Inverted snobbery is an amazingly easy (and also virtually the only) thing to throw out in defence of a incredible stupid Olympic sport. It's the race card for anything upper class that most people find ludicrous. Except of course without any of the meaningful context of that. Absolutely none of my criticism stems from prejudice. It stems from the fact it's horse dancing. It's Crufts with bigger animals. Why is it in here?
Though if you want to get into it, part of the reason it IS still in here is because of the power and privilege of the people who like or compete in it. Unlike say Windsurfing, which is being removed from the next Olympics despite being an actual sport because it probably doesn't have the same high profile people championing it.
I have no problem with posh sports. Hell, I have no problem with the other equestrian events. Rowing is largely a posh sport. but it's also a proper sport. And not one you need to own an amazingly expensive animal to have any chance of competing in, and not one that involves making that animal dance to music in a competition that's supposed to be the pinnacle of athletic skill and endurance.
As for "whose making a big deal out of it"...ALL the commentators. Who were going to great lengths to point out that she didn't have the usual means to acquire the training (and horse) for such an event, and thus what achievement it was, and also to what efforts her team had gone to even keep the thing. So while I've no problem with the recreational pursuits of posh people - it's not like I'm from a sink estate or anything myself - I don't think they should be included in the Olympic games if they are so significantly niche and hard to attain. But even then, it's overwhelmingly simply because it just fecking animals dancing! Fox hunting's more of a sport than this.
