2016 Summer Olympics

[stoutdude04]

Most of these sports have world championships every year. The Olympics are no world cup, but it is still a huge tournament likewise for tennis, golf, etc.

 

I don't get putting basketball or hockey in that comparison though. Both of those sports don't play internationally outside of the Olympics. Winning the Olympics is a lot different for them. Less important, but still a big deal.

 

Both sports have international world championships. The Hockey World Cup starts this weekend.

 

True, but the hockey world cup is slightly different set-up.

[Funketown]

Basketball is a bit uninteresting given how much better the US professionals are than anybody else. Hockey has had a yearly World Championship for a really long time now. But, it's usually during the NHL playoffs and the European nations have a bit of an advantages as a result (all top USA players are in the NHL, some very good Europeans play in Europe). The US and Canada (while still often #1) are often ranked below where they should be as a result.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Six_(ice_hockey)

 

Until this year, the hockey World Cup was on an irregular schedule, and as such, I'd always viewed the Olympics as the most important international competition. Now, they're planning on holding it every four years, so I guess it should be viewed as the biggest competition.

 

The 'Team North America' of U-23 players and European team which consists of players from Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia etc. are a bit odd. But, whereas half of the teams in a FIFA World Cup have <1% chance of winning, I'd say even Team Europe has about a 1/30 shot, so this should be fun. Honestly though I'd rather see 16 teams like they have during the World Championships, given the depth of 'good hockey nations' that would make competition similar to the FIFA World Cup.