It's April 1st again!

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To quote Cycling News today:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"

I'd rather watch skateboarding over 2-man luge any day of the week. I find
many of the sports in the X games far more compelling than rhythmic
gymnastics and curling for example. I say we give it a whirl.

jj

Simon Brooke said:

To quote Cycling News today:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their tricks.

WTF?

I gotta go look this up.... hang on.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jun07/jun09news

Third item down.

WTF?

You don't suppose the UCI is planning to leave cycling because of recent drug
issues, do you. Maybe they're looking for competitors who are easier to bust.

Can anybody explain this?

Ron

in message <[email hidden]>, RonSonic

(') said:

On Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:58:32 +0100, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

To quote Cycling News today:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London
Times. In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add
the sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain
faster approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for
2012," confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The
proposal includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic
velodrome by erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform
their tricks.

WTF?

You don't suppose the UCI is planning to leave cycling because of recent
drug issues, do you. Maybe they're looking for competitors who are easier
to bust.

Can anybody explain this?

Two wheels bad, four wheels good.

Who wants a one kilometer time trial when you could have people messing
about on glorified rollerskates?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; not so much a refugee from reality, more a bogus
;; asylum seeker

RonSonic said:

Simon Brooke said:

To quote Cycling News today:

Quoted message said:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

Quoted message said:

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their tricks.

Quoted message said:

WTF?

I gotta go look this up.... hang on.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jun07/jun09news

Third item down.

WTF?

You don't suppose the UCI is planning to leave cycling because of recent drug
issues, do you. Maybe they're looking for competitors who are easier to bust.

Can anybody explain this?

Ron

I wanna know where they plan to find enough skateboarders that can
pass a drug test to hold an Olympic event. They're cutting actual
cycling events and the UCI wants to help replace them with
skateboarding????
Bill C

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, RonSonic

(') said:

On Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:58:32 +0100, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

To quote Cycling News today:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

SNIP

Hi Simon:
It read to me more like "the UCI wants to take over skateboarding
because they've done such a good job with BMX," with the Olympic
carrot held out to the skaeboard companies (the board, clothing and
"lifestyle" companies are the current main sponsors of pro
skateboarding teams). I'd have to ask locals who travel to compete to
see if there are conditions or course types that favor competitors
from one region of the world over another (this is a reference to the
chess world, where the all-important [if you like appearance money and
free tournament entry fees] titles are "easier" to gain in parts of
the world that have more invitational round-robin competition than,
say, the United States and its weekend open tournaments). (Yup, I'm
paranoid that way -- does skateboarding already have a "ruling" or
"standards of competition" body?).

Rleone

RonSonic said:

Simon Brooke said:

To quote Cycling News today:

Quoted message said:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

Quoted message said:

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their tricks.

Quoted message said:

WTF?

I gotta go look this up.... hang on.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jun07/jun09news

Third item down.

WTF?

You don't suppose the UCI is planning to leave cycling because of recent drug
issues, do you. Maybe they're looking for competitors who are easier to bust.

Can anybody explain this?

Ron

Yep, no drugs in skateboarding or BMX...

Quoted message said:

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their tricks.

I think it's a *great* idea to increase the utility of velodromes, which
often have a difficult time justifying their existence to the local
government footing the bill. It would probably make more sense if they could
figure a way to do BMX on the infield, but that might take up more space
than is available.

However... it's beyond absurd to remove the Kilo, one of the great standards
of track, and replace it with skateboarding. The Kilo is essentially made
for sound/video bites. It's short, it's dramatic (especially with modern
technology, where you could show the current vs virtual lead rider at the
same time), and it's easy to grasp what's going on.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Quoted message said:

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their tricks.

I think it's a *great* idea to increase the utility of velodromes, which
often have a difficult time justifying their existence to the local
government footing the bill. It would probably make more sense if they could
figure a way to do BMX on the infield, but that might take up more space
than is available.

Probably there is enough room for some BMX events in the infield,
depending on how flexible the ramps are, and whether you're thinking
vert or street course. The scale of a small velodrome may be described
by the fact that the Burnaby Velodrome, 200m, has room for six
full-sized volleyball courts with plenty of room between them. I believe
they may squeeze in one or two more courts in a training configuration.

http://www.volleyballbc.ca/HJSC/

Quoted message said:

However... it's beyond absurd to remove the Kilo, one of the great standards
of track, and replace it with skateboarding. The Kilo is essentially made
for sound/video bites. It's short, it's dramatic (especially with modern
technology, where you could show the current vs virtual lead rider at the
same time), and it's easy to grasp what's going on.

Agreed.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jeff Jackson' [email protected] said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To quote Cycling News today:

UCI to add skateboarding to Olympic menu?

