The most popular Olympic sports
There are only 3 occasions that the summer Olympics hasnt been held in recent years €“ In World War 1 the games weren’t held from 1915-18, in World War 2 there was no Olympics during the years 1940-1945. And this year, the Summer Olympics has been postponed because of the disastrous Corona Virus Pandemic. The world has been turned upside down since February and nearly everything on the 2020 sports calendar has either been postponed or cancelled, including the summer Olympics!
But were not going to let it ruin all the fun, so were going to give Olympics fans some fun trivia! Starting off we’re going to cover the most popular Olympic sports, the sports that keep us all glued to the TV during every Olympic Games.
Gymnastics
A world championship in gymnastics never really makes television headlines or breaks box office records, but when it comes to the Olympics, this sport reigns supreme. Gymnastics has been on the Olympics since the first modern Summer Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens. One of the most skilful sports of all, gymnastics has been the most-watched Olympic sport since 1996.
Track and Field
Up next is the athletics category, athletics events can trace its roots to the ancient Greek-Olympics and is the biggest sport in terms of both competitors and events. Al the track and field sports cumulate to the one everyone tunes in to watch. The 100m, 200m and 100m relay final are the single most watched events with the 100m being #1. Everyone on the planet wants to watch the fastest men and women in the world battle it out.
Swimming
Much like gymnastics, swimming world championships can get eclipsed by other more mainstreams sports, but not at the Olympic games. Swimming has the second most events after track and field, the sport has kept it’s popularity partly due to some legends of the pool. Names like legend Michael Phelps, who is the most decorated Olympian in history, Mark Spitz (won nine Olympic gold medals), Ian Thorpe and more recently Katie Ledecky have cemented swimming popularity.
Country rivalry is a real mix for excitement too, the USA and Australia have traditional had the best swimmers in the world. The United States has won the most medals in the swimming competitions since 1896, followed by Australia.
Soccer
Football is one of the most popular sports worldwide and it’s popularity as an Olympic sport is pretty natural. The sport was not included in the early years of the Olympics and womens soccer wasn’t added in the summer Olympics until 1996.
Rugby 7’s
It’s not easy to get accurate data on the most watched Olympic sports as a lot of the information rends to be per country. For example Olympic basketball ranks very highly in the USA but would rank low in term of viewership in many other countries. One major winner from Rio 2016 was Rugby. The team sport returned to the Olympic programme at Rio 2016, when the sevens format proved a massive hit, stadiums were sold out and millions around the world watch the competition play out.
Weightlifting
Another hugely popular crowd favourite is Olympic weightlifting. Each weightlifter gets three attempts, and the combined total of the highest two successful lifts determines the overall result within a bodyweight category, each winner gets the title of strongest athlete in their bodyweight category.
Tennis
Tennis has become a much bigger deal at the Olympics in recent years as all the superstars get involved. Names like Serena Williams and the big 3 in tennis – Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, all draw massive audiences everywhere they go and the summer Olympics is no different.
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