Why is Polo not an olympic sport?

Dunno but it should be! I loved watching the polo on Horse&Country, takes me back from when I worked at a polo yard *sigh*

But, saying that, driving isn't included, nor Gymkanas, or the other equine sports mentioned by another poster.
 
Not enough countries to get involved and too expensive for Joe Public to get in to, I imagine. Also the equine sports require loads of facilities etc so adding another would just add to the vast expense of the Olympics - esp one where each rider needs 3+ horses.

Endurance is not enough about human endeavour, its about horse fitness. A lot of the equine sports come down to the ability of the horse, not the human, so can't qualify.
 
x.fat-pony.x said:
But, saying that, driving isn't included.
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It is, it's just not shown, I wasn't even aware it was an olympic sport until another member posted about how annoyed she was it wasn't being broadcast.

ETA- Just re-read the person's post I heard it from and they've editted it so that it reads differently and they didn't mean why isn't it broadcast. Ahh well, now don't I look stupid.
 
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Well they are dropping eventing after 2012 arnt they so they have to replace it with something, out of all of them polo would be the best spectator sport! Its probably because the USA arnt any good at it!
 
If I remember rightly the host country has the right to drop two sports and introduce two other sports.

London's dropping softball and baseball I think (I wonder who introduced those :rolleyes:) but not introducing any.

Don't know if there's enough time left to lobby to introduce another sport.

I think I watched too much of the olympics this time!:o
 
Can you imagine what the other Nations would make of the Brit's if Polo was an olympic sport??
You can hear the muttering from here "so they send the Queens grand daughter for the eventing, and the Queens grandsons for the polo....are all Brits related to the Queen?" ;):p
 
CER1389 said:
Can you imagine what the other Nations would make of the Brit's if Polo was an olympic sport??
You can hear the muttering from here "so they send the Queens grand daughter for the eventing, and the Queens grandsons for the polo....are all Brits related to the Queen?" ;):p
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Ooo, that's a point, if the grandsons were to play in the olympics, that would mean i'd be there with my ponies too, another perk of the job!! :D :D

Polo used to be an olympic sport aparently. I think it would be a great sport to add again as there are so many nationalities that do it! I think it was dropped before because it was too fast to really keep up with, but with the amazing cameras now, it would be a doddle! :cool:
 
I read that it was dropped as a sport due to logistics...each player has 3 + horses, and that adds to the overall expense. Plus they have a limit as to how many sports and athletes there can be at the Olympics.

Softball and baseball were dropped by the IOC, so the UK really didn't kick them out. :)
 
i wouldnt have thought vaulting was a sport.... just a another thing to do on a horse, other than actualy ride it!
 
jowyles said:
Well they are dropping eventing after 2012 arnt they so they have to replace it with something, out of all of them polo would be the best spectator sport! Its probably because the USA arnt any good at it!
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i thought that that idea had been put on the back burner since the recent improvements in safety etc.?
 
I think I've got this right...

No one country can decide to drop a sport, it has to be voted through the IOC. Baseball and Softball were proposed for the drop (along with modern pentathlon, which survived :eek:) by the IOC president and 2012 will be the first games they'll be missing from. They are the first sports to go since Polo was ditched after 1936, but before that quite a few disappeared, including Rugby.
 
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