world games?

I'm not sure how much of the Sochi Olympics we will be watching this year.  The kids are at that age where they can sort of watch the events, but they get bored with most of them.  Our five-year-old daughter was able to sit through and watch one or two figure skating routines this evening, but otherwise complained when the games were on.  I think the upcoming games in Rio de Janeiro and in PyeongChang will hold their attention better than this year's games in Sochi.

For my own part, some of the Winter Olympics sports can be a little difficult for me to get into.  I sort of alluded to this eight years ago (Has it really been that long?), but a lot of the events feel like the sorts of things that only a few hundred or a few thousand people in the world even have the access and resources to compete in if they are interested.

As an example of what I am talking about take a look at the list of official bobsled tracks in the world.  Cool Runnings taught us that you don't need to live near one to compete in the Olympics, but you certainly cannot expect to place well unless you live near a good track, can afford a bobsled, and have the time and money to practice.  This means that there are only a few thousand people in the world who can even realistically have the opportunity to compete in the sport, so this doesn't feel have the world-reaching feel that it should.

As another example if you live in the United States and you want to get into ski jumping you'd better hope you live near one of the seven ski jumping slopes in the country.  Really, any skiing competition limits the pool of potential competitors quite a bit based on means and geography, but the ski jump is the most extreme of those.

Every sport requires some sacrifice and/or means, but it seems like there are more that have this limit in the Winter Olympics than in the Summer Olympics.  My sense is that there are more Winter Olympic games that are outside the reach of what a typical family with an Olympian could afford than there Summer Olympic games.  I do acknowledge that there examples of accessible and inaccessible sports in both.

I think speed skating, and especially short track speed skating, is among my favorite sports in the Winter Olympics for this overall reason.  While training and equipment are probably expensive, it is an accessible sport.  You can become fast on skates without a trainer and without equipment, and so it is conceivable that you could acquire a sponsor of some sort to get a trainer once you prove your natural and practiced abilities.  It's the track and field events of the Winter Olympics.

I am looking forward to the Rio games in a couple of years.