PAF
I am a huge fan of Figure Skating and gymnastics I have been since I was a young girl. So, as I fan I will defend these sports especially against allegations I have read online that these aren’t really sports. I have read these sort of comments and even seen online editorials stating this sort of thing about these two events.
Here are some of the other arguments that I have seen made to back the claim that these two sports aren’t sporting events
Both events have Judges just like pageants and talent competitions that judge these sports. Wait, isn’t-diving also judged by judges, does this mean it isn’t a sport either?
These events especially ice skating have the competitors wearing flashy costumes with sequins on them. So, in order to be a real sport, you can’t have a flashy costume while competing.
These two events come across more as performance art than an actual sport. So, in other words, a sport can’t have grace and beauty to be an actual sport.
Well, no matter how many arguments there may be against these two sports I stand firm in my belief that figure skating and gymnastics are indeed a sport. These sports require just as much training time as other sports. There also is a large amount of discipline and endurance in these sports. Not to mention a great deal of strength is required especially in gymnastics.
Yes, these events are beautiful to watch but make no mistake about it these are sports. The irony is regardless of the criticism these remain popular events at the Olympic Games. Figure Skating at the Winter games and Gymnastics at the Summer Games. These are considered premiere events and get perhaps some of the best ratings during these games. So, what do you think, do you consider these a sport, I am curious to know you opinion, since I have given mine.
I find that to be a strange way to define a sport, especially as skating and gymnastics come up trumps with just about every other criterion you can think of. There are sometimes questions of this kind asked about snooker and darts, on the grounds that relatively little physical exertion is required, but that certainly wouldn’t apply to gymnastics and skating.
I’ve always admired Gymnastics, figure and ice skating, I think it’s something that I would prefer to see rather than rugby never occurred to me people didn’t think it was sport. You need great strength to do these things
You know what really makes my skin crawl? When a sportscaster who used to work at ESPN and now works for Fox Sports 1 had the gall to insult our U S Women’s Gymnastics team that won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens calling our kids “Chokers”. I wanted to be on the set of that show and give Skip Bayless the riot act in both Spanish and English saying it is thing to bad mouth a pro basketball star who is dubbed “King James” but lay off insulting young teenage females with the exception of Annia Hatch who is an adult. Long live figure skating and gymnastics. Can we give three cheers of the Final Five team who “Just won baby” in Rio in 2016.