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Pro's in the Olympics
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Olympic Participants
Pro Athletes
57%
 57%  [ 4 ]
College Athletes
42%
 42%  [ 3 ]
Total Votes : 7

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ferrouslupusrex

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Quote:

Here's something interesting--the American Olympic teams formerly were made up of amateurs. While this word now carries a connotation of being less-than-skillful. The original meaning was one who did something for the love of it (latin root, yo), as opposed to a professional, who "professed" that skill for money.


B-I-N-G-O

The US should revert back to sending amateur atheletes. That way China and Russia with their newly concocted performance enhancing substances can truly dominate :*laugh*:

No seriously, it is no big deal if they send out professional, amateurs or legends. The olympic games is a sideshow and a moneymaking event.
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Amyral

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Let's start with a few facts. The US isn't the only country that has used professional athletes. There was a rule that required the olympians to be amateurs for quite a while. Jim Thorpe was disqualified from the olympics and had his medal stripped under that rule (he was a semi-professional baseball player and had his medal in a completely different event, the decathlon, stripped). Some other countries began protesting it throughout the years because they didn't believe it to be fair. The rule was dropped because countries in the Eastern Bloc began sponsoring full-time "amateurs" to play, which completely defeated the purpose of it and gave them a significant advantage over other countries, who used part-time amateur athletes. This allowed pro athletes to compete in the olympics.

Every country who has pros uses them in at least some sport. You want to bitch about the NBA? Fine, Yao Ming played for China. Manu Ginobili played for Argentina, you know, the Argentina that won gold in the Olympics in 2004? The US is far from the only team that benefits from it. The UK sent their most decorated gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics. Blah, blah, blah so on and so forth, etc etc etc. If you want the US to stop using pros, then extend it to all other countries. Bar NBA players and NHL players from competing. Hell, the only reason MLB doesn't really use pros is because their season is smack-dab in the middle of it.

Should the US allow pros? Sure, every other country that has them does. The Olympics is meant to be the best athletes from across the world. The amateur rule prevented that and, when countries began to use loopholes to get around it, they dropped it. The fact that the US team won bronze rather than gold (for the first time in 16 years) is proof that the game is getting stronger outside the US and the US can't just throw a bunch of all-stars on their team and dominate anymore.


Last edited by Amyral on Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:19 am; edited 1 time in total
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Ujitsuna

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

It is too hard to define "part-time" and "full-time" in these scenarios, which is why I think professionals should just be allowed to participate.
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