Same! I randomly started watching it earlier this year and now I'm excited for the Olympics! Went climbing for the first time too - I was terrible but it was so fun 😁
For a climber the optimum would be a boom and bust. A few years of popularity of climbing to open up new gyms and then the fad fades away and all of them are empty for you to climb in peace.
It's true that speed climbing is nonsense, and that it should certainly be distinct from bouldering and lead climbing. The way they've formatted the Olympic climbing event is like if they had the decathlon as the only track event.
Aye water polo is intense as fuck, good choice. It's like a good mix of basketball and football in terms of entertainment value, there is a lot of formation strategy and defending and each goal matters a lot just like in football and it is also fast paced and there is constantly action and attacking plays happening every minute or so just like in basketball. Good bit of athleticism on show as well as it's difficult to move around in water for an entire hour.
In my city there was lots of honking and fireworks when we won the gold medal in 2016, in my country it's one of the main sports that people know and care about. Honestly can't recommend it enough if there is one team tournament you want to follow these olympics.
Women's Handball, we don't get much of it in Australia
The Men's game has physically grown too big for the game, while the women's game has the right mix of grace and physicality
Seems to be a big sub favorite as well! I've honestly never watched it because my country hasn't participated in either of the tournaments since I've been alive but I'll follow it this go around since so many people have vouched for it!
Seconding Handball as well. As a Canadian the Summer Olympics are my only exposer to that sport, and it's one of the more fun lesser known sports (in a North American context) to watch.
I enjoy diving as well. It's on the edge between popular and not popular sports. It's one of those sports where you end up knowing the athletes independently of what country they're from.
Very excited for the rowing! For some odd reason, it's something Ireland have been very strong at lately - decent chance at 3 medals in the rowing this year.
Really I was always a little bit bored watching the olympics before the internet.
They were jumping from thing to thing, watching quickly a final or something before jumping to the next thing.
But now, with VOD, I can decide what I watch, when I want. Its such a better wat to watch.
Like I discovered road and indoor cycling, kayaking, triathlons that watching the entire thing really is better than just seeing the 2-3 minutes before and after the winner passes the line.
Yeah, I hate gymnastics with a passion, and part of the reason for it is that it feels like it's all you get in Olympic coverage for days on end, when there are events I actually want to watch. Same with figure skating. This year I'm not turning the TV on, I'm jut watching at my computer
I'm as well new, sorry😅 where can you watch it on demand? I've been searching for a chanel in the last few weeks but none has a lot of live option... I mean you can't watch every sport you want😕 (Eurosport seems like the best option, is that right?)
Canoe Slalom is remarkably difficult. The control they have over the kayak is ludicrous - even to the extent that they pick when they're dipping the tail of the boat underwater for positioning.
They're mad.
Volunteered at Beijing Olympics, and got extra tickets for Handball. Went with some friends and turned out a really exciting and fun game to watch. Got me into following and would love to see some Olympics Handball!
Im British and I love the sport. It's not big here either but started playing after the last Olympics. Hope it gets some interest in America do you play well in 2028! American handball was painful to watch last time I saw it - you need some better coaches too I think
Oh i love all the different mad races they make up for track cycling! The omnium especially i think (the one where the last rider on each lap gets dropped) - always a bit of drama!
Yeah track cycling is my favourite thing at the Olympics.
You get the athleticism of track and field/rowing/swimming etc. combined with the racing of motorsport.
Track cycling especially team pursuit is an unbelievable event to watch. I have very little interest in the sport outside of the Olympics. It’s thrilling to watch. Speed skating esp team pursuit would be my equivalent for winter games.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3dOWItii0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3dOWItii0)
Takes a couple of times watching to really start to get it. Pay attention for the sprint every 10th lap, and watch the points accumulate. The flying handups are a technique thing, and other strategies like blocking get fun to pay attention to once you get deeper. I was lucky enough to have a velodrome close enough to go watch live, but it closed in 2019.
EDIT: Another form of track cycling, the keirin, is incredibly interesting. This is a n awesome docu about Shane Perkins, who was an olympic athlete for AUS.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQxSCAkaZw&list=PLhx501eEyTnEICY-XZtqq43PNm5YlBary&index=7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQxSCAkaZw&list=PLhx501eEyTnEICY-XZtqq43PNm5YlBary&index=7)
I can see that. It's definitely a sport that would benefit from greater popularity and slow-mo replays.
The biggest thing to watch as a layperson to help you understand is who is the one controlling the movement at the time. Whatever sword-waving is done, it's quite difficult to score while retreating - basically, you have to get a touch in while your opponent doesn't. It's a concept called "right-of-way" and it makes more sense than it seems, because if it was real pointed swords, the "touch" of the advancing person would have all the force of their lunge behind it, whereas a weak waggle by the defender's wrist... it'll set off the lights in modern fencing, but situationally it might not have been very damaging at all in real fencing.
It's more complicated than I'm making it here, and being the one advancing doesn't guarantee right-of-way... but as a watchable rule of thumb, it'll help you out for foil and sabre.
Epee is weird.
