Yes, we do…Being in the Olympics will give unicycling the final stamp of approval of being a serious sport…but that’s a long way away…
But I do agree some sports need not be there…I won’t comment on curling or synchronised swimming(which is sexist coz men are not allowed to participate<<<not that I care)…But as long as there is good competition (physical) and you have enough participants who are of world standard, it should be there…It takes a lot of physical effort and training to pole vault 5m, let alone 6m…I am against stuff like soccer being there…The good countries don’t send their best team and some crappy soccer nation gets gold…And this gold has the same value when compared to the years of training that runners or swimmers do to get that one moment of glory…The OG should be a showcase of the best sporting individuals in a respectable sport…
But how the sports are chosen is usually political…Pole climbing used to be a regular feature in the early 1900s. But it had only African competitors and was scrapped.It also is a shame that the Triathlon was intoduced only in 2000 and the women’s marathon in 1984…
I don’t know how ‘downhill’ it really is, but MTB is certainly in there, added in 1996 Atlanta games. I think it’s more a cross country event, with all riders competing at the same time.
The frisbee issue is more of a problem - Ultimate Frisbee is a huge sport with masses of international support, and should have far more weight than unicycling in the eyes of the Olympic people. But if they don’t get accepted?
I don’t think remounting would be a problem - the nature of muni is that you do fall, a lot more than bikes. If an awesome rider, blasting down a course in winning time, then misses landing one drop and having to remount, gets disqualified, where’s the fair competitive fun in that? It’s easy enough to marshal a big comp to ensure competitors do not run the course.
It’s not impossible, but the current progress seems implausible for a good while yet. If muni ever does get Olympic inclusion, it’ll certainly be much harder to compete in than it is now - with only a handful of likely riders. The beauty of muni’s obscurity would have to fade a bit.
There are negative sides of competition though. People stopping sharing new techniques or equipment they discover that give them a competitive edge. Personality clashes between over-competitive people. Competitive dad syndrome. Loss of the general chilled out thing at events.
I think to some extent this may be a bit of a culture divide, over here our unicycle conventions have a few small competitions, but nothing is taken really seriously and much much more time is spent hanging around chatting and going for rides. There’s none of the seriousness of doing loads of different track races with expert timekeeping etc. it’s much more about just meeting up to ride. No one really gets uber competitive. It would be really sad to lose that because someone decided we had to have olympic standard timekeeping and track races and all that stuff.
In juggling a lot of US people come to European conventions supposedly because the big conventions over there have got too competition focused. It’d be rubbish if unicycling went that way too.
I can’t see muni going that way just because I’ve never met any muni riders who weren’t much more about riding and the outdoors and meeting up with other riders than about any kind of competing.
I agree with Joe. Olympic muni would never work. You simply don’t get good enough cake shops half way around an olympic course. And I didn’t see one Tea Guild approved tea shop in Athens. Shocking.
We have considered this in the past for Unicon and other cross-country races. Here’s how reality affects your idea above:
If dismounts are not allowed, courses will have to be fairly easy so you get a good percentage of people finishing. I would rather see an interesting, challenging course.
The rule we have developed, though it is not in the rulebook, is basically “no running.” Riders who are dismounted must yeild the right of way to people who are riding, and may not pass any mounted riders in their vicinity. This worked fairly well in China, where we had hundreds of anxious riders on the course, which had some barely-rideable (under race conditions) uphill sections.
The above rule, as with any other dismount enforcement, requires eyes all along the course. This is realistic under Olympic conditions, but not under Unicon or other conditions. So it’s possible to cheat if officials don’t see you. There was plenty of that in the China race.
In track racing, dismounts are not allowed in any but the 800m and longer events. In everything up to 400 meters, you have to stay on to finish. This is a reasonable restriction on a predictable surface such as a track, or for relatively short distances. My experience has found that the racing experience is much more rewarding all around if people are allowed to finish the longer races, such as MUni and road races.
On a short course, like a UMX-style event, I’m definitely open to the idea of no dismounts. This works much better when the entire course can be observed from one spot so the rule can be enforced.
This is (or can be) true. I have observed all of these things at USA or IUF competitions.
