Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament
The only sport, that I'm aware off, not sending their best pro's is Men's soccer. I think that is more driven by the fact that that sport has so much exposure and that soccer has things like the European championships, a major event, the same summer as the Olympics. Pro Soccer is an almost year around sport driven by many competitions, national, club league, European club, cup runs etc etc, that drives the Olympics to be a more minor event.
And of course the World Cup.
To the best of my recollection, Tennis has an age cap for similar reasons. Or, at the very least, it was done that way in the not-too-distant past.
The IOC has apparently decided that including these sports is sufficiently important that they're willing to accept second rate competitions. It's a debatable choice. When a professional version of a sport completely overshadows the Olympic competition, perhaps exclusion from the Olympics is for the best. But that certainly doesn't describe the situation in Women's Hockey.
Another thing to remember is that through much of Olympic History, rules on amateurism left many of the best at home. Across-the-board open eligibility is a relatively recent policy, not an immortal Olympic tradition. So there are other options with precedent. Again, turning back the clock on eligibility isn't my preference. It's a fallback position at most.
This debate goes on in between the Olympics as well. Even on this board it comes up from time to time. Reality is, more people pay attention to it when the Olympics are one, and more beat writers need to have something to talk about during the Olympics. Typically things that sell news are the "sensation/controversy" stories, and the "hardship/feel good" stories.
Fully accurate, of course. But this doesn't settle the question of whether stirring the pot is the appropriate thing to do at particular points in time.
In case it must be said, the
right to speak is beyond question. But as consumers, all of us have the corresponding right to pass judgment on the material we're offered by the media. Done well, sports commentary can be entertaining, informative and thought provoking. Done poorly, it can be irritating and distracting. For me, demanding that a sport be dropped during the actual competition is usually going to fall into the latter category.
