Jack Wilshere in contention for Olympics

We're talking about football, not just any other sport. Jack Wilshere has grown up as a football player, thus would much rather win a World Cup or the Champions League than an Olympic football gold medal. As the Olympics football isn't exactly a huge part of the footballing calendar (thus not that important to any footballer, and in any case mostly used to play younger players hence the age limit) I'm sure most footballers certainly wouldn't risk aggravating an injury just to win the medal and I hope Wilshere does the same and instead chooses to participate in our pre-season to help his recovery.

As for me saying it's a "****ty tournament", I wasn't talking about the Olympics overall, which is obviously the biggest sporting event in the world, I was talking about the football in the Olympics, which doesn't really mean anything as there are much bigger things to win in the footballing world.

 

You don't seem to be getting it ... to people who don't care about football, it's bigger. If you're just a football fan, then sure ... the World Cup is the biggest tournament to win. But if you're just a person who doesn't care about sport, you still recognise the amazing special nature of an Olympic gold medal. And the Olympics is bigger than any other sporting event on the planet. In the footballing circle, winning a World Cup or something is bigger ... but winning a gold medal at the Olympics makes you immortal.

I say again, you can bet your arse that everyone at the Olympics will want that gold medal. There might be things in the footballing world which are "bigger", but there's nothing quite like the magic of an Olympic gold medal; no matter what sport you're into, you want it. It's the pinnacle of sporting recognition and achievement.

 

I think that the pinnacle for athletes in the Olympics is primarily for track and field and the Pool. Whereas for footballers, the World cup, Champions league and their domestic leagues are probably ranked higher by the players, as an olympic sport it's on the list of 'other events'

An Olympic gold is a massive achievement for any sportsperson, but relatively, football already holds a greater place outside of the Olympics.

As for Wilshere, I agree that I'd rather see him in pre season training for Arsenal and not playing at the olympics.

 

Agree. An Olympic gold for football means ZERO for football fans and even sports fans. Nobody cares. Archery has a higher profile than football at Olympic level.

Ask JW if he'd rather have a gold medal or a Carling Cup medal - bet you he'd choose the latter

 

Second line is irrelevent to the discussion ... and the first line ... lol? An Olympic gold medal means nothing to sports fans? Lol, lol, and lol again.

 

Actually it was very relevant - You said

Thats simply not true. Very few sports fans, football fan or not, are really interested in who wins the football gold medal.

As this article is about Jack Wilshere I thought I would point out that I dont think he cares at all about having a football gold medal.

Reports today suggest that he will snub any selection from Pearce. Doesnt sound to me like he is that bothered about it - he's more interested in getting ready for our season than some irrelevant gold medal for football

....

lol,lol,lol...

again.

 

Murray - you sound like the chap who was on the old 606 Rugby board who insisted that the Rugby World Cup was more global than the football world cup because more continents were represented in the semi finals or something, ignoring teh fact that more people across teh globe, a lot lot more, wacthed the latter than Rugby.

The thing about the Olympics is that it allows a lot of minor sports to have their day in the sun, so all sports offer the same trophy as it were - they all get the same medal. However, the biggest, most watched/followed sports in the world either have their own premier trophies (football, tennis, basticball) or they are simply not present (Rugby, Cricket, NFL, Baseball). So, pound for pound, for fans of the sports that are most loved by the wolrd, locally or globally, the Olympics really aren't that big a deal.

The real ones with roses tinted specs are the ones who cannot stand the fact that there are people who don't give a monkeys about the Olympics, and sneer at the inherent croneyism, corruption, self agrandisement of the policital elite who hoist this huge burden on tax payers.

Look at TV figures, sponsorship spend, and you will see that football's World CUp is teh biggest event in the world. What makes the Olympics "bigger" is it is multi sport and have more participants. Look at how much money is bid for respective TV rights of big events and you will see the only real measure of an events value - tv companies and advertiers know their onions when it comes to this.

Pointless arguing with you about what the average man on the street anywhere in teh world will value more, because any opinion exprssed will be wholly based on personal pre-conceptions based on our own world views. All I can say is that nothing gets a nation out on teh street ceklebrating quite like a football win does (or cricket in India), even teh French came out and goit excited in 98, and look at the Greeks in 2004. They didn't bring Athens to a gridning halt when they won a gold at their Olympics.

Not that I would know anything, as I have never wacthed any Olympics. I dont see anything exciting about people running, throwing or jumping. Give them a football and oppoents trying to hack them down then I'll watch, but even though I am an avid football watcher, I don't even bother with Olympic football because I think Olympics are a hugely crippling finacial imposition on the tax payers placed upon them by IOC cronies.

 

Irrelevent, again. It's an Olympic gold medal. You say you've won one of those, and you get respect. The idea that what the sport is matters is an ignorant one.

Footballing trophies are one thing, Olympic gold medals are another. Olympic gold medals are respected by more people the world over. They're magic. Simple as that. You said that sports fans don't care about Olympic gold medals. That's just a stupid statement to have made, and I can only hope you didn't mean to say it.