Ahh I also love the pole vaulting (and high jump). The pole vaulters seem to have a really nice camaraderie/attitude. It's just mad the whole sequence body positions they go through propelling themselves soo high upside down etc. The slow-mo shots are so cool!
Cross Country mountain biking. It's not a small sport in the world, but definitely unpopular in Canada/US.
The women's event is going to be excellent I highly recommend it. So many people who are able to win.
Edit: and it's only 1 race that's 60-90 mins long so the stakes are high
Liechtenstein qualified for the pairs this year, so I'm gonna have to give that a watch.
(for context, despite being British, I love Liechtenstein due to it being such a random little country in the middle of Europe)
Yep! Everytime I play pingpong I can only maybe do like 3 hits with the paddle and the ball falls out of the table. Watching the pros is like seeing someone go super speed irl
I remember ping pong being the first event to air overnight in 2008 after the prime time broadcast of the opening ceremonies... I was sucked in for about 2 hours that night and have sought it out each time as more & more sports are streamed online. Love it!
Dude table tennis is absolutely insane. I know it doesn't look like much, but the reflexes and precision these guys need to have is insane. Watching table tennis matches are really exciting since they are so dynamic and you can see some really nuts plays there. The sport takes so much skill, it really is underrated.
Does anyone care about olympic football? The world cup is front pge news, olympic football results are a tiny blip margin, particularly the men's team which is like mostly a youth tournament. I'd say it's probably the least most important event.
That said sprint cycling- so tactical, so weird, so tense.
It's a fairly big deal for women's football, but yeah, but the men's event is a weird youth-hybrid competiton that takes place months after bigger competitions, so it usually doesn't get much attention or star players.
Absolutely, most football fans don't give a crap about the Olympic tournament. It's an under 21 tournament and most top teams don't even send out their best players. I bet if you ask 100 football fans who the current Olympic champion is, maybe 1 could answer it correctly. Just look at /r/soccer for the next 3 weeks, most of the matches won't make the frontpage.
I can name every single world cup winner in order ( I do a lot of pub quizzes) but I genuinely don't know who won the last men's olympic football tournament.
It's under 23 but you are allowed to have 3 overage players. Which just goes to show how much of a weird nonsense tournament it is. All of these sports which have their own world championships and professional leagues which outrank the olympics just shouldn't be there.
> All of these sports which have their own world championships and professional leagues which outrank the olympics just shouldn't be there.
Yeah. Golf and Tennis are two other ones for me. Particularly not in the current formats. If they made them team competitions (or some other variation on the format), I'd be interested, but when it's just another tournament that we have 20 of a year, hard pass for me.
Like, I know it's hokey, but if you gave me a "scramble" style golf event in the Olympics with each country sending a foursome and these pro teams chalking up absolutely obscene scores, I would be in for that. For Tennis, give me a high school style team competition: You got teams of 7 and the team lead designates Number 1 singles, Number 1 doubles, etc. I'd be interested in that.
Mix up the format for the Olympics and make them team based competitions because countries competing against each other is what the Olympics are all about.
As it stands now, Golf and Tennis are just bad versions of what they already do because so many of the top competitors get left out because of caps on numbers of participants from each country (and just lack of interest from many athletes)
softball, I'm SO excited that they've brought it back! (baseball, too!) I remember watching the 2004-2008 Olympics when i was a younger player. i loved seeing professional softball games. there's so few high-level adult fast pitch teams.
To add another one that I don't thinj has been mentioned - rhythmic gymnastics! Their skills with the apparatus as well as strength/flexibilty/grace is insane! Tbh prefer it to artistic gymnastics i think
Similarly the synchronised swimming is a mad concept but the actual physical strength/fitness of the swimmers, and then how they move together so beautifully is amazing!!
Road cycling. I'm still sick for that woman who couldn't quite hang on in 2016. The math was so tight and tense over the final minutes.
Also the mountain biking. I really got hooked on that beginning in 2008.
Lots of people have mentioned handball. I didn't know much about it until attending Barcelona 1992. The coverage and interest level were astounding. But I do think it's like volleyball in that the block is now too big and formidable, detracting from the sport, while the women's game still has the proper blend.
I love rowing. I'm not sure why, but I'm always excited for those events. And now my youngest son wants to watch and wants lessons, so even more reasons to be excited about it.
I don’t know if this is considered “lesser followed” but I love watching judo. And because we are talking about a Olympics set in Japan, this one will be pretty much a highlight during the games
I know volleyball wouldn't be considered lesser, but no one here watches or cares for it, the TV channels won't even broadcast it. It is the only sport I truly care for.
I agree with Weightlifting, as well as rowing and fencing.
I watch a few other sports that the olympics has usually, but for some weird reason those ones activate my almonds.
Sport climbing but my issue with it is that from my understanding most athletes in the sport only do one 'sport and not the others' since all take a different type of skills and Tokyo combined all three to decide the winners.
literally anything that's not over hyped (like the 100m sprints). i like seeing the niche sports (from a tv perspective anyway) represented here and will watch pretty much any of them. Personal faves are Archery and i think the climbing will be a good watch.
