If all sports were like track...

I have been spending too much time watching the Winter Olympics lately.  Besides making me grateful for a (sometimes) summer sport, I'm often find myself thinking how much better all sports would be if they were patterned after running sports.  In track, you know exactly where you stand the whole time. if you are the first guy to the finish line, you win.  Easy. End of story.  No judges to arbitrarily award or deduct points based on your style while running. No prizes based on artistic interpretation or costume choice or music or any other such nonsense. (Seriously, figure skating?) No waiting for the contestants to go one at a time.  It is you, the clock, the other competitors.  At the finish line, you know exactly how you did and where you finished, and that has been within your control the whole time. 

In fact, not only do you know where you stand any given day, you know where you stand in all of history.  A mile today is exactly the same distance as when Sir Roger ran it sixty years ago.  No questions about the best runners of all time; it is all written in the history books. 

But I digress.  Think about how much improved it would be if they put all the figure skaters out there at the same time.  First one to complete all required elements wins.  Or maybe last one standing, if you want it to be an endurance event. (Then again, maybe we already have that event and just call it hockey....) And do we need to have individual ski racing and group ski racing? Seems to me if you put them all out there at once and let them race down the mountain it would be a bit more efficient time-wise.  Short track speed skaters seem to get it, but long trackers have only partly figured it out.  Put everyone out there at the same time and let strategy (and fate, perhaps) duke it out, cross-country style.  I don't even know what to do about curling, but if suspect it should fall into the recreational activity category more than finely tuned athletic event anyway.

Now, I don't mean to disparage any of the fine athletes representing their countries at the olympics.  Heck, they do lots of things I could never dream of attempting.  I just think we could redesign some rules to make some of the events a tad more exciting.  If it requires a judge, a costume, and music, it can be an amazingly athletic performance, but it might not be a good sport. I prefer sports that are honest and straightforward and not open for error by judges or interpretation. 

By the way, did you ever notice most Olympians train by running? Just saying....

Go team.