A real sport?

[babboon]

Do you consider bodybuilding to be a real sport? Why or why not?

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by babboon

Do you consider bodybuilding to be a real sport? Why or why not?

Yes!


A sport is anything in which people participate in, whether that means stacking cups, playing ping pong, or bodybuilding.

There are also a lot of weird activities out there which are listed as sports and many people would not consider them sports but past-times, but a past-time can also be a sport as well.

[Fazc]

Absolutely it's a real sport.

[Transformed]

Yes it is. No matter what you will always say that it is not a real sport but they have no idea what they are talking about.

[IronManlet]

Of course it is.

The main problem is that people tend to think of "group sports" when they say it's not. Is shot-putting a sport? How about Olympic lifting, then?

Any weight lifting activity done for an official competition is a sport.

[kitarpyar]

Originally Posted by 5kgLifter

A sport is anything in which people participate in

Just because I feel mischievous ...

This definition will include everything beauty paegents to university entrance exams. And in most countries, you have the "Olympiads" in math, physics, etc.

For the record, I used to participate in math olympiads, and participation was actually in the general spirit of sports

[MikeM]

I think the problem lies in how a sport is judged.

Bodybuilding - subjective, weightlifting - empirical

rythmic gymnastics - subjective, gymnastics - empirical.

etc. etc.

A sport is anything people participate in, for sure, but an olympic event also is an event that people can discern a clear winner with their normal eyes witnessing an obviously normal set of movement patterns.

The olympics has opened the door to subjective events, so I can't imagine why they wouldn't want bodybuilding, esp if they have ratified such foolishness as synchro swimming performances, etc.

[IronManlet]

Originally Posted by MikeM

I think the problem lies in how a sport is judged.

Bodybuilding - subjective, weightlifting - empirical

rythmic gymnastics - subjective, gymnastics - empirical.

etc. etc.

A sport is anything people participate in, for sure, but an olympic event also is an event that people can discern a clear winner with their normal eyes witnessing an obviously normal set of movement patterns.

The olympics has opened the door to subjective events, so I can't imagine why they wouldn't want bodybuilding, esp if they have ratified such foolishness as synchro swimming performances, etc.

Getting off on a bit of a tangent, this is my problem with modern Olympic games: No more is it about individual athletic skill and glory, as it used to.


On topic: Some people don't consider chess a sport either - doesn't stop FIDE from being the third largest sports organization in the world.

[Ryano]

I'll catch some flack for this, but no, I don't consider it a sport. Competition, yes, sport no. It is to subjective to be called a sport. Just like gymnastics & syncronized swimming. I still understand the dedication it takes for someone to compete in BB, but there are no defined parameters to winning. It's not who lifts the most weight, scores the most points, does an activity in the shortest time....

The winner doesn't always have the most mass, best definition, or poses the "best" to his music. One thing I really don't understand is the tanning. Black people have an automatic advantage when white people have to get that silly "orange" looking tan. They look like a poster child for skin cancer.

Anyway, like I said, I still admire the dedication it takes for someone to compete in BB, but it's not a sport to me. IMO

[Tannhauser]

No, I don't think it's a sport.

The end product isn't being judged on athletic performance. Of course, posing is hard work, but that's incidental to what's being judged. To me , that's what distinguishes a sport from other sorts of competition.

As I said on another thread, it's a bit like comparing a show car event to NASCAR or Formula One. It's about 'show' and not 'go'.

For the same reason, I wouldn't consider chess a sport, or darts, or snooker/billiards.