A new Olympics

The Paris Summer Olympics recently wrapped up, showcasing an overwhelming array of over 40 sports. While the event brought thrilling moments, the sheer number of disciplines leads to a diluted experience. I want to propose a new Olympics with fewer sports.

Here’s a glimpse of the current lineup:

Aquatics (Swimming, Marathon Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming), Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball (3x3, Basketball), Boxing, Breaking*, Canoe (Canoe Sprint, Canoe Slalom), Cycling (BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Road Cycling, Track Cycling), Equestrian (Equestrian Eventing, Equestrian Dressage, Equestrian Jumping), Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics (Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline Gymnastics), Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby (Rugby Sevens), Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding*, Sport Climbing*, Surfing*, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball (Beach Volleyball, Volleyball), Weightlifting, and Wrestling (Greco-Roman Wrestling, Freestyle Wrestling).

Simplifying the lineup could enhance the viewing experience by focusing on sports that truly embody the Olympic spirit.

Key principles for a refined Olympic experience:

• Athletes should not win gold in multiple sports.
• Exclude team sports.
• Emphasize pure athleticism: who can throw the furthest, jump the highest, or run the fastest.
• Avoid subjective judging.

With these criteria in mind, the sports that remain are:

• Swimming
• Athletics
• Weightlifting

These sports all have multiple events which will need some further pruning

Athletics

Atheletics consists of several events:

Men & Women:

Unique events:

• Men’s Decathlon
• Women’s Heptathlon
• Marathon Race Walk Relay Mixed

Here is my suggestion:

I removed the following events for clarity and focus:

• 200m and 400m: These distances are too similar to the 100m.
• 800m: Too similar to the 1500m.
• Hurdles: Not in the olympic spirit. It is about running as fast as possible, not jumping over obstacles
• 3000m steeplechase: Similar reasoning as for hurdles.
• 4 x 100m relay: Excluded as it is a team event.
• Triple jump: Only one jump event is necessary.
• Throwing events: Retained only the shot put for simplicity.
• Women’s Heptathlon: I do not like multi-sport events.
• Walking events: You shuold run as fast as possible and not put artifical constraints like “you can only walk”.
• Decathlon: I do not like multi-sport events.

Swimming

Swimming also consists of to many events:

These are my suggestions:

• 100m Freestyle
• 1500m Freestyle

It is unnecessary to have separate events for different swimming styles over the same distance; the essence of the sport is to swim as fast as possible. Additionally, swimmers win to many medals. It ain’t right that the events are so similar that the same athlete can win gold in multiple events. Michael Phelps has 28 olympic medals, 23 golds. Ridiculous.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting currently features five weight classes for both women and men:

But why have weight classes at all? Shouldn’t the ultimate goal be to lift the heaviest weight possible? In my new version of the Olympics, weight classes would be eliminated.

Conclusion

My new version of the Olympics offers a more focused and compelling narrative. It concentrates on the core elements of human athleticism—speed, strength, and endurance—and celebrates the essence of competition. The olympics then becomes a story of human potential at its peak.