Olympic Event?

[dencap8]

When will this be an Olympic event?

[GnarShredd]

It shouldn't be.

[my200winns]

Need to get it back into the X games before thinking about Olympics!

[JV]

How soon is never?

The Olympics aren't real big on anything that requires an engine.

Plus, as mentioned above, wakeboarders couldn't even keep a spot in the X Games, so I doubt there's a big push for Olympic recognition.

[TheHebrewHammer]

[JV]

Simple. It just didn't make fiscal sense for ESPN to set up an entirely different venue (seating, security, ticket sales, blocked off harbor, cameras/crew) for one event. Other X-Games events take place in the same location as half a dozen others, be it in an arena on the freestyle slopes at a ski resort. They even keep the majority of the rally car stuff in-stadium.

[GnarShredd]

I think the only way to see wakeboarding come back in to the x-games is through system 2.0. It could be run on two (or three!) identical systems and set up like a jam session skate comp. There'd be something constantly going on so it's entertaining for both the people watching live and the people at home watching on TV. Since they see snowboarding on TV all the time, a rail-park type setup is WAY more familiar to those who don't know the sport well (which is most people who would come across it).

Contrary to what most of us believe, wakeboarding frankly, isn't much of a specatator sport. Unless you know it well, once the boat passes it's hard to tell just exactly what the rider is doing and every trick looks the same. With a 2.0 you can get the spectators closer to the action and have more going on in a smaller space. It would be awesome.

[JV]

True, but system 2.0 and rail jam wake contest bore me to tears, and I love wakeboarding, so I don't know how much crossover appeal they'd have to a normal X-Games patron. They had a legit pool set up at last year's X-Games, and I don't remember any pictures where the crowd it drew was all that impressive. As a spectator, you can only watch a handle being run back up to the top so many times before you bail.

It would have to be something like this where it's just obstacle after obstacle after obstacle with ramps to go off as well (like you said, a full scale rail park). But then it's back to a cost benefit analysis with all the temporary obstacles and cables and seating and multiple TV cameras for one event.

http://www.alliancewake.com/wake/fise-2011-best-trick-rails/

[TheHebrewHammer]

I think a setup like this might be the way to go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW88HZ5mNMc

[GnarShredd]

TheHebrewHammer, That's exactly what I was thinking. There's a lot packed in to a small area. People can get creative.


JV, I agree, it would get boring, but people would watch.
Remember how much skateboarding exploded from the hype it got at the vert ramp? Skating BLEW UP in the mainstream thanks to how accessible vert was from a spectator's standpoint from those who knew nothing about the sport (granted, it was super hyped and Tony Hawk somehow managed to capture the nation's attention through that, but it all comes back to the fact that it was a fixed course that people could follow). Build a simple rail park with a couple SUPER OMG X-TREME X GAMES FEATURES like a big gap or a huge kicker and people will watch. Unfortunately to get any air-time, things need to be dumbed down.*

*Source: I work in TV.

[mseller]

i would def like to play on that pool park

[cubbies017]

As cool as it would be, I just don't see it becoming an Olympic sport. I agree with a previous comment that it would need to be in X-Games before it ever got consideration for the Olympics.