The Rio Olympics are well into their second week and New Zealand so far have got three gold medals. Woooo Hoooo! Some people don't like the Olympics. They think it is a big waste of money but I quite enjoy it as we, the sport fans get to see people who may not be on our TV screens every week.
In fact, a friend of mine said to me a couple of weeks ago that if the Olympics isn't the pinnacle of your sport then it shouldn't be in the event. That's an interesting thought because if you look at the current list of sports in the Olympics, probably Basketball, Football, Golf, Rugby Sevens and Tennis would be the sports to miss out.
In saying that though, maybe for NBA players, the Olympics is a bit of a sideshow but for other non-NBA players then it is a big deal.
For football players, definitely the World Cup is the sports biggest showpiece and to be honest, I want to see the best players in the world not under-23 players.
Golf and tennis professionals seem to be split on their participation. I think Rory McIlroy said that he didn't grow up dreaming of an Olympic gold medal. He was more focused on a green jacket or a claret jug. Although in saying that, according to this article, it seems that McIlroy has changed his tune. I say good on him. It will interesting to see if golf remains at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Rugby Sevens is just a new sport in the Olympics and that it might become a popular sports in Olympics to come. I personally don't really enjoy it. Maybe I'm a traditionalist. It is like I prefer test match cricket to T20 cricket even though I know that the ICC are lobbying for T20 cricket to be included at the Olympics. That would be interesting. Where would they build the cricket stadium in Tokyo?
I was thinking the other morning while I was watching the build up to the 100 metres final about whether you could classify each sport as an introvert sport or an extrovert sport. I thought that sport brings together all sorts so you are going to have some extroverts and some introverts in all sports but I wonder what sports attract certain kinds of people.
I can only speculate and this is my take on five sports that are on the programme at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
1. ATHLETICS
My answer to this would be both. This is very much an individual sport but the sprinters seem to be more exuberant and it seems that they train in groups while the field competitors I can imagine would spend hours and hours either by themselves or with a coach. Quite a lonely existence, right? Perfect for the introverted athlete.
2. HOCKEY
I grew up playing hockey. By the way, for my Canadian readers, this is the hockey played on artificial turf not ice. Of course like in any team sports you are going to get a mixture of players and personalities. I think for any team sport you have to have certain level of extroversion in you while the introverted player would have to really love the sport or may have been coerced into the sport by friends, parents or teachers. So, I think that hockey would be an extroverted sport with some ambiverts to provide the balance in the team.
3. ARCHERY
I'm sorry this has introversion written all over it. I don't know anything about this sport but it just seems that it is perfect for people who want some alone time and they want to get rid of stress by firing some arrows at a board. I wonder if William Tell was an introvert. Robin Hood probably wasn't because he had his posse.
4. VOLLEYBALL
This is one sport that I haven't taken to much. I used to not like playing it at all. (Probably because I was useless) Also I don't like watching it on television. It tends to my eyes to be serve, dig, set and then monster spike and then occasionally the opposition will get it back. However, from what I see this is definitely an extroverted sport. First of all it is a team sport and secondly they really get quite emotional after every point. In football they get emotional after they score a goal but usually they only score two or three goals. In volleyball you have to score 75 points to win a game. Extroverts apply here.
5. GOLF
This is an introverted sport. It's an individual sport and I can imagine the golfers being on the practice range hitting balls by themselves hour after hour in all sorts of weather. I believe that Tiger Woods is an introvert who really wanted to be an extrovert and he used his stardom to do what he did. I kind of wish he wasn't found out about his "extra-curricular" activities because who knows what he could have achieved. The 20 majors of Jack Nicklaus would have been surpassed long ago.
There you have it. Different sports are good for different personalities but if you really like it then it won't matter if you enjoy spending time with people or you don't because you really enjoy it and that is all that matters.
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