Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler London 2012 Summer Olympics

Well, Cam did have some personal experience with rowing, so it has to be "easily" the most difficult sport.

A moment of silence.

Why no golf, no baseball, no softball?

Golf is a game, not a sport.

I tried rowing once, for fun, with a friend who was in the canoe/kayak club across the lake where I stayed for a couple of summers with my Aunt.

I was in good shape then and I thought I was doing pretty well, coordination wise. Well at least for a while until they really poured it on. Then I couldn't power through a long stroke fast enough to keep up. I flailed along with clumsy, shorter strokes so I didn't bang my oars against theirs. It wasn't pretty. Not pretty at all.

Peter, on a very basic level, a sport that relies on the precise synchronization of eight people, is far more difficult than the independent performance of one.



I was talking about performance. That's a mistake. But seeing as you brought it up, try "catching a crab" while rowing. That's when one of your oars catches the water whilst in your backstroke, thus swinging back and hitting in the chest or face (the force usually knocks you out of the boat).



Of the summer sports, I also played football, judo, mountain biking, badminton, baseball and lacrosse (the latter two are no longer in the Olympics). No bias, just informed.




Baseball and softball were removed because golf and rugby are taking their place in 2016.

One reason baseball was removed is because of it's failure to be in strict compliance with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency).

Cam, remember that this is just your opinion. I'm just saying I disagree. I've rowed before. It is a difficult sport, but with training that synchronization becomes second-nature. Rhythm is not crazy hard to attain. As with all sports, the difficult part is the training: the grueling schedule to push the endurance and strength of the human body further, the personal sacrifices made to dedicate a significant portion of your life to the possible attainment of fleeting glory. This experience is not unique to rowing.


Been there, done that. But I blamed it on my boatmates who couldn't set the boat worth a damn. (Did I mention the rowing I've done was for a team building exercise?)


Naturally, you're informed about your personal experiences, but it comes off as arrogant and dismissive to say that all the other olympic sports are less difficult than rowing. Can you not see that?

From my perspective based on my own athleticism, gymnastics would be the most difficult for me and I think for most individuals to execute even at the most basic level. I'm not saying that we would be good at the majority of the other sports but most people could learn to row a boat or swim the breaststroke for example. Compare that to the pommel horse, balance beam, vault or rings. The learning curve and the combination of speed, strength, coordination, finesse, timing, pure born gymnastic athleticism would be too much for large majority of people to even execute a basic move of that particular gymnastic event. I'm totally blown away by the athletes on the rings. I'm amazed at the stress the upper body (tendons) can take with that event.

Just for fun, water polo would kick my ass too.


I'm in the minority that actually likes the summer olympics better than the winter.

I have to agree, BJ1. I think there are a couple different standards of difficulty. First, can it be done AT ALL; second, can it be done WELL. The gymnastics stuff is just crazy in that "how can a human being DO that?" kind of way not present in most of the other competitions.

Ditto. I was watching the men's pommel horse and floor exercise last night and blown away at what I was seeing.

Synchronization of the stroke is a whole different story when you're rowing competitively, as Andrew's experience illustrated. The perfect stroke involves so many variable, which in turn relies on eight men. It's not just the oar.



Where did I even elude to this? I just said it's the most difficult sport in the Olympics. The Olympics isn't competitive training. Obviously the training is difficult in all sports (although based on your statement, ping-pong is as difficult as rowing), but the performance when the time matters is just as difficult (if not more) in sports. There's so many more correlates that come into play. I have heard professional athlete will say that, and experienced it myself. You train to pull it all together for that one moment; to be the best. One mistake, that's it. No "let's retry that".




No. It's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. It's not dismissive to other sports. If I say it's more difficult than women's basketball, it doesn't dismiss women's basketball. It's an opinion.

Question - is their another Olympic sport that consistently uses every muscle in your body?