What is the easiest Olympic sport?

[Trumpin]

Handball-I am 6'1 above average athlete. No doubt in my mind I could make the USA handball team if I spent a year or 2 trying to.

That sport is retardedly simple.

You 6'1?

Post a pic, you're probably a 5'5' fattass who sit all day trying to come up with weak ass comicbooks that no one will read.

[chains5000]

Folks, running is the easiest sport. What is easier to learn?

I hope this is a joke.

[wally_world]

basketball, just join team USA as a 12th man and get a gold medal for doing nothing

[kNIOKAS]

I hope this is a joke.

it actually makes sense. it's something very natural and doesn't require any additional skill or knowledge. anybody can run. See: Forest GUmp

[Jasi]

it actually makes sense. it's something very natural and doesn't require any additional skill or knowledge. anybody can run. See: Forest GUmp

Yeah but the point here is: what is the sport where it's easiest to reach an olympic level.
Running would probably be at the bottom of the list.
If your body structure isn't adequate, there's no training that will get you there.
Unless you become a Bhutan citizen or something.

[chains5000]

Yeah but the point here is: what is the sport where it's easiest to reach an olympic level.
Running would probably be at the bottom of the list.
If your body structure isn't adequate, there's no training that will get you there.
Unless you become a Bhutan citizen or something.

People fail to realize athletes in Marathon run as fast as common people at their fastest speed, for 42,195km.

[kNIOKAS]

Yeah but the point here is: what is the sport where it's easiest to reach an olympic level.
Running would probably be at the bottom of the list.
If your body structure isn't adequate, there's no training that will get you there.
Unless you become a Bhutan citizen or something.

Correct, and we have to stress the genetics and bodytype here. Some sports simply require a certain build, but maybe, given you have that type of build, sport becomes easy? For example take a 7 foot volleyball player. I really think that sport isn't hard, it's just concentration and basic movement... Well, you have to have somewhat "good" hands, I suppose, but it's really a sport that in our school the laziest guys used to play (those that found basketball requiring too much physical energy). So yeah. My nomination goes to volleyball.

[LJJ]

I have to admit, I know a bunch of people who played volleyball at a fairly high level. Nothing extraordinary, but high national amateur level, and I was never really impressed with their overall athletic ability.

These weren't the people who tended to get picked first in gym class for anything but volleyball. People who excel at other sports such as basketball or soccer you could count on to be quite adequate at most sports, but the same couldn't be said about the "volleybal people".

[Boomerang]

I have to admit, I know a bunch of people who played volleyball at a fairly high level. Nothing extraordinary, but high national amateur level, and I was never really impressed with their overall athletic ability.

These weren't the people who tended to get picked first in gym class for anything but volleyball. People who excel at other sports such as basketball or soccer you could count on to be quite adequate at most sports, but the same couldn't be said about the "volleybal people".

Volleyball people are known to jump a lot higher than BBall people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T6dsJ7NrTE

Plus the speed and precision is crazy. When someone spikes, the ball travels so fast you have less than 0.1 second to react or you're too late. This occurs for the most part of the game.

[alenleomessi]

well if you live in usa getting in the olympics will be pretty damn hard even if you are a good athlete...for a small country (african mostly) is much easier... doesnt matter if you failed to qualify for the semis/finals... still you made the olympics

if you watch the heats ( qualifications, they are on air right now ) there are peeps running around 12 seconds in 100m( last in the race but still olympic level )... any good athlete can run that fast with some training... also the same can be said for swimming


as being a championship level in the olympics? probably badminton

[kNIOKAS]

Volleyball people are known to jump a lot higher than BBall people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T6dsJ7NrTE

Plus the speed and precision is crazy. When someone spikes, the ball travels so fast you have less than 0.1 second to react or you're too late. This occurs for the most part of the game.

Well... Point still stands. You do what you can do, it's not like pro volleyball athletes have vastly superior reaction time to the average bloke. Reaction times are defined by the speed of neurons transmitting signals, and that's pretty much a constant. You can improve a little here and there, you may have an inherited somewhat better reaction time but realistically it's only miliseconds. In sports people do react to such things by context, as in table tennis - you couldn't react fast enough to calculate and hit the incoming ball - yet, you can judge the trajectory by the moves of the opponent. Add some playing experience and you have it as good as almost any player.

I would also claim that shooting with pistols or rifles must be really easy. Relatively it requires almost none physical training, as the biggest part is mental: focus. And that's it... You either have parkinsons and can't hit shit, or you're good at it. Now hold your breath and do your thing...
Plus, not everyone gets the gun to shoot at young age or any age, it's not the typical birthday gift as a basketball or football, thus making the field smaller.

well if you live in usa getting in the olympics will be pretty damn hard even if you are a good athlete...for a small country (african mostly) is much easier... doesnt matter if you failed to qualify for the semis/finals... still you made the olympics

I would try looking at it the other way - training for any sport in undeveloped countries must be awful. Remember Sadam forcing physical punishment on "underperforming" athletes? Think of North Korea footballers, that were happy finding a frigde in the WC housing appartments... They do spill blood to get anywhere, I believe. While countries like USA have the most advanced training facilities and the best care for their athletes.

[Lebowsky]

well if you live in usa getting in the olympics will be pretty damn hard even if you are a good athlete...for a small country (african mostly) is much easier... doesnt matter if you failed to qualify for the semis/finals... still you made the olympics

if you watch the heats ( qualifications, they are on air right now ) there are peeps running around 12 seconds in 100m( last in the race but still olympic level )... any good athlete can run that fast with some training... also the same can be said for swimming


as being a championship level in the olympics? probably badminton

You go play badminton at Olympic level and you won't even see the shuttlecock. Badminton is crazy underrated.

"Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world with shuttles reaching speeds of up to 332 km/h (206 mph) (faster than the speed of the Eurostar train)."

"The shuttlecock is poised to enter the Guinness Book of Records at 162 miles per hour (261 kph) -- the speed it travels on the smash -- compared to squash's 151 mph (243 kph) and a mere 138 mph (222 kph) for tennis. Badminton's promoters hope the speed record might bolster the sport's image and help move it out of other racket sports' shadows, particularly in regions where tennis and squash reign supreme. Besides Guinness, I saw some books claiming the speed for shuttlecock is about 300 km/h."

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2006/ShuMeiDeng.shtml

[alenleomessi]

that might be the starting speed.. but quickly it gets much slower and its not that hard to catch if you have good reflexes...
but anyway Mr Iknowiteverything why dont you tell us what is the easiest olympic sport?!

[Lebowsky]

that might be the starting speed.. but quickly it gets much slower and its not that hard to catch if you have good reflexes...
but anyway Mr Iknowiteverything why dont you tell us what is the easiest olympic sport?!

I don't know, but I've played badminton competitively and I know it isn't. Not only does it require great technique, but also great footwork and reflexes. It's fast as hell, and exhausting. Hitting a shuttle with a racket is one thing, playing badminton is a whole different one.
Now if we're speaking about your country, it's probably goat milking.

[Jasi]

No way it is easy reaching the olympic level at badminton. Are you nuts?

It seems to me like you guys (Nick Young, alen and others) consider sports you just don't know in depth as easy