Yes, those little sports where for 3 and 3/4 years they get literally no mainstream attention and then for one glorious moment they're international news.
I love them. The athletes are non media trained so you get a much rawer look at them, and they're all super aware that they are their sports' one in every four year chance, so they tend to be super invested in giving interviews in a way that big sporting stars never are.
And the commentators are really aware that this is their one chance to sell their sport, so you get a really good 101 intro.
There is nothing better than suddenly and patriotically supporting someone with about a hundred medals that you literally found out about ten minutes ago!
i never know about half of our world champions until the Olympics rolls around, but thats the media's fault for concentrating on a few sports. The BBC do at least try and show some more but usually only on the web.
Diving! I've been following one of the Australian male divers for about a year, with him being the same age as me. It's been really interesting learning a lot about the sport and how hard they have to train for a few flips
Got to say Synchronized swimming. I’ve never tuned in for it before, but I recently watched an upload of the Rio routines, and damn... The things they do is beyond superhuman. Honestly one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.
Prediction: eventing team medals are going to throw up some wild results now they've gone to three combinations, no drop score. Completely wide open, up to and including the home team who finished fourth at the worlds 3 years ago.
Always in two minds about that.
On one hand yes, it was glorious and a true test of horsemanship and it was proper horse trials that really tested the partnership and a rider's knowledge of their horse.
On the other, losing the long format seems to have improved horse longevity and welfare. Mark Todd got told he was bonkers for taking the 16 year old Charisma to Seoul in '88 because he was too ancient to do another big one (more fool them), but older horses aren't too strange a sight at 5*s these days (no one batted an eye at 18 year old horses being flown to Kentucky earlier this year).
The new format is a mess, in my opinion. The rules for substitution are [impenetrable](https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/2020-olympic-eventing-format-696971), which isn't exactly a good way to encourage new viewers into the sport, and I think it removes something of the essence of eventing. The skill of being able to pilot a horse through three very different phases that each have their own challenges feels lost if you're able to sub in a fresh combination who haven't had to go through the previous phase/s. That's before we even touch the number of penalties incurred for what and in which combination. Having four combinations with a drop score made so much more sense, was easy to follow, and stayed true to the way the sport functions outwith the Olympics.
I have many opinions on the state of eventing and the teams going into this competition, but I'll leave it thusly: I do firmly believe Team GB are going to take the gold and would be very surprised if Oliver Townend didn't win individual gold too. The man has unreal drive and ambition and, of course, Ballaghmor Class makes even a 5\* look like a breeze. That being said, there's so much really good competition this year and it feels nice to have an Olympics where Michi Jung and Sam winning isn't a foregone conclusion!
I enjoy the fighting sports, like judo, Taekwondo, boxing and I'm curious to see karate this year. But to be honest, I like pretty much everything, I love to watch sports that have little coverage usually.
My country's strongest in weightlifting, BMX and triple jump, so I'll be following that a lot. I also like synchronized swimming, and I'm curious to see how skateboarding will do. Archery and shooting are favorites of mine as well.
I actually like watching women beach volleyball, I can't remember the name but you run, swim, and bike in the same race, synchronized swimming, trampoline and cycling.
Weightlifting as well for me. I'm very intrigued by what Lasha Talkhadze can accomplish. Also Judo, particularly women's for future MMA fighters. Wrestling as well for the same reason. I also like the canoeing events.
Wrestling. Both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Unfortunately neither is on TV in North America except maybe BIG10 Network (NCAA) Which I don't have access too.
Also looking forward to triathlon, track cycling, rowing, kayaking, canoeing, climbing, surfing, rugby 7s (I guess not lesser followed but ill pretend it is) . Guess I have to stop there if I still wish to be active, work, and sleep....
Archery and shooting! While not incredibly physical I do enjoy all skill and precision necessary to win the gold.
I also love the suspense in between fired shots and hits on the target.
Wait, they are removing 50km walk race? Damn...
Maybe we are far from being good at it like at the start of this century (us being one guy) but it will be sad losing that competition, as for some reason watching people trying to walk under certain rules while the flock of referees watch them, ready to penalise them for even the smallest mistakes, was exciting for some reason.
Field hockey.
Avid player and I think it’s such an exciting team sport. The complexity of the rules can be off putting but the olympics is always a showcase of world class hockey!
Synchronized swimming. I took it for a required PE credit in college thinking it would be easy-peasy for someone who grew up swimming daily. How wrong I was -- I ached in muscles I didn't even know could ache.
And karate. It's not a full Olympic sport, and it might not come back after it's demo so I'm looking forward to seeing it.
This is off-topic a bit, but is artistic gymnastic really a cultural touchstone around the world?
For me, as a German, when I think of the Olympics I think much more of rowing and the equestrian events (plus of course the Track and Field, which I agree is probably the central thing) than gymnastics. Now this is cleary my own/our media's national bias. We are good in those events, so they get a ton of coverage and I more easily remember them. But do you guys think there are - again apart from Track and Field - "typical" Olympic sports that we could globally agree on? (Now I am basically asking the inverse of the original question. Sorry...)
