For Olympic Pool to exist...

westcoast said:
the scoring for gymnastics is complex, but people still watch.

9 ball, in comparison, is not that difficult to comprehend- basically you just have to shoot the balls in order
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9-ball is not exciting if you play one-foul, BIH rules. It is too boring. Nobody will shoot an exciting shot, they will play a safety first. Two-shot pushout makes the game a lot more fun to watch. The players will go for shots that they would never go for in one-foul BIH.
 
MuchoBurrito said:
That's a fair comparison (although tbh I know nothing at all about guns or sport shooting).

But the present inclusion of some non-sports in the Olympics (ex. Dressage... it's not even a sport for the horse IMO.) doesn't justify adding more non-sports.
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Me neither tbh, it just seemed like a similar sort of thing skill wise!
 
Gorramjayne said:
The problem with 8-ball at that level, especially if you play on a table bigger than 6ft, is pros are going to break and run 50% of the time. Safeties are few and far between and too often people willl see that both players have balls to shoot but are playing safeties at each other and they won't underestand that they're both refusing to move a certain problem ball until they can run out.I don't think the casual player would be interested in watching that, they can't relate to it.

10 ball is far more watchable at a high level, I think, and I also think 10-ball would be better for addressing the sticky issue about why pool would be an Olympic sport before snooker considering snooker is more widely played. 10-ball patterns lend themselves better to the skill sets of snooker players. Scotch double 10-ball would be a decent event, and I actually think for the Olympics you need a tiny bit of a 'wow factor' so it should be played on 10-footers.

You are right that while pool players like the challenge of the chinese style tables, I think it would put spectators off seeing a table the same size they can find in any pool hall but the players constantly rattling shots or ducking on shots that would go on an American table.

If I'm making the decision, you'd be playing 15-ball American Rotation on 12-foot snooker table for the Olympics, going to 125 points.
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I would say 10-Ball has no chnace ahead of snooker, 9-Ball is fast and ideal for tv, additionally you have a promoter in Barry Hearn who could get behind it if he chose (as he is with snooker for I believe The 2020 games).

9-Ball has demonstrated that the team format also works well on tv and is simple to understand for the casual viewer, so I would suggest it is the only game to seriously rival snooker with a shot of getting in.

That said snooker is far more likely to make it in than any pool discipline!
 
HawaiianEye said:
9-ball is not exciting if you play one-foul, BIH rules. It is too boring. Nobody will shoot an exciting shot, they will play a safety first. Two-shot pushout makes the game a lot more fun to watch. The players will go for shots that they would never go for in one-foul BIH.
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I assume (and could be wrong), the Mosconi Cup uses those rules and is possibly the most watched tournament on the planet. I'd guess the World Cup of Pool isn't far behind.

That could easily be replicated for the Olympics, surely?
 
Yes the Mosconi cup could be replicated. That would not be enough to be an olympic sport. The problem is there is no standard rules or equipment accepted worldwide for pool. Years ago pool had big promoters like Brunswick. Many people purchased pool tables for their homes. They were placed in pubs, bars, bowling alleys all over the country. Then pool started to be associated with gambling, drinking, smoking, and crime. That put a damper on the way people perceived it. Many thought if you were good at pool it was a sign of a misspent youth. Each bar had its own rules and still do today. Every tournament or contest even today has its own individual set of rules. The majority of pool that is played among amateurs is within bar leagues that do not even promote players to compete individually. They seem to be all about the bar team instead. Only one that I am aware of does push its members to learn and help them to go pro individually.
to become an Olympic sport it would need to get past all of that on a worldwide scale. American football is not even an Olympic sport although it was played once in 1932 as a demonstration sport. We as Americans cannot even get pool and billiards teams or clubs into more then a handful of colleges.
 
No, there is a lot more to Olympic Pool, I've written about this extensively online. There has to be an international governing body for pool, making a firm set of international rules, binding worldwide, for the IOC to consider pool for the Olympics... lots of luck with that!
 
Chinese 8 ball on the Joy tables. Bar box 8 ball gets pretty boring to watch, if world class players are playing, remember it's all about selling tv space, for that you need something fun to watch.
 
BilliardsAbout said:
No, there is a lot more to Olympic Pool, I've written about this extensively online. There has to be an international governing body for pool, making a firm set of international rules, binding worldwide, for the IOC to consider pool for the Olympics... lots of luck with that!
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That's A Bingo! :thumbup:
 
WPA - Pool is internationally standardized, really. Permissible tournament variations don't change that fact.

Basketball and Soccer have different rules in Olympic play than in their myriad respective professional leagues. Especially with the popularity pool is seeing in mainland Europe I think it should be included.
 
