Volume 118 >> Issue 8 : Friday, February 27, 1998

Ultimate Frisbee Worthy of Olympics

It seems that Naveen Sunkavally ["Olympic Flame Burns on Money," Feb. 24] considers the prospect of ultimate frisbee as an Olympic sport akin to "hordes of sweaty, middle-aged women trampling across the Olympic track." I am willing to wager that he associates Frisbees with beach bums, hippies, and dogs. And perhaps when he and his friends get together to throw a frisbee around, the idea of ultimate as an Olympic sport might seem ludicrous. Sure enough, when I go toboganning with my five-year-old cousin, I don't think of it as imitating an Olympic bobsledding, either.

At high levels of competition, ultimate is an intense, fast-paced sport that demands speed, endurance and coordination from its athletes. More so than many other sports, ultimate embodies the Olympic spirit, pushing athletes to be stronger, to run faster, and to jump higher. In addition, it also has a very strong culture of sportsmanship, called

Leon C. Hsu G

Captain, MIT Men's Ultimate

In his recent column ["Olympic Flame Burns on Money," Feb. 24], Naveen Sunkavally mentions ultimate frisbee in a list of sports which would make a mockery of the Olympics. How much more could ultimate possibly fit the definition of "sport?" It requires speed, coordination, and conditioning. It requires unique offensive and defensive strategies similar to football and basketball. There are tremendous athletes on the MIT ultimate team, many of whom struggle for playing time due to the complexity of the sport.

Ajit A. Sarnaik '98

It seems that in Naveen Sunkavally's column ["Olympic Flame Burns on Money," Feb. 24] he deems the physical requirements of an activity alone to be insufficient for its classification as an Olympic sport. I cannot argue with that. I may not agree with the members of your groups, but I cannot invalidate your choice of a metric to make such a classification.

However, I do think it is important to recognize that the Olympics are as much about spirit as athleticism, if not more

S. Patrick Walton G