Quote:
Originally Posted by kyp275
Not sure if serious 
I'd imagine it's because fighter jets aren't really associated with sports. There are many activities in the military that are quite physically demanding and would certainly require its participants to be "athletic", but you'd never hear people describe them as "athletic" events. |
For me, Athletics is all about putting the emphasis on the human body. In autodriving it's not really about the Human body, but about how well the Human can manipulate a machine (albeit in harsh conditions). In shooting it's how well a Human can manipulate another machine (albeit at obscenely high accuracy), but in both cases the power is originating in the Machine, not the Human body. In every other Olympic sport, the power that drives the movement originates entirely in the Human body, and that's why I don't think either fit in the Olympics. The same goes for the Equestrian events as well.
For me, I think the Olympic "Athletics" should celebrate and demonstrate the raw power and capabilities of what the Human body is capable of. Shooting is hard, I won't deny it, but when I watch Shooting it feels more like the Gun is what has the power and agency, even though the Guns are all of standardised designs.
It would be like if instead of Shot-put, we had Cannon aiming, aiming a cannon is hard, but (ask any artilleryman), but as a sport it wouldn't really feel like it was about the power of the human body. Shot-put, on the other hand, is. Not only that, but I think that Olympic sports are at their best when they use minimal "simple" equipment, things you can imagine our distant ancestors using.