I think Scotch Doubles 8ball might do well if it were an Olympic sport. There's already enough tournaments for 9/10ball. I think a good individual would be American Rotation, but only a game to 75-100. I think it has the right pace, complexity/simplicity, offensive/defensive play that's suited for an Olympic theme. It might be interesting if we throw in a handicap...(LOL- JK!!) I would like to see the non-pros play though. I like the requirement be that no Pro's be allowed. It might be interesting to see what players are out in the other countries that don't have pro players on the normal tours. Who knows what country might win Gold for that. Opinions?
 
BilliardsAbout said:
No, there is a lot more to Olympic Pool, I've written about this extensively online. There has to be an international governing body for pool, making a firm set of international rules, binding worldwide, for the IOC to consider pool for the Olympics... lots of luck with that!
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That organization already exists. The IOC recognizes a world body for cue sports. Cue sports are in the World Games. The disciplines at the World Games do not include eight ball.
 
Why not at least consider pool?
It's probably not quite as entertaining as "Pickle Ball" which was considered for the current Rio Olympic Games, but it's got to be internationally recognized.
I would think the game would have to be 9 ball. Anything else would just move too slow for TV. But you would have to standardize the rules for qualifying events.
I know the WPA has a set of rules and those can vary from event to event similar to Pro Soccer, Pro Basketball, Pro Volleyball, ... etc, however, FIBA, FIFA, FIVA,
and so forth have standardized rules for international events that don't vary. The WPA might suffice, but to be accepted by the IOC you'd probably need a
FICSA (Fédération Internationale de CueSport). The billiard community would never go for it, there's no way everyone could get together on this
 
I wonder how many US players could pass the IOC drug testing and requirements for out of competition testing?

JoeyM
 
Celophanewrap said:
... but to be accepted by the IOC you'd probably need a
FICSA (Fédération Internationale de CueSport). The billiard community would never go for it, there's no way everyone could get together on this
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Ummm.... You may want to note that the World Confederation of Billiard Sports (WCBS) already exists and is recognized by the IOC as the world governing body for cue sports. They have a website. The WPA belongs to the WCBS.
 
JoeyM said:
I wonder how many US players could pass the IOC drug testing and requirements for out of competition testing?

JoeyM
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Cue sportsmen have already failed drug tests, but I think no pool player has been among them. The last one I recall was a carom player.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Ummm.... You may want to note that the World Confederation of Billiard Sports (WCBS) already exists and is recognized by the IOC as the world governing body for cue sports. They have a website. The WPA belongs to the WCBS.
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Ummmm.... OK, I didn't know that. Thank you
 
if pool ever becomes an olympic event, the Philippines will have a slight chance of getting a gold medal at last. we have not had a gold in any olympic event. :(
 
Maybe I'm old fashioned (i'm 22 btw) but I grew up with a whole other idea about Olympics...

First of all: Why would you want pool to be an Olympic sport? For recognition of the players? Last time I checked, there are world caliber tournaments, there is a "Hall of Fame", and we all know the world class players.

The more I read this thread the more I dissagree with your logic. "Only 9 ball is fast enough for TV". Oh, the Olympics are for the TV now huh? Is this why they have sports like, oh I don't know, Marathon running?? One race takes HOURS to complete. And not only that, if you watch 2 minutes you have seen it all, it is people running non stop. That's it, period.

In my mind, as much as I love pool, it is NOT an Olympic sport. And I disagree with comments like "oh, this other boring "sport" is in the Olympics, why not pool too??" I agree with you that there are other sports that (in my mind) they shouldn't be in the Olympics, but my solution to this is not to add more to the list..
 
AlienObserver said:
Maybe I'm old fashioned (i'm 22 btw) but I grew up with a whole other idea about Olympics...

First of all: Why would you want pool to be an Olympic sport? For recognition of the players? Last time I checked, there are world caliber tournaments, there is a "Hall of Fame", and we all know the world class players.

The more I read this thread the more I dissagree with your logic. "Only 9 ball is fast enough for TV". Oh, the Olympics are for the TV now huh? Is this why they have sports like, oh I don't know, Marathon running?? One race takes HOURS to complete. And not only that, if you watch 2 minutes you have seen it all, it is people running non stop. That's it, period.

In my mind, as much as I love pool, it is NOT an Olympic sport. And I disagree with comments like "oh, this other boring "sport" is in the Olympics, why not pool too??" I agree with you that there are other sports that (in my mind) they shouldn't be in the Olympics, but my solution to this is not to add more to the list..
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I think it would put pool on a world stage, give it a whole new audience even as a demonstration sport. Pool hasn't really evloved as the sports / entertainment world has, in fact modern technology has, IMO, been really bad for the game. Being an Olympic event just might recharge it, bring it back to life
 
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