Olympics - Amateurs only ?

[KidKruger]

I'm sure (hope) there's a straightforward answer to this..

I've always believed that the Olympics was for amateurs only ie. not those who are paid pros.

But if Andy Murray is playing tennis shouldn't pro boxers be allowed to don headgear and box to amateur point-scoring rules (or would that be considered unfair for the, by comparison, lesser experienced amateurs) ?

I think I've heard that a couple of pro footballers are in the games, but not all.

What ARE the rules regarding participation and are they consistent across the sports ?

[Jeremy]

I've always been confused about the boxers too. If we can have Ryan Giggs and Andy Murray representing us, why not Amir Khan and Carl Froch? Track-and-field athletes are also professional sportspeople (appearance fees plus prize money at competitions).

I realise that the regulations and scoring are very different for amateur vs pro boxing, but any boxer with a decent workrate would easily re-adapt.

[Huguenot]

I understand that the only two sports where amateurism is a requirement are boxing and wrestling.

Apparently these two were kept seperate because it was thought that the kind of hopeless mismatches that sometimes occur in the Olympics could result in death or serious injury.

This wasn't applied to other martial arts because the belt system was though to provide an adequate steer on capability.

[Jeremy]

The injury thing makes a certain amount of sense. Although obviously among judo/taekwondo black belts there can be a huge disparity in power and skill.

How about ice skating in the winter olympics? Didn't Torvill and Dean have to stop competing because they wanted to tour and earn money?

[Loz]

Didn't it used to the case, but they changed the rule sometime... ooh.. 20 or so years ago. I remember because up until then the US basketball team was pretty weak as all the NBL players were ineligible. I think the 'Dream Team' moniker was thought up for the first time they could select a full strength squad.

[nashoi]

Apparently boxing is changing for Rio. World series boxers will be competing I think.

[KidKruger]

That makes sense Huge, for boxing. Floyd Mayweather/Pacquiao against even a decorated amateur would be dangerous for the amateur.

for the martial arts guys, they'd be competing nationally to whittle down the participants to the squad who'll represent their country at the Olympics, so there should be a natural progression through the tiers of quality, though that won't be associated with belts/grades - I'd expect all international quality martial artists to have their black/'dan' grades - selection and match-making by belt/grade would usually be at club/inter-club level competition.

[DJKillaQueen]

Wow, Murray won a major final! Thought he might do it this time though....yay!

[Jeremy]

The martial arts point isn't really relevant though, as AFAIK judo and taekwondo are purely amateur sports.

Good job tennis is allowed though, innit?

[KidKruger]

you're right Jeremy, i was just illustrating how mismatches are avoided in the non-boxing martial arts, but of course it's all amateur for those styles anyway.