Top 10 Summer Olympic Sports
Les Listes is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
The Summer Olympics are one of the biggest sporting events ever. Like the Winter Olympics, they take place every four years. One of the greatest things about the Olympics is that it introduces us to great Olympic sports that we don’t pay a lot of attention to other than at the Olympics. Check out below for the top 10 Summer Olympic Sports that you should be watching the next time the Summer Olympics roles around.
#10. Handball
“Imagine indoor soccer and basketball produced a baby, and then the baby grew up and married an offspring of water polo and lacrosse. Those two lovebirds came together to give us handball.”[1]Bleacher Report – Ranking the Top 10 Olympic Sport to Watch
Needless to say, it is a bit confusing. However, if you focus on the basic principle that whoever scores the most goals wins, then you will be more than fine and be able to enjoy this wonderful Summer Olympic sport.
#9. Table Tennis
Table Tennis is one of the best Olympic sports to watch. In fact, for many people, it is the Summer Olympic’s equivalent to curling. Everyone thinks that they can do it. In fact, you probably have played it at least once in your life.
However, in reality, everyone has only played ping pong. A simple game where you are trying to hit a ball back in forth. If you watch competitive Olympic table tennis, you can immediately see the difference, mainly in the speed.[2]USA Today – Table Tenis The ball literally fly back and forth in the blink of an eye and the matches can last an hour.
#8. Men’s Basketball
One of the best Summer Olympic sports to watch is men’s basketball. You might think that this is not the case because the US National team is too strong and filled with too many super stars. However, that is not the case. In fact, many of the other countries such as France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, and Australia have very strong national teams.[3]Olympic – Basketball In fact, many players on their roasters even play in the NBA. In addition, the round-robin stages of the tournament lead to some great nail biting games.
#7. Women’s Soccer
Watching the men’s Summer Olympic soccer tournament can often be underwhelming. This is because the men’s teams can only have players under 23 years old on the team except for 3 players. Therefore, in many cases, the best players from each country don’t actually get to play in the Olympic tournament.
However, on the other hand, the women’s Olympic soccer tournament doesn’t have any of these types of restrictions. This ends up making it highly superior to the men’s tournament and one of the best Olympic sports to watch. In many aspects, it is actually a better tournament to watch female soccer than even the World Cup![4]Olympic – Football Women
#6. Volleyball
One of the best Olympic sports to watch is indoor team volleyball. The jumping ability, speed, and athleticism of the athletes really set it apart from the beach volleyball version of the game.[5]Olympic – Volleyball In addition, it is also extremely interesting to watch due to the swings of momentum that happen often in the game. It is literally never boring to watch!
#5. Wrestling
Wrestling is not only one of the originally events in the ancient Olympic games, it also happens to be one of the best Olympic sports to watch. The modern version has been made popular by such great Olympic wrestlers as Rulon Gardner and Kurt Angle.[6]The come back – Ranking every Summer Olympics sports from 39 to 1 There are no tools or equipment, and the rule set is fairly straight forward. Most people on a subconscious level understand who is winning or loosing in a wrestling match.
#4. Water Polo
Water polo is one of the best Olympic sports to watch. On the surface, it looks pretty simple. Each team is swimming around in a pool. They throw a ball back and forth and attempt to score a goal. Simple, right? Wrong! Much like the cliche goes, there is so much more happening below the water than meets the eye. In fact, it is actually one of the most difficult sports in the world and the players can be quite mean and viscous with each other. For example, according to American national team player Tony Azevedo, that armpit hair and other body parts are consistently grabbed under water.[7]Olympic – Water Polo In other words, if the judges can’t see it, then it is legal.
Water polo ends up combining aspects of basketball, wrestling, swimming, soccer, and even a bit of Fight Club into one compelling to watch sport!
#3. Track and Field
Track and field is one of the best Olympic sports to watch to their simplicity. There is no subjective criteria when competing. You can either run faster than everyone else or throw something farther than everyone else.
In addition, according to Chris Chase of Fox Sports, one of the biggest reasons that track and field is so compelling to watch is because “the races are fast, upsets are rare and if not for a full Olympic program that allows NBC to cut to and from different sports, the downtime in track would bore even the most jaded NFL fans who lament the touchdown-commercial-kickoff-commercial combinations.”[8]Olympic – Athletics
Lastly, track and field has the 100 meter dash. This event is the highlight of the whole Summer Olympics. Here you get to watch the fastest runners in the world and see “the fastest man on earth” get crowned.
#2. Gymnastics
When most people watch sports at the Summer Olympics, we still think in the back of our minds that if we had really wanted to, we could still compete in that sport. However, this is not the case with Gymnastics. In fact, when you see gymnasts, you are looking at real life super heroes. They can literally do feats of strength that you could only dream of doing.[9]Olympic – Gymnastics In addition, their balance and ability to fly through the air seem unbelievable. These factors make it one of the best Olympic sports to watch. There is no other better opportunity to get into the true Olympic spirit than by watching gymnastics.
#1. Swimming
References
