New Olympic Sport?

[Cygnus]

Apparently, the New Zealand Farmers Federation is lobbying to make sheep-shearing an Olympic sport.

And we all know that shearing the sheep is one of the earliest steps in kilt-making!

[Bugbear]

Um, I seem to remember watching some kind of sheep-shearing contests that the 4H kids did when I was growing up, but a sport? I guess it might be, but I never thought of it in that way.

[CDNSushi]

No offense to my Kiwi friends... But that's one of the stupidest things I've read in a long, long time! Seriously? I thought I was linking to an Onion article at first.

Kinda selfish if you ask me. Us western types from N. America could just as easily demand the inclusion of rodeo sports. If you're going to have sheep shearing, then why not bull riding? Calf roping? Steer wrestling? Hell, why not if we're going to take it in that direction.

If NZ is really feeling that lonely way out there in the middle of the ocean, I would LOVE to see rugby included. How about that as a compromise? At least you'd have a decent selection of countries to choose from in terms of playing for an Olympic medal.

Edit.... I just learned that apparently rugby USED to be an Olympic sport but got dropped in 1924. But it's coming back!!!! They will play sevens in 2016! Hooray!

[Laird_M]

Can't really see that gaining much public viewing...I'm guessing a lot of people may rate it rather low on the 'must watch' scale...

[tundramanq]

Agreed,
I see sheep shearing as a county and state fair competition thing. There is already a national competition for a lot of this kind of thing, and international for some.
The Olympics don't need auto racing and auto racing doesnt need them either.

[creagdhubh]

Agreed,
I see sheep shearing as a county and state fair competition thing. There is already a national competition for a lot of this kind of thing, and international for some.
The Olympics don't need auto racing and auto racing doesnt need them either.

Agreed.

[auld argonian]

Isn't that sort of like a Chicagoan demanding that 16 inch softball be made an Olympic Sport?

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AA