Over the last few weeks we have been captivated by the biggest sporting event on the calendar – The Olympic Games! We’re sure that you have enjoyed this event just as much as we have.
However, we think its missing one thing…. the greatest sport in the world…. FRISBEE FREESTYLE!!! Over the last few olympics many new/lower in popularity sports have been introduced to this event such as the sports of Beach Volleyball, Water Polo and Taekwondo!!!!! We think that Frisbee Freestyle would go down just as well, if not better, than these sports and would be great in the Olympics!
Many different countries would be able to enter teams into the sport, and it would greatly increase the popularity and development of the sport if it was introduced into the olympics!
Obviously, as we are both only 15, we will not presently be able to drive this idea forward very far! With the help of the FPA and the top Jammers from around the globe, however, we believe that this bid could be very sucessful and that we could perhaps of realised this dream by the 2012 Olympics (possibly even Beijing 2008) !!
We would also need a sponsor to finance the bid and since Wham-O seems to have a renewed intrest in our sport, then it could be them! What do you think about this?
So we think Frisbee Freestyle as an Olympic Sport would be BRILLIANT ! What do you think??
Johninho and Joe ‘the flow’!
One of the main focuses of the World
Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has been infiltrating the maze of
beaurocracy around the international sports festivals, the Olympics being the
biggest festival. They have had some success. Four years ago Ultimate and
Golf were demonstration sports at the World Games, and Larry Imperiale and
Bill Wright did a freestyle show there. Next year, I believe Ultimate is an
official event at the World Games.
The Olympics are great, but we should think about whether the rewards of
being part of the Olympic program outweigh the costs. How much energy
do we spend pursuing the Olympics versus other ways to get exposure and
greater recognition for freestyle? Being in the Olympics guarantees some
legitimacy but not success: modern pentathlon is still a medal sport but no
one hears about it.
More recently, disc sports have been confronted with another reality: drug
testing. On the surface, drug testing seems like a simple issue. Sure, we
want our athletes to be competing on a level playing field. But it’s actually
not that simple. The list of banned substances is long and includes lots of
innocent over the counter medicines. The list of banned substances is not
customized for the sport – for instance, chess has the same drug list as track
& field. WADA (the
World Anti-Doping Agency), has become very powerful and their
effectiveness is still in question.
This year, WFDF instituted drug testing
for its international events without asking approval from the athletes at
large. Many Ultimate players who will be affected by this decision are upset,
and they are likely going to be the ones who would first benefit from any
Olympic invitations.
It’s a complex issue. I think we need to make some decisions on what is
important to us as a sport and what sacrifices the athletes and the sport are
willing to make to achieve various goals. And most importantly, we need to
keep the sport progressing and expanding so inviting us to any sports
festival is a no-brainer.