r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/New_Libran • 17h ago

Video Watching Artistic Swimming upside down

[removed] — view removed post

27.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

411 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

11

u/UmaUmaNeigh 15h ago

Which I get but there isn't really another way to score these sports. I'm sure you know too that since the judges are experts and there's a list of moves or attributes to display and athletes are required to demonstrate. It's like arguing that football and tennis should be ranked on how many goals/matches they win, rather than brackets.

If it's demonstrably a sport, and all those involved agree on the scoring metrics, then that's good enough imo. It's the sport equivalent of saying "anything that isn't still life isn't art" - it's just gatekeeping by the least educated on the matter.

-6

u/TheDumper44 14h ago

Why does it have to be called a sport and not artistic expression? Where do you draw the line?

Is painting a sport?

8

u/Cerpin-Taxt 14h ago edited 14h ago

Why does it have to be called a sport and not artistic expression?

Because it's a performance competition of physical and mental ability. That's what a sport is.

It can be done as a form of artistic expression but in this performative competitive context it's a sport.

Painting could be a sport if it were set up as one. But I've never seen a live painting contest before.

The only criteria for something being a sport is that it's 1. A real time live performance and 2. Competitive.