Do you think professional athletes should be allowed to compete in the Olympics?

Question

I don't, but then again, Olympians are supposedly the best of the best right? This is a tough question - help me out please.

Answer 1

Yes and yes.. Olympics are supposed to be the best athletic competition in the world.. once you start exluding people that are good enough to be paid.. then you lose the best perfromers

I like seeing how olympic athletes earn money by doing what they do.. basketball is the only one that I hate how the US handles it

Answer 2

Not all of the events are dominated by athletes. Track and Field, Swimming, Archery, Cycling, to name a few.The Basketball team is a different story, however. Prior to 1992, only European and South American professional basketball players were allowed to compete in the Olympics. The USA team had a poor showing prior to the 1992 games. This was due in part to the fact that the 1988 team for the Games in Seoul was comprised of college players. People argued that it was not fair that European and South American countries have professional basketball players on their olympic team and the Americans did could not. The FIBA allowed professionals from all countries compete and this is why the Dream Team was formed for the 1992 games. To compete with other countries and their professional athletes. What they need to do is bring Baseball back to the Games.

Answer 3

The origin of the modern Olympic Games was based upon the purity of sport and the honor of competition and the love of sport. Therefore, Amateurism was at the core of the games.

This was heavily enforced throughout the games by the various Presidents of the IOC, the governing body for the Olympic games. Avery Brundage was chief among the people who fought for the amateur ideal. During his tenure as IOC president, Brundage strongly opposed any form of professionalism in the Olympic Games. Gradually, this view became less accepted by the sports world and other IOC members. It led to some embarrassing incidents, such as the exclusion of Austrian skier Karl Schranz, who was accused of being a professional, from the 1972 Winter Olympics. He opposed the restoration of Olympic medals to Native American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had been stripped of them when it was found that he had briefly played professional baseball before taking part in the 1912 Olympic games (where he had beaten Brundage in the pentathlon and decathlon).

Since the '72 Games, where Eastern European and Soviet athletes began to dominate the game (and were hardly amateurs) the impetus was there to open the games to ALL athletes as the amateur ideal could no longer be fairly enforced. And since you can't make a distinction between professionalism (if you get paid to play a sport, you're a professional, no mater how much it may be), it should be open to all who wish to and are good enough to take part.

Answer 4

No I do not think they should. But until you can control nations like China or the old USSR making amatures train 24/7 all year round like it is a job from a young age you have no choice but to let them in because it would not be a level playing field.

But the games were traditionally, and should always be for amatures.

Answer 5

I thought most sports are entered by professionals in the Olympics, get the best person in the sport every time.

Answer 6

no way, dude....olympians are supposed to be the best AMATEUR athletes in the world.....plus do you really think the best US athletes would compete? just look at the last Team USA basketball effort.

Answer 7

Of course.
There would be no Olympics without professional athletes.

Answer 8

i think that they should be becuase they are the best players for their country so why not?

Answer 9

no