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"

I'd rather watch skateboarding over 2-man luge any day of the week. I find
many of the sports in the X games far more compelling than rhythmic
gymnastics and curling for example. I say we give it a whirl.

jj

You take that back about curling! Also, curling is a winter sport, and
not likely to displace track events unless and until the UCI decides
that track is really, really a winter event and moves it to the Winter
Games.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

On Jun 9, 7:29 pm, Davey Crockett <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Quoted message said:

;; making jokes about dyslexia isn't big, it isn't clever and
;; it isn't furry.

I doubt very much that skateboarding can be added without changing the
UCI constitution

Dumbass -

The UCI isn't accountable to any constituency that's gonna "vote them
out of office" like politicians. They can change the "constitution"
however and whenever they want. They will too, if they think money is
there to be made.

All they see is:

UCI controls skateboarding at Olympics = $$$$

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ryan Cousineau said:

You take that back about curling! Also, curling is a winter sport, and
not likely to displace track events unless and until the UCI decides
that track is really, really a winter event and moves it to the Winter
Games.

Cycling is considered a "summer" sport by the Olympic organizers, hence it will
(probably) always be part of the summer games. Which is why cyclocross won't be part
of the games.

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ryan Cousineau said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Quoted message said:

The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic Committee
to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London
Times.
In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain faster
approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their tricks.

I think it's a *great* idea to increase the utility of velodromes, which
often have a difficult time justifying their existence to the local
government footing the bill. It would probably make more sense if they
could
figure a way to do BMX on the infield, but that might take up more space
than is available.

Probably there is enough room for some BMX events in the infield,
depending on how flexible the ramps are, and whether you're thinking
vert or street course. The scale of a small velodrome may be described
by the fact that the Burnaby Velodrome, 200m, has room for six
full-sized volleyball courts with plenty of room between them. I believe
they may squeeze in one or two more courts in a training configuration.

I believe they're going to have BMX racing, rather than freestyle events (like
ramp or street). The UCI has had Worlds for BMX for the past four years, long enough
to see that there is already a BMX version of Raymond Poulidor.

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

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Howard Kveck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ryan Cousineau said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

> The UCI has put forth a proposal to the International Olympic
> Committee
> to add skateboarding to the 2012 Olympics, according to the London
> Times.
> In order to add the sport more quickly, the UCI is proposing add the
> sport as a discipline under their organisation, which could gain
> faster
> approval. "We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,"
> confirmed Olivier Quéguiner, the UCI director of sport. The proposal
> includes holding the skateboarding events at the Olympic velodrome by
> erecting a number of half-pipes for the skaters to perform their
> tricks.

I think it's a *great* idea to increase the utility of velodromes, which
often have a difficult time justifying their existence to the local
government footing the bill. It would probably make more sense if they
could
figure a way to do BMX on the infield, but that might take up more space
than is available.

Probably there is enough room for some BMX events in the infield,
depending on how flexible the ramps are, and whether you're thinking
vert or street course. The scale of a small velodrome may be described
by the fact that the Burnaby Velodrome, 200m, has room for six
full-sized volleyball courts with plenty of room between them. I believe
they may squeeze in one or two more courts in a training configuration.

I believe they're going to have BMX racing, rather than freestyle events
(like
ramp or street). The UCI has had Worlds for BMX for the past four years, long
enough
to see that there is already a BMX version of Raymond Poulidor.

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

Hm. Good question then about the size. I'd say it would work, but not
during the same two-week period as you wanted to have an Olympic track
meet.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

Kurgan Gringioni said:

UCI controls skateboarding at Olympics = $$$$

Paddy want party.

Curtis L. Russell said:

Any track event other than track bike balancing as a timed event can be made
exciting and can connect with the viewer.

Track bike balancing could be made exciting by allowing spectatators to
throw missiles at the balancers. They connect with the competitors when
they score a hit. Last man standing wins (it could even have a big brother
component by allowing the competitors to attempt to ingrate themselves
with the crowd - the most popular competitor gets less stuff thrown at him)

"Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
....

Quoted message said:

However... it's beyond absurd to remove the Kilo, one of the great
standards of track, and replace it with skateboarding. The Kilo is
essentially made for sound/video bites. It's short, it's dramatic
(especially with modern technology, where you could show the current vs
virtual lead rider at the same time), and it's easy to grasp what's going
on.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Actually, it is sort of the measure of the sport how short it falls in
making any real attempt at connecting with the larger audience. Really now -
long distance oval skating is any more exciting? No, but they decided to
make the effort to build in excitement by blending technology and 'other
than deadhead' announcers - and fabricating feuds when it met skatings'
needs.

Any track event other than track bike balancing as a timed event can be made
exciting and can connect with the viewer. Someone has to make a real effort
to make the connection with a larger audience, but they don't and evidently
won't.

--
Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...