Olympic Charter

[Horton]

I stole this from Google

 

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." –Olympic Charter

[Chef23]

That seems fair.

[skihard]

Seems fair agreed. But why are countries sending professional atheletes to compete? I believe the Olympics should be for a countries best amatures to compete against one another.

If you are being paid as a professional in any given sport you should be disqualified from being able to compete.

[Horton]

@skihard that ship sailed 10 or 15 years ago

[TonyLightfoot]

Try nearly 22 years ago. Remember the Dream Team?

 

[The_MS]

1980 was the last time we won gold in hockey and we had no Pros. We need to go back to armature athletes.

[ral]

Since 1986 professional atheletes are explicitely allowed at the Olympics. Which is just fair, as since the cold war, all athletes from behind the iron curtain and Cuba were absolutely professional...

[rayn]

Not sure most of the athletes want to go back either. Let's not talk about the glamour US pro sports, but the track and field guys or the bobsled guys, etc who get endorsements and prize money so they don't need second jobs just to be able to "stay" amateur as it was before the change. Don't even get me started on NCAA rules that don't let the kids earn money or risk losing their status.

[lpskier]

@MS I sat right behind the Soviet bench.

[The_MS]

@lpskier Awesome. I remember listening to it and then getting to watch it that night. The early morning Gold Medal game against the Fins ended up being live on TV.

[jcamp]

I like watching the very best. If they happen to be able to make a living out of it, good for them!

[jcamp]

I like watching the very best. If they are able to make a living out of it, good for them!