Watchingallsports.com

WatchingAllSports already has pages on Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, and Tennis. Please consult those pages for more information on the way those games are played in general. This page will only contain information on them if the Olympic versions of the sports are noticeably different from the professional versions.

History
The modern Olympic games have been experimenting with many forms of athleticism over their history, but some games are the meat and potatoes of sports – they have histories that far predate the Olympics, and are loved by millions around the world. These sports are core events at the Olympic Games, and often have their own professional leagues as well.

Volleyball (beach & indoor)
Volleyball is a team-only ball sport wherein two teams of two or six players attempt to score on each other by hitting the ball onto the opposing team’s side of the court, which is separated into two halves by a net. Each team may only strike the ball three times before returning it over the net, so competitors must be very aware of how best to control the ball while still setting up for a spike (the act of slamming the ball downward over the net), which is very difficult to defend against when done properly.

There are two types of Olympic volleyball: beach and indoor. The differences are as follows:
– Beach volleyball is played outdoors and on sand, which means competitors must endure inclement weather and heat.
– Beach volleyball is played with two teams of two players, whereas indoor volleyball is played with two teams of six.
– Indoor volleyball courts are larger than beach volleyball courts.

Badminton
Badminton can be visually described as a short-range version of tennis. Competitors use rackets and play on a court, but use a shuttlecock (or birdie) instead of a ball. The shuttlecock is considered dead as soon as it touches the ground, so players must be very agile and quick to respond to their opponents’ movements to prevent spikes.

The current Olympic program supports five events: mens and womens singles and doubles, and mixed doubles.

Softball
Softball and baseball are recent and somewhat contested events on the Olympic program. They were introduced in 1996, removed in 2012, and will be reintroduced in 2020.

Overall, softball is a very similar sport to baseball, with a few small rules differences that make games transpire differently. These include:
– Ball must be pitched underhand, making it easier to hit.
– Pitcher’s mount is not elevated from the rest of the field.
– Field is slightly smaller.
– Only 7 innings instead of 9.
– Infield is covered in grass instead of dirt.

Field hockey
Field hockey bears many strategic similarities to ice hockey, but there are differences that affect the pace of play:
– 11 players per team instead of 6.
– Two 35-minute halves instead of 3 20-minute periods.
– No checking, and thus less padding.
– Sticks are much stouter and more curved.
– Ball insted of a puck.

For more information on general hockey strategy, consult our hockey page.

Golf
Golf is a game of intense precision, where athletes hit a ball down a course and attempt to sink it in a very small hole in as few strokes as possible. Golf is noteworthy because it has only been featured at the Olympics three times: 1900, 1904, and more than a hundred years later in 2016. It is slated to reappear at Tokyo 2020.

Golf can be a tricky sport to spectate because many of the determining factors for a given stroke or hole are small movements and adjustments on the golfer’s part. The material of the club can be important as well; wedges are usually metal, and drivers can be made of wood. The selection of club is also important:
– Driver: oblong clubs with a flat face, used for hitting the ball long distances.
– Wedges: small clubs with sharply angled faces, used for applying more control to the ball over short distances. The pitching wedge is a club used mostly for extricating oneself from sand traps, rough grass, and other awkward conditions. Wedges are almost always metal.
– Putter: a small metal club with a flat face, used to gently tap the ball into the hole after closing the distance with other clubs.

Handball
Handball has seen two variations at the Summer Olympics, but only indoor handball is played today. It bears some resemblance to basktball in that the ball is controlled with the hands, but has its own distinct set of rules.
– Once a player has the ball, he must only dribble it once every three steps or three seconds.
– No player exept the goalkeeper is allowed in the goalkeeper’s section of the court, which extends six metres from the goal itself.
– A regulation court is 40m by 20m.
– Each team fields six players plus a goaltender.
– A shot on the goal is invalid if the ball touches the floor before touching the goal. Goals are two metres high and three metres wide.
– A game is divided into two 30-minute halves, with a middle break of 10-15 minutes.

Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens is one of the Summer Games’ newest sports, having debuted only in 2016. It is similar to traditional rugby, but as the name suggests it only played with seven players on the field per team instead of rugby union’s 15 players. This means the game is overall much closer and easier to follow because there is less commotion on the pitch during play.

For a full breakdown of rugby in general, please consult our article [LINK HERE]. The differences between rugby union and rugby sevens are actually rather small, aside from team size. Plainly speaking, the point of a sevens game is to have a game that is still fundamentally rugby but which uses fewer players. The referee’s responsibility is not to ensure that every single rule and regulation is followed to the letter, but rather to ensure that the players are not injured and that play may proceed at a reasonable, steady pace.

The largest differences are how kicking is handled, and which team receives possession of the ball after a goal. In normal rugby, a kick (awarded through a referee penalty, or to start play) is stationary; the kicker approaches the ball with a running start before kicking it. In sevens, all kicks are drop kicks, which means kicking is overall a much less important part of the game. Instead, the focus is usually on keeping possession, because there are fewer stray defenders at any given time for both teams.

After one team scores, the team that was scored upon is given possession of the ball, which is not the case in rugby union. This is done because of ease with which either team can score: if the winning team received possession, or if there was a scrum after each score, then snowballing would happen much more frequently.

Table tennis
Also known as ping pong, table tennis is a miniature version of tennis played with a hollow ball and paddles on a tabletop. It is a relatively recent addition to the Games, beginning in 1988, and China has been dominant throughout its history. Of the 32 gold medals given to the sport, Chinese athletes have won 28 of them. The only event where a Chinese athlete was not on the podium was the first 1988 Games.

There are four categories of table tennis played at the Olympics: mens and womens singles and doubles. The doubles events had previously been team events, with three possible players, but this structure was changed to prevent a single country from winning all three medals in a single Games. A fifth category, mixed doubles, will be added in the upcoming Tokyo 2020 games.

Much of the information in our tennis article applies to table tennis, but generally table tennis games are played at a faster pace. At the professional level, athletes often play very far back from the table and the ball is very low and fast. Any attempt at a lob will result in the opposing player spiking it for a very difficult-to-defend shot.