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Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

Triathalon

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive what could go right.
Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

How about jumping a 7 ft fence or wall on a horse.  What if the horse miscalculates and falls on the rider?  Not only does the rider have to be an athlete but so must the horse.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Respected Contributor
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Registered: ‎09-02-2022

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

Confession:

 

I love LOVE, "tickled pink,"  reading all your choices, selections & expounding...

 

                         GIF--Emoji--on-off-Smiling--THANX.gif

 

 

 

"The voice of sanity is getting hoarse."  -   ("Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" by Irish Poet, Seamus Heaney (1939-2013))

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Posts: 286
Registered: ‎05-28-2010

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?


@JoyFilled Warrior wrote:

@on the bay   Woman Happy

 

I totally agree. 

To me, it feels almost like a miracle;  But not just one miracle, miracleS.. plural.

 

HOW do they practice riding those size waves, over & over, & over again,  before possibly even signing up to enter the Olympics??

 

Granted devoted, repetitive prep & practice for anything WW Olympics level has its awful risks.  Pushing the body to it's utmost level, many times knocking possible contenders out from applying, even qualifying for admission!

 

But to me, practicing this Olympic level of surfing "practice" waves -  unfathomable.

 

Water can be very very unforgiving.  Imagine a WALL of water?  Imagine a WALL of water, at yr immediate backside!  Imagine, even if riding that wave successfully, just how long you're under pressurized water before surfacing for air!  .. while your ankle is also tethered to a heavy surfboard, somewhere in your immediate vicinity, in/under water with you! 

     Yet, I never seem to read much abt any surfers, incl Olympic level practicing, that died, practicing, trying.

 

Then, they qualify & show up for the meanest, tallest, most powerful, Mother Nature, Walls of Water, Waves, & perform at the WW Olympics  ..

 

pic--2024-Paris-Olympics---Surf-a-Wave-No-3.jpg

 

pic--2024-Paris-Olympics---Surf-a-Wave-Underwater.jpg

 


@JoyFilled Warrior   The 2 towering waves you pictured were from Chopes' Code Red days.  The first pic you posted is Laird Hamilton in the year 2000.  

 

Most if not all of the surfers at the Olympics are professional surfers and have sponsorships.  most are winners of multiple surf  contests held by Word Surfing League or International Surfing League and most are no strangers to to Chopes.

 

When the break gets so monsterous in size, the surfers are towed in onto the break using Jet skis. Very few surfers even attempt Code Red days. Laird is a BEAST!  

 

Teahupo'o wave is a perfect, hollow tube break.. when conditions offer a southwest swell, glassy surface and offshore winds, it makes for a consistent wave for surfing competion.

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,479
Registered: ‎09-02-2022

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

Hi @foxywoods   Woman Happy

 

Great to know!

Thanks for sharing, ID'ing & explaining.  Woman Very Happy 

 

 

 

"The voice of sanity is getting hoarse."  -   ("Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" by Irish Poet, Seamus Heaney (1939-2013))

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Posts: 1,090
Registered: ‎04-08-2019

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

Not at all interested in the Olympics this year.
Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels here on earth to teach us to be better humans.
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Posts: 7,714
Registered: ‎05-09-2010

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

I would not consider billiards a sport. I guess there should be some sort of distinction between a sport and a game. Billiards seems like a game. I did not know a gymnast became paralysed, but I am sure that could happen. Can you imagine? Your kid goes to gymnastics practice and has a bad fall and is paralysed? I would think the coach would be partly to blame. I don’t know which is the hardest. But in gymnastics, the slightest misstep costs points, and there is no way to make that up.
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. Margaret Mead
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,872
Registered: ‎07-12-2011

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

I would say Gymnastics. Especially with those flips, someone could break their neck or worse.

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-21-2010

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?


@Estellee wrote:

I would say Gymnastics. Especially with those flips, someone could break their neck or worse.


Gymnastics is EXTREMELY dangerous.  For men and women.  You can become paralyzed if you land wrong.  Many little girls go in to it.  This is a sport that if you are younger, the better you'll be at it.  But men and women lose their flexibility when they age. Usually they are out of gymnastics by the time they're 23.  For men, a little longer. It used to be huge in Russia.  Then mothers began to pull out the girls from the sport.  Too risky. Many figure skaters you see started out in gymnastics. Their moms decded figure skating is much safer.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,479
Registered: ‎09-02-2022

Re: Possible to select most difficult Olympic Sport?

[ Edited ]

Hi @Forum_Folks    Woman Happy

 

I remember reading abt Pool & Billiards in here.

 

As a person having formerly participated in a healthy amt of Sports, incl my beloved Golf, I was rather surprised to see Golf at the Olympics.   Granted, there is a tremendous amt of long/short precision, & some physicality & risks involved in playing Golf. 

    For instance, on the Golf Course, I was watching my smacked ball skyward, while accidentally stepping, heel first, into some kind of Critter Hole.  That snapped, ruptured my leg's Plantaris Tendon.   I had to be carried off the Golf Course, &  treated to lotsa weeks of tough Sports Therapy.  But now, I cant even remember which leg it was!

 

And some, not all, other Sports injuries I took,  I still feel the pain from, probably always will.

 

So Golf?   I am humbled that who knows, maybe some day Table Pool/Billiards??  Who knows?

 

 

"The voice of sanity is getting hoarse."  -   ("Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" by Irish Poet, Seamus Heaney (1939-2013))