Jacquess Rogge wouldn't know what hit him.

<a href="http://espn.go.com/action/news/story?page=Action-Sports-And-The-Olympics" target="_blank">http://espn.go.com/action/news/story?page=Action-Sports-And-The-Olympics</a>

You know I have been thinking about this a bit lately, and if they used a System 2.0 or something i might be more do-able, but the Olympics hates motorized sports. At least with a 2.0 you could make every pull very consistent.

They olympics doesn't need more sports based on biased judging

No chance. Aside from the audience of this forum, when it comes to a wakeboard competition, about all of the rest of the world could care less (somebody alert Wes about this offense to his notions of grammar, and maybe he can get this thread deleted). <BR> <BR>Foiling appears to be more challenging to learn and master than wakeboarding, and it provides bigger air. But who thinks foiling is ever going to be in the Olympics ... or ski jumping ... or kneeboarding?

would surfing have a better chance of getting in?

Thats a good point? Why isn't surfing in? <BR>Probably too reliant on the vagaries of the ocean?

If we can't even make it into the X-Games I doubt there is much chance of us doing the Olympics.

^ yeah, thats pretty dead on. <BR> <BR>Its just to subjective, you need something beyond human power (which I believe isn't allowed in the Olympics), and lets face it, not enough people care about wakeboarding... we're in a really niche market

From my link above: <BR> <BR>"Meanwhile, surfing's ISA has been playing nice with the IOC since 1992, which repeatedly pats it on the back and suggests it invent reasonably affordable, but technologically superior, indoor wave pools if it's serious about Olympic inclusion. Insert "North Shore" joke here." <BR> <BR>Tim, I'm guessing you're a Vito fan.....

I think there was a big push for cable in 2012 cos there's some good ones round London but i think it went to poo. Wheres 2016?

Though I'm not an expert, if I were on the Olympic committee I would ask what the Olympics would mean to wakeboarding on a competitive level. And the reality is it would mean nothing other than more exposure, something the Olympics does not represent. I dont know of one professional wakeboarding contest where every single top pro is NOT at competing. When I think of the Olympics I think of taking the best talent from around the world for the given sport and seeing who is the best. Not, who won last month and who will win this month at the Olympics? For many events in the Olympics, every four years is the only time athletes meet from around the world. <BR> <BR>Im only guessing that when the Olympic Committee choses a sport they want the Olympics to be that sport's biggest competitive achievement. Considering wakeboarding right now, competitively, wouldn't a single Pro Tour stop have as much credibility as an Olympic gold? Which would mean an overall Pro Tour victory would have much more credibility than an Olympic gold. Having a competitive BMX background, I know when compared, Stromberg from Latvia gracefully accepted the award with honor but had a hard time comparing the victory to an overall ABA title, a sport that only takes off two weeks a year competitively. I think wakeboarding's competitive field needs to grow before it could be seriously considered. What countries would even have qualifications for the Olympics? <BR> <BR>I think about this topic often and the only thing I could see benefiting the sport would possibly be more exposure, which is all why we want it in the Olympics. <BR> <BR>I think about soccer's World Cup. In the world of soccer, I think most would agree a World Cup victory is just as good if not better than an Olympic gold. Rather than Olympics, I think wakeboarding needs to focus on making respectable competitive achievements within the sport, rather than rely on outside organizations. <BR> <BR>We all know wakeboarding is no where near the Olympics, not to say it isn't a fun idea to think about. Considering rugby, which was competitive dating back to the 1850's, was finally just accepted into the Olympics, we need to build the sport within the industry before looking outside.

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of what if, not should it. I bet Jacquess and the ioc are growing ulcers just having to deal with the free spirit nature of the snowboarder crowd and how much the graybeards would stress out if the party atmosphere of wakeboarding was thrown into the mix too. <BR> <BR>We all know it'll never happen. But what if... <BR> <BR>(Message edited by roomservice on February 19, 2010)

I wouldn't say it'll "never" happen. Waterskiing used to be in the summer olympics and was later taken out. Though I personally would rather watch it in the X Games, and I sometimes wonder what snowboarders are doing in the olympics. Don't get me wrong, I love watching snowboarding, but it just seems like the lone wolf action sport in the olympics (though you could probably say some of the snowskiing is too)

In my opinion, I dont think its a matter of IF wakeboarding will make it into the olympics, but when. Is wakeboarding as a sport ready for the olympics now? No. But, as we all know, the future of wakeboarding is cable. Cable is what will allow wakeboarding to spread into countries where the sport doesnt exist, which will make it a truly global sport. Its also provides consistency for each rider, unlike boats. Once the sport has some sort of consistency, the problem will be judging. I dont know how the sport is judged now, but i think if they took up a judging system like gymnastics, where each trick has a degree of difficulty, and all the tricks added up make up a start value (in the olympics usually out of 10, but lesser gymnasts start at lower start value like 9.6 for example), and then deduct from that start value for imperfections (for example, a fall in gymnastics is -.5 or so). The judging would be less biased and more suited for the olympics. But, do we really want that? personally I would rather not conform to olympic standards...

The United States Olympic Committee placed USA Wakeboard on operation Gold in 2009 which provides cash grants to our best athletes based on performance. Last year Adam Fields and Austin Hair were the first to received operation gold grants from 2009 IWWF World Championship in Korea. It very unfortunate that the WWA Worlds just happen to be scheduled on the same weekend because those results dont count as they are not part of IWWF nor IOC <BR> <BR>Team Selection for 2011 Pan American Games will be held at the 2011 Board UP Miami Pro Am date TBA but before May 15th 2011. <BR> <BR>To date, we only have operation gold for wakeboard only but we have plans to submission for cable very soon.