[eltoxo]

Because no one watches something like the shot put other wise, EVER.

It use to be the Olympics were the one showcase for the non-popular sports.

Case in point, the shot put. One of the long standing "unbreakable" records was Randy Barnes shot put from the late 80s.

Ryan Crouser broke that last year and won the gold medal this year, again.

It is an incredible accomplishment but no one cares because Lebron and Steph Curry were going for the gold or why watch the shot put when you can watch break dancing.

I feel bad for anyone who is not old enough to have watched it when it was all amateurs. It was something so special.

Just have the Taylor Swift karaoke event already. I am sure that would get great ratings and that is all that matters obviously.

[koolba]

I don’t see why allowing professionals to compete prevents anyone from enjoying other events.

It sounds like your complaint is that the professionals consume the oxygen of the Olympics and prevent the rest from getting as much share of the public’s attention.

For the record, the break dancing was really fun to watch, all the track and field events are always fun to watch, and the training and dedication to all the competitors is admirable.

The real problem is that the enshitification of all modern media means that there’s not a single repo of video of all the events. Even finding the video of one specific event is a gigantic PITA.