If people choose not to share, that’s their choice. This goes all the way back to the earliest unicyclists, many of whom were Vaudeville performers. Naturally you kept stuff to yourself so you didn’t have copycat versions of your act.
Personality clashes definitely can get worse when there’s competition afoot. At least the competition gives them a chance to put their money where there mouth is. Some people are more ego than common sense, but this is true with or without competitive events (worse with, I admit).
Competitive dad (or mom) syndrome is a very ugly thing. It should be spotted early, if possible, and pointed out to the offending parties by people who care about them. It should not be tolerated. When kids are involved, any sporting event that does not keep good sportsmanship as the highest goal, is missing the point.
I can proudly say that MUni Weekends are very similar. Keeping the competition to a minimum also makes the events much, much simpler to set up!
It sounds like Joe has never been to a USA convention or Unicon. It’s rubbish, as far as that is concerned. So many competition events, times so many age groups, and not enough time is left for the so-called “convention” part. This needs to change.
Hey, only people like Princess Anne are allowed to criticize sync swimming!
We need to respect her, she thinks dressage is a sport worthy of the
olympics!
But generally as a unicyclist I don’t want to be taken seriously, I just
wanna have fun. The first person to cry out “four faults” when I fall off
gets serious seatpost damage.
Yes- I think I can generally unicycle faster than I can run (unless I’m riding a 20" or 24" with long cranks).
I really don’t like the rule about not being able to run with your unicycle. The point of any race is to get across the finish line first, with whatever you are riding, whether it be a bike or a unicycle.
If something is too steep to ride fast, then I’d get off and run. This has been my experience with racing unicycles in mountainbike races- you’re wasting energy and only slowing yourself down. I’ve run past many mountainbikers who were grinding up ridiculously steep inclines. The racing timer doesn’t care if you rode it or ran it.
In terms of unicycle-only competition- I think someone racing at competition level ought to be able to generally ride faster than they can run anyway (on the flat/downhill). They need to be able to select the right gear for the terrain, and to know where it is more efficient to run and where it is more efficient to ride.
To even be considered for recognition by the IOC a sport must have an anti-doping policey. Do we want to get mixed up in all that drugs testing and suspiciant stuff. I’d rather see unicycling stay fairly small and freindly with international conventions that include competitions.
This is easy with bike racing, as there is a clear disadvantage to running, except in the most difficult sections. On a MUni course, especially a very technical one, the unicycle may not be the fastest way to get through it. But it is a unicycle race, so we can’t be as open as a bike race.
On the track its much more cut-and-dried. The point of the race is not just to get across the finish line, the point is to unicycle across. As well as all the way there, in all but the longer races. There has been a ton of controversy over the years on our rule about crossing the finish line “in control” of the unicycle. When we defined it as getting the whole wheel across the line before the rider touched the ground, many people argued that a 100m race was then a 101m race. Well, it sort of is, but we’re only timing the first 100. You can do that last 24" as slow as you want with no downside. But it’s a unicycle race, and unicycling is supposed to be harder than running (which riding a bike is not).
Mine too, at the 24 Hours of Adrenaline. Except for me, being the lesser athlete, if I was off the uni I was basically walking! But in this case, the standard is bikes, and the assumption is that it’s faster enough to ride that running is not an issue.
I wonder if running would be allowed in an all-uphill bike race?
Even if we wanted to, we can’t afford it. So though the IUF has nothing on paper about doping, I would offer our informal policy. We are against all forms of performance-enhancing doping! That said, since we have no capability of testing, it doesn’t mean a whole lot.
I wonder. Does the IOC only require a policy? Or do they require enforcement as well? That’s the hard part.
Because we have no capability of testing, I have often jokingly mentioned that people can use whatever steroids they like. But that was never official policy. Though I think we’re a long way from needing it, I suppose it couldn’t be too early for the IUF to add a policy statement on doping, just so everyone understands we aren’t in favor of it.
I know that’s not the response you wanted to hear, Sarah. Please note that it’s a much higher priority for me to have more of a convention atmosphere at events like Unicon, even if it means less competitive events. I think we can double or triple attendance if the event was not so competition-focused.
