Women's Boxing/Olympics

[Island Drive]

Pretty sad when I think about comparing these two and to think Women's boxing made it into the Olympics (heard it on NPR tonight coming home from work) before womens pool. Our games got over 400 years of history and boxing has a mere 100 years. The USOC should consider getting rid of weight lifting and go for an exercise machine competition, maybe the one that Chuck Norris sells....:angry:

 

[Coldsweat]

I don't think there are enough female boxers (good ones) for it to make it.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Pretty sad when I think about comparing these two and to think Women's boxing made it into the Olympics (heard it on NPR tonight coming home from work) before womens pool. Our games got over 400 years of history and boxing has a mere 100 years. The USOC should consider getting rid of weight lifting and go for an exercise machine competition, maybe the one that Chuck Norris sells....:angry:

Ummm, well, no. From Wikipedia:

Although fighting with fists comes naturally to people, evidence of fist-fighting contests first appear on ancient Sumerian, Egyptian and Minoan reliefs. The ancient Greeks provide us our first historical records of boxing as a formal sport; they codified a set of rules and staged tournaments with professionals. The birth hour of boxing as a sport may be its acceptance as an Olympic game as early as 688 BC. Modern boxing evolved in Europe, particularly Great Britain.​

To the extent that you are only including modern boxing, I think it's then only fair to limit cue sports to the development of organized international competition, which I think for cue sports goes back no farther than the 1930's. Pool got international organization only with the founding of the WPA.

I was disappointed to see that in fact some sports were being added but cue sports were not considered. It is a large effort to petition the IOC for a new sport, and the WCBS has already tried at least once.

 

[Island Drive]

Ummm, well, no. From Wikipedia:

Although fighting with fists comes naturally to people, evidence of fist-fighting contests first appear on ancient Sumerian, Egyptian and Minoan reliefs. The ancient Greeks provide us our first historical records of boxing as a formal sport; they codified a set of rules and staged tournaments with professionals. The birth hour of boxing as a sport may be its acceptance as an Olympic game as early as 688 BC. Modern boxing evolved in Europe, particularly Great Britain.​

To the extent that you are only including modern boxing, I think it's then only fair to limit cue sports to the development of organized international competition, which I think for cue sports goes back no farther than the 1930's. Pool got international organization only with the founding of the WPA.

I was disappointed to see that in fact some sports were being added but cue sports were not considered. It is a large effort to petition the IOC for a new sport, and the WCBS has already tried at least once.

Bob, the gal doing the interview said that womens boxing started 100 years ago I think she also wrote a book on it tho not 100%, now male boxing is another story.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Bob, the gal doing the interview said that women's boxing started 100 years ago I think she also wrote a book on it tho not 100%, now male boxing is another story.

Sure, but one of the major current aims of the IOC is to get equal male and female participation throughout the Games. An easy way to work towards that goal is to add a female division of a sport that is already in.

Actually, cue sports have some advantage (IOC-wise) in that there is already female participation to a very high degree compared to some other sports. (Female rugby? I see that the NCAA is trying to develop 40 varsity teams.)

I was disappointed like you, but I don't begrudge the boxers their win.

 

[sausage]

if pool ever does make it into the olympics, it's going to be the ONLY event in the history of the games where the most unhealthy people on the planet have a chance at olympic gold.

 

[Cameron Smith]

Not quite true, I don't believe curlers need to be light on their feet.

 

[juegabillar]

Pretty sad when I think about comparing these two and to think Women's boxing made it into the Olympics (heard it on NPR tonight coming home from work) before womens pool. Our games got over 400 years of history and boxing has a mere 100 years. The USOC should consider getting rid of weight lifting and go for an exercise machine competition, maybe the one that Chuck Norris sells....:angry:

Here's the news directly from the IOC:

IOC approves new events for 2012 London Olympic Games

The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today approved several new events for the 2012 London Olympic Games. All of the new events had been requested by the relevant International Federations as part of the IOC’s systematic review of the sports programme. The changes reflect the IOC’s desire to continually refresh the Olympic programme and its commitment to increase participation by women.

The changes approved by the Executive Board include the following:

Women’s Boxing

The EB agreed to the introduction of three women’s events. The current 11 men’s boxing events will be replaced by 10 men’s and three women’s events, representing an additional two boxing events on the programme. The total number of boxers remains unchanged. The decision was a recognition that women’s boxing has made substantial progress in universality and technical quality of the athletes since the EB last considered the discipline in 2005.

Canoe Sprint

The EB agreed to the request made by the International Canoe Federation (ICF) for the replacement of men’s C2 500m with women’s K1 200m. The EB also agreed to replace the remaining three men’s 500m sprint events with 200m sprint events.

Modern Pentathlon

The EB agreed to the implementation of a new combined run-shoot format.

Handball

The removal of placement matches in the handball tournament was agreed.

Wrestling, Swimming, Cycling

The three Federations (FILA, FINA, and UCI respectively) submitted requests for new events. The EB informed them that this could happen, especially if the new events increase the participation of women at the Games and on condition that they replace events already on the programme. Additionally, current events can be replaced with new ones only if the total number of athletes is maintained.

Tennis – Mixed Doubles

Furthermore, the EB agreed to consider the inclusion of a mixed doubles event pending guarantees from the International Tennis Federation that the top players in the singles rankings would be able to participate.

The EB will make a decision on the issue at its December meeting in Lausanne.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
The IOC received requests from 17 International Sports Federations for modifications of events, quotas and competition formats for the Olympic Games in London in 2012 by the deadline of October 2008.

The IOC Olympic Programme Commission analysed all of the requests based on established criteria, and submitted its findings to the Executive Board. The key positive factors included whether the changes would increase universality, gender equity and youth appeal, and in general add value to the Games. Other considerations included the cost of infrastructure, and the impact on the overall quota and the number of events.

All modifications of events, quotas or competition format for the Olympic Games in London 2012 are provisional, and will be reviewed for the programme of the 2016 Olympic Games after the Games in London.

The sports on the programme for any edition of the Games are decided no later than at the IOC Session electing the host city for that edition of the Games.

PHOTOS:

When available, images will be published to flickr.com, click here.

VIDEOS:
The press conference with President Jacques Rogge will be available shortly on www.olympic.org

For more information please contact the IOC Communications Department, Tel: +41 21 621 60 00, email: pressoffice@olympic.org , or visit our web site at www.olympic.org