'm just not sure ho relevant it will be in a world of WCs both ODI and t20 and with much bigger test series' to be played. If it was some sort of youth tournament, 20 overs long, it may just work but what kind of audience would it draw? And surely the cricket would be lacking?

 

[puddleduck]

I don't think football needs to be in the Olympics at all, although I'm actually for there being as many sports as possible in it. I'd have golf and Rugby 7s in there. Would actually be nice if football went global, abandon the European championship/Copa America/Asia Cup and have a World Cup and Olympics running the equivalent schedule... That's just me though

 

[mrtwisties]

It's often said the Dream Team playing in the 1992 Olympics helped spread basketball across the world. I'd love to see something similar happen with cricket - although I'm not sure whether the T20 format or the comparatively unique Test format would be better suited to doing that job.

From the perspective of the Olympics, I think its policy should be to try and become THE pinnacle for any major sport, just as it was when first founded. Didn't they used to allow clubs to compete, as well as nations? Perhaps it's worth revisiting those sorts of concepts...

 

[Skater]

Interesting. BBC Sport - The MCC backs Twenty20 cricket at the Olympic Games

 

[Prithvi]

No offence, but my previous post was a sarcastic one.

oops, my new desktop isn't installed with sarcasm detector.

Why not? Its not like its u-19 or something. Almost the entire Bangladesh squad could have been playing.

Yes, Bangladesh will play their main squad. And currently an Under 19 world cup is going, who is giving a damn (apart from PC)? No one is even interested to see who are the players.

U-23 will definitely have a better situation, I agree. with IPL highlighting many under 23 players, people will think "he hit in that match, might be he will do it again" (but he will never do.) But the chances are high that top minnows win it because they are the ones who come to the tournament unchanged from their actual squads, as you mentioned, Bangladesh will have almost their main squad. Ireland will have too.

But the chance that people follow it as much as they follow T20 World Cup is very low, considering that there won't be any big names.

 

[icyman]

The Olympics is the pinnacle for a lot of athletes, whether it be a track and field athlete, a swimmer, a cyclist, a hockey player, whatever. The Olympics is the number one thing that they want to win and rightfully so. For sports like Cricket and Football, the World Cups will always take precedent, meaning that the Olympics means very little, which is wrong.

By your logic, the Olympics should not have any team sports at all is it ?

Do the Olympic Gold Medal winners in Football get called the best in the World? No, the World Cup winners do, which would be exactly the same in Cricket.

Here's where the IOC committee is at fault. They should ensure that the participating nations put their best teams forth.The football teams that we get in the Olmypics are somewhat like Mexico 'C' and Spain ' D'. The countries themselves aren't bothered if they win at the Olmypics or not. Football has been too long governed by the clubs and that is not the way with cricket.

Introducing cricket in the T20 format will widen the scope of the game. Have direct knock-outs to make the Olympics more interesting.

 

[MUFC1987]

I'm not reiterating the same argument again, just because you refuse to read the rest of my posts. I just want to point out though, there are team sports in those examples that I gave, so I don't see what you're talking about to be honest. Unless you think Hockey is an individual sport?

 

[icyman]

Hockey is not controlled by leagues as opposed to football. That was my only point.