I love the Olympics in it’s current form, but I love the idea of what it could be even more.

The Olympics (particularly the summer Olympics) should be a much bigger deal that it is currently. It is where we as a species gather in a series of stadiums across the world that would put the roman colosseum to shame in order to discover the limits of the human potential. Who is the fastest, who can jump the highest, run the furthest, who represents the greatest of our species.

The Olympics in it’s current form is a missed opportunity for a much greater event.

I would propose the following changes:

  • Two weeks only from start to finish: The world should come to a halt and it’s attention should be captured for 14 days every 4 years.

  • No heats, no semis: These should be conducted before the official two week start date to keep athletes fresh for record breaking attempts in finals.

  • Maximum 50ish events per sex: No skateboarding, artistic swimming, shooting, etc. No having 100 different swimming events, no ping pong. Have 50 core events and make them MATTER.

  • No overlapping events: With less then 100 events in 14 days, no events would need to overlap. Have a global telecast broadcasting 15ish hours of events each day with breaks in between for commentary and building up the next event.

  • Medals = Money: Make medals worth big money. Gold medal athletes under this model would receive at minimum $50M USD either from their country or the governing body. World records should be $1B. If the attention is that of the world cup, current Olympics, and all political elections combined, this is feasible.

What are your thoughts, and why would this not be possible with enough support?

  • Left-Neighborhood183BEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    This feels like you’ve lost a bit of the spirit of the Olympics. The current games prioritize, in varying levels of success, the sport and the global nature of it. People are competing to make it into the finals and all countries are accounted for.

    It seems like you are prioritizing the spectator. And to do that, only finals will be shown, most sports eliminated, etc. The overwhelming majority of countries won’t even be present in this form of the Olympics.

    For most people, the journey to victory is even more important than the victory itself. Otherwise, instead of having dozens of athletes having the opportunity to try and get a gold medal in sprinting, there’s just 5 people (from jamaica and the US) flying in for a 9 second race.