Sports?

Now that the Olympics are over, I would like to talk a little bit about how freaking weird some of these “sports” are. I watched the games as much as I could and there were a lot of activities I didn’t even know existed, such as Biathlon, which is skiing and then shooting. Who came up with that? Also, why is Curling considered an Olympic sport? Sweeping the ice and all that? It seems so weird to me. I Googled what qualifies a sport for the Olympics and this is what I found: To make it onto the Olympic program, a sport first has to be recognized: it must be administered by an International Federation which ensures that the sport's activities follow the Olympic Charter. If it is widely practiced around the world and meets a number of criteria established by the IOC session, a recognized sport may be added to the Olympic program on the recommendation of the IOC's Olympic Program Commission.

How many people do you know who actively go out skiing and shooting at the same time? I don’t think I know any. If these sports need to be practiced around the world, than I feel like I live in a hole or something. I like sports, I’ve played a bunch of sports throughout my life, but I have never encountered the majority of the sports performed during the Olympics. Were these same sports around last year? I don’t recall any of these.

Here is a full list of what was seen these past 2 weeks. Click on each one for a synopsis and pictures!

On Snow:
Biathlon
Combined Downhill
Cross Country
Downhill
Freestyle Aerials
Freestyle Moguls
Giant Slalom
Nordic Combined
Slalom
Snowboarding
Ski Jumping
Super-G

On the Track:
Bobsleigh
Luge
Skeleton

On the Rink:
Curling
Figure Skating
Ice Dancing
Ice Hockey
Speed Skating
Short Track