(10-21-2015 09:43 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(10-21-2015 08:50 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Question if women's triathlon in colleges would ever result in Olympic medals, as those athletes tend to be older and have had a lot of life experiences. College is great prep for sprinting and field events, but don't buy it for marathon and triathlon.

I agree that it's unlikely a triathlete would go straight from college to winning an Olympic medal, but I think the idea is not that, it's to get more women into the sport at a younger age so as to develop an eventual pool of Olympic-class triathletes in their 30s. Having the "carrot" of college scholarships out there has been a big incentive in other sports to developing top junior athletes.

Don't mean to be a contrarian here. (no one would ever accuse of me of that)

But I will say that I don't agree the goal or point of building up olympic sports at the college level, for women (or for men), has anything to do with the actual olympic teams.

In my opinion, it's just about participation. Getting women to participate in college varsity athletics.


I think that any woman who is showing enough skill and potential to be an olympian, regardless which event, would be training with the best club (or perhaps directly at the US training center) from the git-go. Or turn professional, early on, if that context makes more sense (ie, tennis and golf).


My $0.02.

And that's not to put down (women's) olympic sports at the college level. I think they're a great thing.