There were 26 sports on show at the London Olympics, fewer than Beijing after baseball and softball were dropped from the schedule.
Some sports have to fight hard to justify their place in the Games. Some will always be included but rely on the Olympics for much of their credibility. For many sports, a good or bad games can affect participation rates, sponsorship and funding across all countries.
How did they fare? I certainly didn’t follow all the disciplines, but here are some random impressions of the last two weeks.
The biggest loser was surely badminton. Allegations of match-throwing and multiple disqualifications meant the sport finished the games under a cloud. It has only been an official Olympic discipline since 1992 but it will need to clean up for Rio.
It’s an attractive sport for the Games because it is played competitively by both sexes and has good participation rates in Asia. Indonesia and Malaysia, representing a combined population of nearly 280 million, win most of their Olympic medals at badminton.
However, squash is always pushing for inclusion, so there is another global racquet sport waiting in the wings should badminton fail to address these outstanding issues.
Athletics had a good showing. London’s firm track helped sprinters to world records in both 4x100m events and there was another in the 800m. Kenyan marvel David Rudisha ran so fast, he dragged much of the rest of the field around to national records or personal bests.
There’s no doubt Usain Bolt was the main attraction and athletics as a whole benefitted from his reflected glory. If Asafa Powell hadn’t pulled up injured, the whole 100m field would have broken 10 seconds for the first time ever.
Significantly, the new womens 4x100m world mark finally removed the last East German record, with its cloud of doping, from the record books.
A long-distance double for Britain’s Mo Farah was a favourite for the home crowd, and his Somali background makes him an important symbol for a nation which still struggles at times to come to terms with multiculturalism.
Field events still seem to be the poor relation, however. It was wonderful to see Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago become the youngest ever Olympic javelin champion but there are few global stars in throwing and jumping and world records were never threatened.
Athletics will miss Bolt if he decides not to try for Rio so other athletes will need to step up to fill the vacuum.
Australia’s view of swimming events may be a little coloured by the nation’s disappointments in the pool. Overall, the sport did well. Michael Phelps didn’t sweep the board but he was gracious in defeat and the golds he did win further secured his reputation as a great Olympian.
Rule changes meant the swimsuit arms race of Beijing was not a talking point in London. When 16-year-old Ye Shiwen of China swam to victory, doping accusations were in the air but later gold medals for two 15 year olds, Katie Ledecky and Ruta Meilutyte, put her age-group progress into context, and gave us names to watch in the future.
In cycling, the women contested the same events as the men for the first time at the Olympics. Some events were lost from the schedule, including the individual pursuit, the points race and men’s madison. British success raised a few eyebrows, as it did in Beijing, but standards have been raised and London saw a number of world-class performances.
It’s perhaps a little disappointing that BMX and mountain bike events haven’t really found their intended audience yet, certainly not in the way snowboarding has given a boost to the Winter Games calendar.
In fact, there have already been some calls to ditch BMX even though it was only officially included four years ago. While this is unlikely, the sport will want to see Olympic champion carry more significance in both events.
Boxing had a mixed games. On the positive side, 2012 witnessed the introduction of women’s weight divisions. The London Olympics has seen some strong performances by women across a number of nations, and boxing proved to be far from the “freak show” which Frank Maloney, manager of Lennox Lewis, once called the prospect of women in the event.
On the other hand, the sport never seems to be able to shake off refereeing controversies. This year was by no means the worst – Seoul still has that dubious distinction – but appeals were common and decisions were overturned. Those overturned decisions sparked more outrage, and India still feels Vikas Krishan lost out to enable America’s sole remaining boxer to stay in the competition.
Boxing’s new-found inclusiveness may not be enough to save it in the longer run. Medical associations around the world continue to call for it to be banned and those calls will likely intensify as high profile investigations in the NFL and NHL shed more light on the dangers of head trauma.
By contrast, taekwondo came across as one of the winners in London. It didn’t seem that way when the sport was drawn into a selection controversy before the games even started. Promotional material from the World Taekwondo Federation highlighted world number one Aaron Cook as a potential Olympic star but then the British didn’t choose him, which led to angry appeals and threats of litigation.
Once the competition was underway, it was clear the organizers had overcome the judging travesties of previous games and new video appeals, combined with sensor technology, have given athletes and audiences more confidence in decisions.
South Korea won four golds in Beijing but no country managed more than one in London. This means eight nations, including Serbia and Turkey, all boast Olympic champions, while athletes from Gabon, Iran, Colombia and Afghanistan also made it to the podium.
Tickets for this year’s Olympics saw strong demand, and many failed to secure them. That was not the case for football, however, where attendances at early group matches were sometimes sparse. The sport is still an uneasy fit at the Olympics.
There were certainly moments of high drama on the pitch but there’s no escaping the fact that the men’s event does not showcase the highest level of football.
Women’s football fares much better because the best players are on the pitch. Not all the best teams, though. Through a quirk of 2011 World Cup scheduling, Germany lost to eventual champions Japan at the quarter-final stage which meant they failed to earn an Olympic spot in London.
America, eventual winners of the women’s gold, drew some criticism when the team promptly donned Nike shirts emblazoned with the logo “Greatness Has Been Found”.
It’s common enough for victorious US teams to do that in other competitions but isn’t really appropriate for the Olympics. It tended to reinforce the sense that football and the Olympic ethos are still strangers.
Basketball is in a similar position. The debut of the Dream Team was a highlight in Barcelona but the novelty has worn off and US dominance can make for some dull matches along the way. Spain pushed the Americans harder than expected in the final, yet questions remain about the overall standard on show.
This piece has already dragged without even touching on gymnastics, rowing, sailing, shooting etc. where much can surely be said.
Just one last observation, then. The triathlon had a good Olympics. The photo-finish in the women’s event was an early highlight. No-one watching would have begrudged the belated award of a double gold but I read that the governing body has decided to stick with their original decision.
One performance statistic stood out in the men’s event. After a 1500m swim and 40km bike ride, gold medallist Alistair Brownlee then ran 10,000m in 29 minutes and seven seconds. His time was just a minute and 37 seconds behind Mo Farah’s gold medal time in the 10,000m event on the track.
Perhaps other Roarers can shed some light on other events, as well as taking issue with my assessments.
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