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ThunderDome!!!!!!!

Mannahnin wrote:
The ancient Olympics had Pankration, which was a mix of boxing and wrestling. The name literally means "all powers"; that you fight using every capability of your body. Striking, locks, throws and chokes were all used. The only real restrictions in the original were no biting and no eye-gouging. Bearing in mind our much stricter safety standards, this actually sounds like a pretty darn close match for MMA. FILA, which sanctions Olympic wrestling, recognizes modern Pankration as basically the same thing as MMA, but without strikes to the head.

Just sayin'.

The ancient Greeks also forbade any man from Sparta to compete in the Pankration competition.


I don't like MMA, and I definitely think that its sporting attributes are covered by other events, so it should stay out of the olympics. That said, if they got rid of baseball/softball because it had an "American bias" they need tp get rid of basketball as well...the womens team won gold for what, the 5th time in a row??

If the olympics are going to include soccer and other majpr sports, we need to include rugby as well


As for 'post modern' events, they should do Xterra races (to coincide with the regular triathlon), and that newish Spartan Race that i see ads for on my facebook page.

Considering the Modern Pentathlon was based on the kind of things a Napoleonic cavalry soldier might be expected to do, surely it should be based on what a modern cavalry soldier might be expected to do?

So, clearly the run stays in, as dose the shooting, but replacing laser pistols with MP5s. Probably adding a fully loaded up pack to it.
Replace the horse riding with off road motorbikes.
The swimming can probably stay, but again with a fully loaded pack, in open water, to simulate a beach assault.
Fencing? A drinking competition? No idea.

(I have no idea what cavalry soldiers do nowadays other than drive little tanks)

Isn't modrn cavalry a tank?

Tank Olympics YEA! My inner Slav quivers in excitement. Crank up the T34 Georgi, lets do this thing, FOR THE MOETHERLAND!

My postmodern Pentathlon events would be roughly based around meaningless management-speak, such as:

Promoting Synergy
Blue-sky Thinking
Work-shopping
Touching Base
Consulting
Networking
Knowledge Transfer

I like that logic train, let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.

Of possible relevance to the serious part of this discussion, I just found out about the 'World Games' a sort of not-ready-for-prime-time Olympics where the IOC tries out new sports.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Games

Some events they've had:

Artistic & Dance Sports
Acrobatic gymnastics
Aerobic gymnastics
Artistic roller skating
Dancesport
Rhythmic gymnastics
Trampoline
Ball Sports
Beach handball
Canoe polo
Fistball
Korfball
Racquetball
Rugby sevens
Softball 1
Squash

Martial Arts
Aikido 2
Ju-Jitsu
Karate
Sumo
Wushu 1

Precision Sports
Billiards
Boules
Bowling
Field archery
Strength Sports
Powerlifting
Tug of War

Trend Sports
Parachuting
Paragliding
Canoe marathon 1
Duathlon 1
Flying disc
Lifesaving
Orienteering
Roller inline hockey
Speed roller skating 1
Sport climbing
Finswimming
Waterskiing

Past Sports
Tumbling
Indoor field hockey
Netball
Roller hockey
Tchoukball
Casting
Bodybuilding
Wakeboarding
Surfing

all those skating events just brought a new sport... at least for the womens side of olympics:


Roller Derby.. if you doubt it, just youtube it or something