London Calling 2012

[beachesl]

By roller skating they mean 4-wheel (set out in a quad formation, like the old kind used by roller skate dancers, not the in-line kind) roller-skates racing around an oval track, like they have in the Pan-American Games. It's a marginally popular sport around the world, and in urban centres like Bogota, Mexico City, Seoul and Cairo there are actually clubs. I know, because I actually have crashed their tracks in all those cities to use my in-line skates, which drew amused stares from the other skaters. It is still a marginal sport that is practiced in specialized clubs (like fencing would be) and not practiced by the general population anywhere.

I can see why baseball and softball has been canned for after 2008. First of all, it has been a bust at all except the Atlanta Olympics in terms of spectators. Second it is a relatively marginal game that is only played reguarly in a few Western hemisphere and far-Eastern countries, and is played by far fewer people than cricket. There are too many team sports in the Olympics already.

Golf is a low-athletic sport, and some of the best players are overweight like curlers. Not a good sport for the Olympics in my opinion, but is a glamourous moneyed sport, so will probably make a return in 2012 after a century long absense. The Olympics crave glamour and money.

My bet for the second new sport for 2012 will be Rugby, given that the games will be in Britain and the team sports like it, soccer and others will be played throughout Britain where it would be popular. It is also more popular than baseball across the world generally and in Europe in particular. It also has more growth potential than baseball, which is a dying (though slowly in some areas) sport.