You're sort of suggesting that anyone who wins one isn't going to be mentioning it as something to be proud of. If Wilshere won one with Team GB, you can bet it'd be talked about for the rest of his career.

 

Except that that's a stupid thing to be saying, because more people watch football than rugby. Just as it would be a stupid thing to suggest that more people watch football than the Olympics. 15% of the world's population watched the opening ceremony alone in 2008. Biggest sporting event on Earth. No argument.

I don't mean to be rude, but nothing else beyond your claim that the Olympics is just "giving a lot of minor sports their day in the sun" is worth responding to, tbh. I don't know if you meant to say that, but ... I facepalmed.

 

Murray - you are not going to convince anyone that a world cup winners medal is less important than olympic gold at football

Thats what you said, and it was just plain wrong.

As I said, Wilshere would rather be on a pre season tour of Asia than going for an irrelevant football gold medal. Speaks for itself.

 

Murray - can we please have a link to a official list of teh most wacthed TV events. The opening ceremony - exactly which sport is being watched when that is on, and what medals get won? The opening ceremony is a pantomine, not a sports event. The viewing figures for any single sport or event in any Olympics is rarely published.

Proper sporst events have a rubbish opening ceremony, often embaraasingly bad, and is something to endure befor eteh main event.

Not surpised that the only point you gave credit to is one that matched your view.

I want our lads to win Euro 2012, but couldn't care less about the football tournament in Olympics.

 

Best to leave it - anyone who suggests that an olympic gold in football is more important than a world cup winners medal is seriously confused.

 

Alright Jayram, because you are my best mate called Jayram, I will in teh words of a wise Afghan poet put away my sword and simply endure the madness surrounding us with paitence and forbearance.

 

Ha Ha Ha, you seriously think that a Olympic gold medal means more than a world cup medal Hilarious stuff!!

By the way according to Arseblog Wilshere has said he will refuse to go to the Olympics if selected so its irrelevant.

 

Olympics is based on commercial propaganda and a question of national pride.....nonetheless I find extremely boring. It's going to be madness next to where I live come the summer most people in my building are running away abroad though I'm staying as Im not very fond of my home country....anyways back on topic jack should learn from walcotts mistake and opt for preseason.

 

then you say you won it playing football, and people say "meh". then you say you were a professional footballer for a top club in the premier league, and because there are so many more football fans in this country, you get massive respect. actually, you will probably first be recognized for being a pro footballer. the fans won't really know or care if you have an olympic gold medal.

 

Interesting article from David Seaman about football in the Olympics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/17824965

Basically he's saying that it should be an amateur sport as it always was. I agree, professional football already has it's coveted major competitions and the Olympics is not one of them.

 

Indeed. Because that's football. And some people have a bubble around their head when it comes to football, especially in this country. I realise this is a football fan board, and so that's going to be particularly prevelent ... but come on. We have a tendancy to elevate football way above its stature (which is why we have so many overpaid tossers playing it here) and convince ourselves through argumentum ad populum that football somehow has an inbuilt importance to society. It doesn't. To non-football fans (and take notice of that term, because I've used it several times and yet some people still insist on not reading it) and to non-sports fans in general ... an Olympic gold medal, regardless of sport, is more important. It simply is. The Olympics is the biggest sporting event on Earth, and an Olympic gold medal is a universal symbol of sporting brilliance on a level that's almost literally legendary, dating back to a time when games like football weren't even invented.

As much as some people on here, this being a football-fan board, don't want to accept it, there's a simple truth: take a non-sports fan and say to them "This is my football World Cup medal" and the response? "Oh. Good for you." Take a non-sports fan and say to them "This is my Olympic gold medal" and the response? "Wow. That's f*cking amazing!" Owning an Olympic gold medal, discipline immaterial, raises you into an immortal group of human beings in the eyes of society. Deny it all you want, but when it comes down to it, football = just a sport. The Olympics = a legend. And we treat them as such in our society.

And anybody claiming that football is bigger than the Olympics ... I've got some seasoning to go with the sand, since you seem to like the taste of it.

 

You are arguing about the Olympic gold as if Wilshere has already won it. Most probably he will go home with nothing.
If Pierce will be stupid enough to demand that Jack has to play, then I would like him to go, treat it as friendlies, be careful, do not overstretch, avoid tackles and basically enjoy some jogging with a football.

 

i think you have it wrong. even non-football fans (and i know quite a few) know that football is disregarded at the olympics. at least those non football fans who know anything about sport. they will also know the achievement of a world cup gold medal, and will regard it as a much bigger achievement because they KNOW how big football is.

now theres the people who don't know or just don't give a **** about any sport. they won't care if you have an olympic gold or a world cup gold medal, they'll just come at you saying "sports are just games and stupid" or some other such nonsense.

and in our society, in the UK, football is much more of a legend than the olympics. some people think the olympics is just an athletics and swimming competition that's "quite good". but they know that football is much more than that, due to how they grew up in this country.