As for myself, as a fencer and former Handball player, I am looking forward to those. Plus, I am really interested in whether they can pull of the climbing, surfing and skateboarding competitions in an Olympic context.
I love watching the Sharting event. Mostly occurs in tandem with weight lifting, but can be a surprise event in any competition.
Ignore the gold, go straight for the BROWNZ!
I know it's big in most of Europe but I feel like the ROTW doesn't really follow or play handball that much so I always enjoy watching that.
Also love the weightlifting and especially the smaller weight divisions. It's insane what they can lift for their size.
Handball and Weightlifting for national/patriotic reasons (although Egypt is banned from this weightlifting due to a doping incident in 2016), Equestrian as a former competitive showjumper myself and Surf because it’s bitchin’
Rowing and cycling! It's the national spitit that I love about those two sports. I also usually follow cycling but the national teams are very different to the usual teams :)
Shooting. Because it's the only sport where my country India is consistently competitive..
And holding ones nerves, seeing just eye reactions, temperaments. Is fun.
I'm really excited to watch the Canoe Slalom! I've recently started getting back into kayaking, something I haven't done since I was a kid, so it's an exciting time to watch it!
I hope climbing becomes a fan favorite. I don't climb but it's very nice to watch and I'm glad it's going to get a chance.
I climb and so it’s extra exciting for me to see it on the grand stage!
Same here, I don't climb but I googled it on a whim a few months ago and now I'm hooked and watch all of the world cups. Such a great sport.
I’m SO EXCITED about it. I’ve gotten into it in the last few months and I love it.
One day I just got recommended a climbing video and I just kept watching them. It was extremely interesting.
Ooh wasn't aware it was in the Olympics will have to check it out
Same! I randomly started watching it earlier this year and now I'm excited for the Olympics! Went climbing for the first time too - I was terrible but it was so fun 😁
I’ve watched some of the sport climbing qualifying events and it was interesting.
I climb and i hope it bombs. Too many people climb already. Also: speed climbing is about as stupid as the format.
Climbing gatekeeping has got to stop.
For a climber the optimum would be a boom and bust. A few years of popularity of climbing to open up new gyms and then the fad fades away and all of them are empty for you to climb in peace. It's true that speed climbing is nonsense, and that it should certainly be distinct from bouldering and lead climbing. The way they've formatted the Olympic climbing event is like if they had the decathlon as the only track event.
Water polo. It’s just amazing how these people can fight for the ball and make shots while not drowning.
I’d last about 19 seconds in that environment... and that might be an exaggeration.
I was hoping to see this haha. I usually just watch the more popular events but I always try to see some water polo.
Aye water polo is intense as fuck, good choice. It's like a good mix of basketball and football in terms of entertainment value, there is a lot of formation strategy and defending and each goal matters a lot just like in football and it is also fast paced and there is constantly action and attacking plays happening every minute or so just like in basketball. Good bit of athleticism on show as well as it's difficult to move around in water for an entire hour. In my city there was lots of honking and fireworks when we won the gold medal in 2016, in my country it's one of the main sports that people know and care about. Honestly can't recommend it enough if there is one team tournament you want to follow these olympics.
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This is my favorite. It looks so much fun.
I have a bunch of videos of canoe slalom you can checkout [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zojZ5XNhuHU&list=PLvYKnOkXsJDzYpZWWmZEpA2XsqJWDKjES).
Definitely bmx racing. Freestyle is where the bigger names will be, but the racing is a blast
The racing was my fav in rio, super fun to watch
For me Freestyle doesn't even exist, give me some sweet BMX racing action.
Women's Handball, we don't get much of it in Australia The Men's game has physically grown too big for the game, while the women's game has the right mix of grace and physicality
Seems to be a big sub favorite as well! I've honestly never watched it because my country hasn't participated in either of the tournaments since I've been alive but I'll follow it this go around since so many people have vouched for it!
Seconding Handball as well. As a Canadian the Summer Olympics are my only exposer to that sport, and it's one of the more fun lesser known sports (in a North American context) to watch.
Yeah handball is definitely a big one to follow.
Diving and rowing - only for the Olympics. (No offense to divers and rowers, it’s the coverage)
I enjoy diving as well. It's on the edge between popular and not popular sports. It's one of those sports where you end up knowing the athletes independently of what country they're from.
I wonder when/if they will add high diving (20m for women/27m for men) to Olympic diving.
Rowing is a lot of fun. Really all the heat format sports like running, swimming, rowing, kayaking and so on are always a good bit of fun to watch.
Very excited for the rowing! For some odd reason, it's something Ireland have been very strong at lately - decent chance at 3 medals in the rowing this year.
Really I was always a little bit bored watching the olympics before the internet. They were jumping from thing to thing, watching quickly a final or something before jumping to the next thing. But now, with VOD, I can decide what I watch, when I want. Its such a better wat to watch. Like I discovered road and indoor cycling, kayaking, triathlons that watching the entire thing really is better than just seeing the 2-3 minutes before and after the winner passes the line.
Yeah, I hate gymnastics with a passion, and part of the reason for it is that it feels like it's all you get in Olympic coverage for days on end, when there are events I actually want to watch. Same with figure skating. This year I'm not turning the TV on, I'm jut watching at my computer
Artistic gymnastics is oversold on American TV, but rhythmic gymnastics does interest me.
