Golf and the Olympic Games
Golf and the Olympics
The question of whether Golf should become an Olympic sport will undoubtedly become a hot one over the next couple of years.
The Ryder Cup and The Olympics are certainly among the world’s most recognisable sporting brands and ones that have been protected and nurtured over the years. No other tournament, not even the Masters, comes close to matching the passion generated by the biennial Ryder Cup.
The Olympics on the other hand while still a much respected brand has become an orgy of ceremonies, torch relays, commercialism and urban redevelopment! The actual sports seem to be almost secondary. Cities politicians’ with excessive egos vie for the right to waste billions of tax-payers money on hosting the games and will justify the overspending in a multitude of ways, principally urban redevelopment and “the legacy”. Go look for the legacy in Atlanta. Two weeks after the flame was extinguished the Olympic stadium was largely demolished for redevelopment. It’s now the Turner Baseball Stadium minus the Athletics track and the pre-Olympic perfectly good Brave’s Stadium now a parking lot. Neither did the Games do anything to reduce obesity levels in the city. McDonald’s remain a major Sponsor of The Games.
The Olympics has been adding sports in recent year with a keen eye on commercialism. Team sports with mass following and global reach such as soccer and baseball are now Olympic Sports. Minority sporty such as beach-volleyball have also been added to give the games sex appeal and a “with it” dimension.
One great aspect of the Olympics is that it gives publicity to non-comercial sports such as swimming, sailing and gymnastics, sports which the average TV viewer without a roof full of satellite dishes only get exposed to every 4 years. Golf has ample TV exposure and therefore the Olympics have no role to play in promoting or popularising the great game.
The Olympics need golf more than golf needs the Olympics. Tennis has succumbed to the call but frankly to what benefit? The net result is that the World nº 1 gets a gold medal if he can be persuaded to attend. Does Tiger Woods or Padraig Harrington really need an Olympic Gold Medal? We think not.
