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We wanted to see what athletes in OCR thought about the news regarding Obstacle Course Racing potentially making it's way to the Olympic Games in the next decade. We created a survey with some related questions. We thought it would be fun to get some feedback and share some thoughts. Below is what these athletes think.
Do you think Obstacle Course Racing should be an Olympic sport?
Pretty clear results here. 41/50 polled think that OCR should indeed be an Olympic Sport.
I did not answer my own poll, but if I had the opportunity for my own input, I would say that OCR should be an Olympic Sport for one reason and one reason only: sport growth through notoriety.
Let's say OCR becomes an Olympic sport. If you had to choose between seeing it as a short course (5K and below) or long course (from 5K to 20K) which would you rather see?
Within OCR there is a large segment that prefers long courses. That being said, there is probably a larger segment that likes short courses better. For viewership sake, I'd think that a short course would be the way to go for the Olympics. However, if you are looking for a top athlete with range, then you would want to do both. Of course, we have no idea what it will look like ultimately.
Do you think that making OCR an Olympic sport would help or hurt the sport? (Help with media attention and publicity or hurt with PED scandals and the "big money" interests and such of the Olympics).
Can't really say anything here except that I agree. There will be negatives and positives to OCR being in the Olympics...just like there are for everything else.
Name 3 male, and 3 female athletes you would want to represent YOUR country at the Olympics for Obstacle Course Racing.
Alright, this was all made in fun, like I mentioned at the top. That being said, the answers to this question were so absolutely convoluted there isn't any reasonable data to share. Some people surveyed included athletes from 3 different countries to represent their country. Some people just wrote "Idk" or "not sure" and other answers along that line. One person wrote, "1. Most of them cheat 2. Keep runners from cheating 3. Judges". I have no idea what they thought they read, but that wasn't the question at all, so I was super confused reading that answer.
One thing I took away from the answers to this question was the fact that there are still plenty of people who don't know who the top competitors currently are in OCR as there were only 4 responses that had names for 3 men and 3 women from the same country. There were several names thrown in there who haven't raced competitively in many years now.
If you had to choose ONE OCR company only to design and build the course and obstacles for the Olympic event, which would you choose?
Spartan Race: 22 Votes
Savage Race: 12 votes
Adventurey (OCRWC): 6 votes
Others mentioned:
I had one person comment and say that this question didn't matter because none of these companies will get to design the obstacles or course. Well, of course not. None of this input is going to change anything for OCR. It's just a fun survey to see what people think and what people would like to see happen!
That's it! Thanks to all who filled out the survey, and thanks to all who took the time to read through the reported results! Now get off your phones and computers and start training for the Olympics ;)
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