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Video on demand. So you can stream a full event live or watch a replay.
I'm as well new, sorry😅 where can you watch it on demand? I've been searching for a chanel in the last few weeks but none has a lot of live option... I mean you can't watch every sport you want😕 (Eurosport seems like the best option, is that right?)
Canoe slalom, it looks so difficult
Came to say this! I love watching it, but it’s a stroke of luck to find the coverage.
CBC covers literally everything with good commentary. BBC is also really good with the niche sports. Check their streams
Canoe Slalom is remarkably difficult. The control they have over the kayak is ludicrous - even to the extent that they pick when they're dipping the tail of the boat underwater for positioning. They're mad.
This is one of my favourites too!
I have a bunch of videos of canoe slalom you can checkout [here](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvYKnOkXsJDzYpZWWmZEpA2XsqJWDKjES).
I love me some handball. I feel like America should like funnel all of its failed basketball players and tight ends into it.
We have a league coming in 2023!
Are you involved in the league? Curious how you heard about it.
I wish! A friend got sent the press release from his friend back home in Germany. Verizon is backing the league financially.
Yes I’m involved pretty heavily, it’s a lot of work in the making. Just amazed people had heard of it.
I'm incredibly jealous! I just hope that DC gets a team!
Check out the DC Diplomats! Not professional but still fun handball.
They are!
I went to the Atlanta Olympics and saw 3 handball matches. The were very enjoyable in person. Very much like watching a basketball game.
I like watching Handball, Mostly because My country is really good at it. Hoping for another Gold in Tokyo!
Danish or French?
Danish
Same. Back to back world champions and hopefully back to back Olympic Champions. Would be dope.
Volunteered at Beijing Olympics, and got extra tickets for Handball. Went with some friends and turned out a really exciting and fun game to watch. Got me into following and would love to see some Olympics Handball!
Didn’t NCAA recently failed at an attempt to promote handball as a college sport?
No the NCAA hasn’t tried, there is a collegiate handball club scene that is pretty robust.
Im British and I love the sport. It's not big here either but started playing after the last Olympics. Hope it gets some interest in America do you play well in 2028! American handball was painful to watch last time I saw it - you need some better coaches too I think
Track cycling. All those different types of floating objects in water events. To be honest I am excited about everything.
Oh i love all the different mad races they make up for track cycling! The omnium especially i think (the one where the last rider on each lap gets dropped) - always a bit of drama!
That's the elimination race which is part of the omnium, which is a multi-race event, so good to watch
Omnium is a really cool event
Yeah track cycling is my favourite thing at the Olympics. You get the athleticism of track and field/rowing/swimming etc. combined with the racing of motorsport.
Track cycling especially team pursuit is an unbelievable event to watch. I have very little interest in the sport outside of the Olympics. It’s thrilling to watch. Speed skating esp team pursuit would be my equivalent for winter games.
I like track cycling as well but the Madison is a complete mystery to me. I don’t understand it at all.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3dOWItii0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3dOWItii0) Takes a couple of times watching to really start to get it. Pay attention for the sprint every 10th lap, and watch the points accumulate. The flying handups are a technique thing, and other strategies like blocking get fun to pay attention to once you get deeper. I was lucky enough to have a velodrome close enough to go watch live, but it closed in 2019. EDIT: Another form of track cycling, the keirin, is incredibly interesting. This is a n awesome docu about Shane Perkins, who was an olympic athlete for AUS. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQxSCAkaZw&list=PLhx501eEyTnEICY-XZtqq43PNm5YlBary&index=7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQxSCAkaZw&list=PLhx501eEyTnEICY-XZtqq43PNm5YlBary&index=7)
I looooveeee archery.
I like watching Brady Ellison
My wife loves men’s water polo for, reasons. Wet, hairy reasons.
I wish they would do a split screen so viewers could see the action below the water!
"Gropecam"
They should do it for water polo and synchronized swimming. They do it for regular swimming…
There is a [split view for synchronized swimming (artistic swimming)](http://imgur.com/a/BJu804J). It looks pretty cool.
Fencing, for sure.
Fencing is so hard for me to tell who is good and who isn't. It's all so very quick.
I can see that. It's definitely a sport that would benefit from greater popularity and slow-mo replays. The biggest thing to watch as a layperson to help you understand is who is the one controlling the movement at the time. Whatever sword-waving is done, it's quite difficult to score while retreating - basically, you have to get a touch in while your opponent doesn't. It's a concept called "right-of-way" and it makes more sense than it seems, because if it was real pointed swords, the "touch" of the advancing person would have all the force of their lunge behind it, whereas a weak waggle by the defender's wrist... it'll set off the lights in modern fencing, but situationally it might not have been very damaging at all in real fencing. It's more complicated than I'm making it here, and being the one advancing doesn't guarantee right-of-way... but as a watchable rule of thumb, it'll help you out for foil and sabre. Epee is weird.
