Poll: Trouble for Olympic Shooting Sports

Even if you haven’t watched every minute of the Olympic Games, you have to know something odd is happening with Olympic shooting sports.

RioOlympicsShootingWomen-f039cDuring her first Olympic showing, 19-year-old Ginny Thrasher became the first gold medal winner for the United States and the first medal winner of this year’s Olympiad after firing an unbeatable score in the Women’s 10-meter Air Rifle event.

It is no doubt a feat to be proud of, and yet, the American teenager faced sneering and snark from the likes of Piers Morgan and whining has-been Wil Wheaton (aka Star Trek’s Wesley Crusher), who instead of appreciating her achievement, decided to wax sarcastic about America and guns on social media.

Kim Rhode won a bronze medal in skeet shooting last week, and in the process became the first woman to take the podium in six straight Olympic Games. And yet, big name sponsors want nothing to do with her, because GUNZ!

An odious bill entitled the HEART Act, which I briefly discussed in last week’s poll threatens to shut down youth shooting sports.

Are things really that grim, or are shooting sports going to come out of this just fine? That’s the subject of today’s poll. What’s the danger? Let us know.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

5 thoughts on “Poll: Trouble for Olympic Shooting Sports”

  1. Having no TV for the last 20 odd years, I don’t watch anything, but lost interest in the Olympics long before that. I’m not just sure when the athletes went from true amateurs and became the obvious professionals (and too often cheaters) they are now, but that turned the whole Olympics idea into a farce. It is now all about the money, the fame and nationalism, not sports. And not to mention the billions of taxpayer dollars that go into it.

    From what I’ve seen on line in the news about this current fiasco, maybe it would be better if the entire idea died.

    As for the shooting sports, I’d say most should be local and include everyone who will participate – which will do a lot more to build the “sport,” and enthusiasm for shooting, than anything on TV.

  2. All of them are true. Shooting sports are bashed etc. but shooting sports (shooting itself) is more popular than ever for those in the “gun culture”. People teach their kids, who teach their kids…

  3. What ML said about the Olympics: I lost interest in things like watching Michael Jordan pretend to be an amateur athlete even before the Olympics jumped that particular shark. And 40+ years ago I wanted to be IN the Olympics.

    But the shooting sports are never good spectator sports anyway, no matter what other issues are going on. Like archery, which was my sport when I was young, it’s the art of standing (or lying) perfectly still and making tiny holes in paper far away. Skeet’s more fun to watch, but even that won’t push football out of the TV ratings any time soon.

    I volted Other: Don’t Know on this one.

  4. I had to vote no. I think that the shooting sports are still relevant in the olympics, and will continue to be so for the near future. As far as big money flowing into the game, the major firearm manufacturers that have always been involved will continue to back the athletes who compete, and I doubt it will change. I also don’t think you will see a super star emerge from the ranks of the shooting sports. It is not only the scary gun factor, but the secondary sport factor. You also don’t have big name stars coming from sports like synchronized swimming or hammer throwing. Plus, the Olympics themselves have become so controversial that the athletes often become secondary to the story of the day. However, this is a great question to have here, and it does make one think. Well done as usual, TZP.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *