I’d probably like to compete in the events I most like to watch: gymnastics or figure skating.
These events appeal to me because they aren’t just physically challenging; they’re also aesthetically appealing.
It’s like watching very athletic art.
Also, I used to do gymnastics when I was a kid, so that’s another layer of appeal.
Diving is aesthetically appealing, but I don’t think I would be brave enough to learn how to do all those tricks.
I can do some things off a diving board (a flip, front walkover, cartwheel, back dive, spring dive, etc.), but the stuff Olympic divers do looks terrifying.
Synchronized swimming is also beautiful and graceful, but I can never quite feel comfortable about the frozen smiles that those swimmers put on. I feel weird about it!
Truly, though, as a kid/teen I never felt passionate enough about something to be willing to give up my life to become an Olympian. You really have to be laser-focused on one thing in order to achieve that, and I like to do too many other things!
Reading? Is reading an Olympic sport? Or fast driving on a gravel road?
I mean, I’m trying to make it funny, but my interest in sports is zero. Utter indifference. That’s not to my credit.
I am not at all sure how I’m going to make it through kids’ sports. I’ve avoided it ’til now but that changes with seventh-grade football. My poor kids.
I used to really, really like playing beach volleyball, and I was good at it, so maybe that. Although, given my current loathing of beachy things, I don’t know how I handled all that sand back then. I guess I wasn’t as delicate then. š
Mostly, though, I’m with Karen. I used to be kind of a jock, but I was never into being a spectator, so I haven’t really gotten very into my own kids’ sports forays. They’ve been mercifully short so far, but, also like Karen, I’m sure that will change in a couple of years when my eldest gets to middle school.
Equestrian events but only because I have a horse. I am sooooooo far removed from the talent of those that compete at the Olympic level.
In the U.K. years before the London Olympics there was a national programme to train the Olympians of the future. You had to fill in an online questionnaire with your physical details etc. For a laugh I entered mine (I was in my early 40s so already past it). The suggestion was that I should either be a gymnast or the little person who sits at the front of a row boat and shouts. I think this has something to do with the fact Iām 4ā 11 and 3/4ā in height. I must say I still do fancy myself sitting at the front of a boat shouting at a group of muscled young men!! šš
Can I be a judge in the Olympics?! I love the figure skating or gymnastics events. My son does high school water polo so I now have a whole new appreciation for that sport. Amazing! My mom got to see Peggy Fleming skate in the Olympics in France. I always thought that was a neat story.
I also like the suggestion of reading. Hahaha! But I guess I’d have to say volleyball. It’s been part of my life since I was a kid and my dad was coaching (he still coaches). My husband and I met while working with our colleges’ volleyball teams. This is only the second time in our married life that we’re having a fall without volleyball. (He quit to have more time with our little kids. And boy, I’m so glad he did!!) I’m short, so I’d be a DS. But I’d also be an out-of-shape DS who lacks the drive to compete at that level.