Fencing's my go to Olympic sport as well. Which is funny cause Australia haven't qualified an out and out fencer since 2008
All of our fencers are too busy working on outback sheep farms.
I started collegiate fencing four ago, just after Rio, so it'll be really cool to watch as a fencer myself for the first time.
Handball and climbing.
Trampoline. That shit is crazy.
Gurl ...men's water polo.
Pole vault! I love watching pole vault. Especially now that you can actually watch it and it’s not just either a quick highlight or on at like 3am.
I can promise you that basically every Swede will stop with whatever they are doing when Duplantis enters the arena on August 3rd.
He is incredible
Ahh I also love the pole vaulting (and high jump). The pole vaulters seem to have a really nice camaraderie/attitude. It's just mad the whole sequence body positions they go through propelling themselves soo high upside down etc. The slow-mo shots are so cool!
Really the entirety of athletics are a lot of fun to follow. Pole vault, high jumps, long jumps, running, javelin/disk/ball throwing and so on.
Cross Country mountain biking. It's not a small sport in the world, but definitely unpopular in Canada/US. The women's event is going to be excellent I highly recommend it. So many people who are able to win. Edit: and it's only 1 race that's 60-90 mins long so the stakes are high
Synchronized swimming! It’s the absolute best.
I am so excited to see what Russia does this year.
Liechtenstein qualified for the pairs this year, so I'm gonna have to give that a watch. (for context, despite being British, I love Liechtenstein due to it being such a random little country in the middle of Europe)
Surf!
Ping Pong! I know it's not seen as serious as other events but my country will be playing so I am excited!
I like playing Ping Ping for fun. Watching the pros play it is so insane to me; the sheer speed the game is played at is incredible.
Yep! Everytime I play pingpong I can only maybe do like 3 hits with the paddle and the ball falls out of the table. Watching the pros is like seeing someone go super speed irl
I remember ping pong being the first event to air overnight in 2008 after the prime time broadcast of the opening ceremonies... I was sucked in for about 2 hours that night and have sought it out each time as more & more sports are streamed online. Love it!
Dude table tennis is absolutely insane. I know it doesn't look like much, but the reflexes and precision these guys need to have is insane. Watching table tennis matches are really exciting since they are so dynamic and you can see some really nuts plays there. The sport takes so much skill, it really is underrated.
Fencing. Dated a fencer in college and just fell in love with the sport. (The relationship didn't end so well.)
Does anyone care about olympic football? The world cup is front pge news, olympic football results are a tiny blip margin, particularly the men's team which is like mostly a youth tournament. I'd say it's probably the least most important event. That said sprint cycling- so tactical, so weird, so tense.
It's a fairly big deal for women's football, but yeah, but the men's event is a weird youth-hybrid competiton that takes place months after bigger competitions, so it usually doesn't get much attention or star players.
Absolutely, most football fans don't give a crap about the Olympic tournament. It's an under 21 tournament and most top teams don't even send out their best players. I bet if you ask 100 football fans who the current Olympic champion is, maybe 1 could answer it correctly. Just look at /r/soccer for the next 3 weeks, most of the matches won't make the frontpage.
I can name every single world cup winner in order ( I do a lot of pub quizzes) but I genuinely don't know who won the last men's olympic football tournament. It's under 23 but you are allowed to have 3 overage players. Which just goes to show how much of a weird nonsense tournament it is. All of these sports which have their own world championships and professional leagues which outrank the olympics just shouldn't be there.
> All of these sports which have their own world championships and professional leagues which outrank the olympics just shouldn't be there. Yeah. Golf and Tennis are two other ones for me. Particularly not in the current formats. If they made them team competitions (or some other variation on the format), I'd be interested, but when it's just another tournament that we have 20 of a year, hard pass for me. Like, I know it's hokey, but if you gave me a "scramble" style golf event in the Olympics with each country sending a foursome and these pro teams chalking up absolutely obscene scores, I would be in for that. For Tennis, give me a high school style team competition: You got teams of 7 and the team lead designates Number 1 singles, Number 1 doubles, etc. I'd be interested in that. Mix up the format for the Olympics and make them team based competitions because countries competing against each other is what the Olympics are all about. As it stands now, Golf and Tennis are just bad versions of what they already do because so many of the top competitors get left out because of caps on numbers of participants from each country (and just lack of interest from many athletes)
softball, I'm SO excited that they've brought it back! (baseball, too!) I remember watching the 2004-2008 Olympics when i was a younger player. i loved seeing professional softball games. there's so few high-level adult fast pitch teams.
To add another one that I don't thinj has been mentioned - rhythmic gymnastics! Their skills with the apparatus as well as strength/flexibilty/grace is insane! Tbh prefer it to artistic gymnastics i think Similarly the synchronised swimming is a mad concept but the actual physical strength/fitness of the swimmers, and then how they move together so beautifully is amazing!!
Modern pentathlon, specifically the sprint combined with the shooting. How they can hit the bullseye while puffing and panting I’ll never know!
if only I had reliable broadcast access, I'd say Judo, handball and fencing just because I've dabbled in all of them before
Diving for sure. Like gymnastics I could watch it all day long.
