So in Why the US Sucks at Olympic Lifting: Part 17, I talked about basketball and finally wrapped up an altogether too long look at The Big Three sports in America and how they interact with our overall sports system, culture, etc. Primarily it was to show how those sports exist in a ‘system’ more or less identical to most of what’s come before. Massive numbers, huge traditions, access, coaching, incentives. The same story told again and again.
Mainly it was relevant to this overall series because, if they do nothing else, the presence of The Big Three in this country, along with their importance to American sport tends to dilute the talent pool for other sports. All three share certain characteristics in terms of strength, power, explosiveness, etc. to varying degrees and with so many athletes wanting to pursue those sports, that means less great athletes to go into other sports with the same requirements. Cough, cough, Olympic lifting.
But it still made the point that despite our lack of a system in this country in terms of sports, we still do just fine. In fact, in the case of basketball we do more than fine; it’s a game that we have absolutely dominated at the highest levels of international and Olympic competition for nearly 80 years.
Mind you, it’s entirely arguable that our basketball dominance is due primarily to the presence of the professional end of the sport. It’s mere existence drives so many people to pursue the sport that our top non-pros are still incredible. It doesn’t really address whether or not the American No-System Sports System really accomplishes anything in a purely amateur sport that is contested internationally.
Which leads me into today’s discussion. Because last week I pointed out that, in addition to ball sports, two of the sports that the US has consistently and traditionally done well in are track and field in swimming and this contributed greatly to our medal haul in Beijing. Again, before you do that, please read this.
Continue reading Why the US Sucks at Olympic Lifting: Part 18