Alternate Olympic sports

T20 cricket! The most popular type of cricket, And the second most popular sport in the world.

also Cricket has a good international spread and the duration of T20 game is not too long for the 'Merkins ( given that American 'football' manages to pack 80 minutes of play into 4 hours ).
 
withthe mention of Hoplite racing - what about a TAB / yomp race ? just to add to the fun make it 'summer biathlon' as well ...
 
also Cricket has a good international spread and the duration of T20 game is not too long for the 'Merkins ( given that American 'football' manages to pack 80 minutes of play into 4 hours ).

The main issue really is that it's only played in a few countries, and none of them are the US, Russia or China, which hurts it's chances. You the have the issue of certain teams being non-national entities (i/e West Indies and Ireland).
 
The main issue really is that it's only played in a few countries, and none of them are the US, Russia or China, which hurts it's chances. You the have the issue of certain teams being non-national entities (i/e West Indies and Ireland).

20/20 Cricket was played at the 2010 Asian Games held in China and the Chinese fielded teams in the men's and women's competitions, the women came fourth. As for the USA, they were represented at the 2004 champions trophy, the 2010 and 2006 under 19 world cups. Russia have made no impression on the cricket pitch but Russia's national cricket body have recently affiliated with the International Cricket Council and are also affiliated with the Multisport Association of Russia. On the subject of transnational entities, any sport that appears in the Olympics usually has some sort of qualifying tournaments before the games themselves, other wise you would have two hundred teams in the soccer, hockey and so on.
 
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Summer Olympics

Archery
Track & Field
Swimming
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Canoeing/Kayaking
Cycling
Equestrian
Diving
Golf
Gymnastics
Field Hockey
Judo
MMA
Modern Pentathalon
Rowing
Shooting (add IPSC, High Power Rifle, 3-gun Match to current Olympic Sports)
Synchronized Swimming
Soccer
Softball
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Triathalon
Tug of War
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Water Polo
 
The main issue really is that it's only played in a few countries, and none of them are the US, Russia or China, which hurts it's chances. You the have the issue of certain teams being non-national entities (i/e West Indies and Ireland).

Cricket is 'the' sport in India - a country several times larger by population that the USA ...

it's also the major sport in many Carribean Nations

Cricket is played in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and America

the ten current 'test' teams are

England
Australia
South Africa
West Indies ( which is composite team from 15 territories)
New Zealand
India
Pakistan
Sri lanka
Bangladesh
Zimbabwe

there are 36 'associate' Nations and 60 'affiliate' nations

which gives 50 + territories where Cricket is an established sport

there are 15 nations and the West Indies who play International cricket at one day and T20 ( the 10 test teams and the top 6 affiliates)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Cricket_Council_members#Associate_Members

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ICC-cricket-member-nations.png


how many nations play top class Baseball ?
 
The main issue really is that it's only played in a few countries, and none of them are the US, Russia or China, which hurts it's chances. You the have the issue of certain teams being non-national entities (i/e West Indies and Ireland).

It was played at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and there the various teams that made up the West Indies played as separate national sides. If it was at the Olympics the Northern Irish players would simply play for a GBR team rather than a Republic of Ireland team.

Squash and Netball are two other sports which I am surprised are not at the Olympics.
 
Cricket is 'the' sport in India - a country several times larger by population that the USA ...

it's also the major sport in many Carribean Nations

Cricket is played in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and America

the ten current 'test' teams are

England
Australia
South Africa
West Indies ( which is composite team from 15 territories)
New Zealand
India
Pakistan
Sri lanka
Bangladesh
Zimbabwe

there are 36 'associate' Nations and 60 'affiliate' nations

which gives 50 + territories where Cricket is an established sport

there are 15 nations and the West Indies who play International cricket at one day and T20 ( the 10 test teams and the top 6 affiliates)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Cricket_Council_members#Associate_Members

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ICC-cricket-member-nations.png


how many nations play top class Baseball ?

I should really have said that the impression is that it's not played widely enough. You could definitely have a 16 team T20 tournament in the Olympics.
 
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