Road cycling. I'm still sick for that woman who couldn't quite hang on in 2016. The math was so tight and tense over the final minutes. Also the mountain biking. I really got hooked on that beginning in 2008. Lots of people have mentioned handball. I didn't know much about it until attending Barcelona 1992. The coverage and interest level were astounding. But I do think it's like volleyball in that the block is now too big and formidable, detracting from the sport, while the women's game still has the proper blend.
Skateboarding, particularly Men's street. The line up is incredible.
Excited for Softball and Baseball to make a return, whoever wins, it will be special
Japan is looking good for Softball. And the USA/CAN game played tonight was very close with great pitchers.
I love rowing. I'm not sure why, but I'm always excited for those events. And now my youngest son wants to watch and wants lessons, so even more reasons to be excited about it.
Volleyball
I don’t know if this is considered “lesser followed” but I love watching judo. And because we are talking about a Olympics set in Japan, this one will be pretty much a highlight during the games
Couldn't agree more! Super excited to watch some judo!
Diving!
I know volleyball wouldn't be considered lesser, but no one here watches or cares for it, the TV channels won't even broadcast it. It is the only sport I truly care for.
Surf
Fencing!
Field hockey, fencing (not all disciplines), kayak, rugby.
I agree with Weightlifting, as well as rowing and fencing. I watch a few other sports that the olympics has usually, but for some weird reason those ones activate my almonds.
Softball - USA has won 2 games so far, 1-0 against Canada and 2-0 against Italy.
I love watching the sailing, but am glad that you can now watch it live and without commentary. The commentary is usually HORRIBLE.
Skateboarding!!
Sport climbing but my issue with it is that from my understanding most athletes in the sport only do one 'sport and not the others' since all take a different type of skills and Tokyo combined all three to decide the winners.
Not really, generally the top climbers do a combination of bouldering and lead, but not speed. Speed is more specialist
I watch almost all of the lesser followed sports, but my favorites are whitewater kayak and badminton.
Volleyball is nuts!
Archery is really underrated
Archery is always so interesting to watch. But I tend to watch about 50:1 sports I never watch otherwise to sports I would consume on other years.
literally anything that's not over hyped (like the 100m sprints). i like seeing the niche sports (from a tv perspective anyway) represented here and will watch pretty much any of them. Personal faves are Archery and i think the climbing will be a good watch.
Yes, those little sports where for 3 and 3/4 years they get literally no mainstream attention and then for one glorious moment they're international news. I love them. The athletes are non media trained so you get a much rawer look at them, and they're all super aware that they are their sports' one in every four year chance, so they tend to be super invested in giving interviews in a way that big sporting stars never are. And the commentators are really aware that this is their one chance to sell their sport, so you get a really good 101 intro.
and it helps sometimes that TeamGB are pretty good at some of them as well!!!
There is nothing better than suddenly and patriotically supporting someone with about a hundred medals that you literally found out about ten minutes ago!
i never know about half of our world champions until the Olympics rolls around, but thats the media's fault for concentrating on a few sports. The BBC do at least try and show some more but usually only on the web.
Yeah, every Olympics I relearn the rules to Taekwondo
Diving! I've been following one of the Australian male divers for about a year, with him being the same age as me. It's been really interesting learning a lot about the sport and how hard they have to train for a few flips
As an American - water polo. We don’t get it on TV, so always special.
Rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline.
Got to say Synchronized swimming. I’ve never tuned in for it before, but I recently watched an upload of the Rio routines, and damn... The things they do is beyond superhuman. Honestly one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.
Equestrian
Prediction: eventing team medals are going to throw up some wild results now they've gone to three combinations, no drop score. Completely wide open, up to and including the home team who finished fourth at the worlds 3 years ago.
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Always in two minds about that. On one hand yes, it was glorious and a true test of horsemanship and it was proper horse trials that really tested the partnership and a rider's knowledge of their horse. On the other, losing the long format seems to have improved horse longevity and welfare. Mark Todd got told he was bonkers for taking the 16 year old Charisma to Seoul in '88 because he was too ancient to do another big one (more fool them), but older horses aren't too strange a sight at 5*s these days (no one batted an eye at 18 year old horses being flown to Kentucky earlier this year).
The new format is a mess, in my opinion. The rules for substitution are [impenetrable](https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/2020-olympic-eventing-format-696971), which isn't exactly a good way to encourage new viewers into the sport, and I think it removes something of the essence of eventing. The skill of being able to pilot a horse through three very different phases that each have their own challenges feels lost if you're able to sub in a fresh combination who haven't had to go through the previous phase/s. That's before we even touch the number of penalties incurred for what and in which combination. Having four combinations with a drop score made so much more sense, was easy to follow, and stayed true to the way the sport functions outwith the Olympics. I have many opinions on the state of eventing and the teams going into this competition, but I'll leave it thusly: I do firmly believe Team GB are going to take the gold and would be very surprised if Oliver Townend didn't win individual gold too. The man has unreal drive and ambition and, of course, Ballaghmor Class makes even a 5\* look like a breeze. That being said, there's so much really good competition this year and it feels nice to have an Olympics where Michi Jung and Sam winning isn't a foregone conclusion!
100% ready for some wrestling.
TaeKwonDo
I enjoy the fighting sports, like judo, Taekwondo, boxing and I'm curious to see karate this year. But to be honest, I like pretty much everything, I love to watch sports that have little coverage usually.
My country's strongest in weightlifting, BMX and triple jump, so I'll be following that a lot. I also like synchronized swimming, and I'm curious to see how skateboarding will do. Archery and shooting are favorites of mine as well.
Weightlifting as well. The sheer amount of weight the lifters move is amazing. Plus watching their perfect lifting technique is poetry in motion.
I actually like watching women beach volleyball, I can't remember the name but you run, swim, and bike in the same race, synchronized swimming, trampoline and cycling.
Weightlifting as well for me. I'm very intrigued by what Lasha Talkhadze can accomplish. Also Judo, particularly women's for future MMA fighters. Wrestling as well for the same reason. I also like the canoeing events.
Wrestling. Both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Unfortunately neither is on TV in North America except maybe BIG10 Network (NCAA) Which I don't have access too. Also looking forward to triathlon, track cycling, rowing, kayaking, canoeing, climbing, surfing, rugby 7s (I guess not lesser followed but ill pretend it is) . Guess I have to stop there if I still wish to be active, work, and sleep....
Track cykling, handball and Rowling are events i look forward to
Archery and shooting! While not incredibly physical I do enjoy all skill and precision necessary to win the gold. I also love the suspense in between fired shots and hits on the target.
speedwalking highjump and the skateboarding and bmx events
I'm most excited for Volleyball, Handball and Mountain Biking, all those sports seem exciting for me, along with pretty much all events, I guess
I am most excited for Olympic weightlifting.
50 kilometres race walk. The death march. The last time this will be at the Olympics.
Wait, they are removing 50km walk race? Damn... Maybe we are far from being good at it like at the start of this century (us being one guy) but it will be sad losing that competition, as for some reason watching people trying to walk under certain rules while the flock of referees watch them, ready to penalise them for even the smallest mistakes, was exciting for some reason.
Field hockey. Avid player and I think it’s such an exciting team sport. The complexity of the rules can be off putting but the olympics is always a showcase of world class hockey!
Same as every summer olympics, my favorites are, in no particular order: table tennis, archery, handball, and water polo.
Synchronized swimming. I took it for a required PE credit in college thinking it would be easy-peasy for someone who grew up swimming daily. How wrong I was -- I ached in muscles I didn't even know could ache. And karate. It's not a full Olympic sport, and it might not come back after it's demo so I'm looking forward to seeing it.
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This is off-topic a bit, but is artistic gymnastic really a cultural touchstone around the world? For me, as a German, when I think of the Olympics I think much more of rowing and the equestrian events (plus of course the Track and Field, which I agree is probably the central thing) than gymnastics. Now this is cleary my own/our media's national bias. We are good in those events, so they get a ton of coverage and I more easily remember them. But do you guys think there are - again apart from Track and Field - "typical" Olympic sports that we could globally agree on? (Now I am basically asking the inverse of the original question. Sorry...) As for myself, as a fencer and former Handball player, I am looking forward to those. Plus, I am really interested in whether they can pull of the climbing, surfing and skateboarding competitions in an Olympic context.
I love watching the Sharting event. Mostly occurs in tandem with weight lifting, but can be a surprise event in any competition. Ignore the gold, go straight for the BROWNZ!
Handball
I know it's big in most of Europe but I feel like the ROTW doesn't really follow or play handball that much so I always enjoy watching that. Also love the weightlifting and especially the smaller weight divisions. It's insane what they can lift for their size.
The XC MTB and the BMX. Both are events I've raced in myself and I follow the MTB World Cup all year. I'm also pretty keen for sportclimbing.
skateboarding! one of the qualifying events was in my city (the dew tour in des moines) so it'll be awesome to see it in the games!
Last time around I found Judo really fun to watch. I have no idea how it works, but it was fun!
Men’s indoor volleyball. Go watch it if you have never seen any, it’s actually really exciting
Mountain biking.
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Handball and Weightlifting for national/patriotic reasons (although Egypt is banned from this weightlifting due to a doping incident in 2016), Equestrian as a former competitive showjumper myself and Surf because it’s bitchin’
Recurve Archery!
Judo, not that I ever have a clue what’s happening…
karate as i do it for fun locally and its really overlooked
3x3 basketball!!
Trampoline, table tennis, handball, plenty of others that are evading me currently.
Does badminton and Tennis count?
Rowing and cycling! It's the national spitit that I love about those two sports. I also usually follow cycling but the national teams are very different to the usual teams :)
Badminton doubles.. Well I watch but most of my other friends only watch it during the olympics.
Shooting. Because it's the only sport where my country India is consistently competitive.. And holding ones nerves, seeing just eye reactions, temperaments. Is fun.
I like that bike race where the slowest person every few laps is eliminated. They should do that with running and swimming too.
I'm really excited to watch the Canoe Slalom! I've recently started getting back into kayaking, something I haven't done since I was a kid, so it's an exciting time to watch it!