What’s the Easiest (and hardest) Olympic Gold Medal to Win?

Aug 9, 2016

“THAT’S so easy that I could do it,” is a phrase that will be repeated countless times around televisions airing the Olympics this month.

The short response is, “No, no it’s not.” The longer answer is a bit more complicated.

Every Olympic sport absolutely has a distinct degree of difficulty and because of that we decided to rank events to see which would actually be the easiest to win gold.

Photo: Sail Canada

Our criteria was simple: Imagine you are 21 (if you are 21, way to go, friend!) and have never played any Olympic sport. If you started training today, which sport would be the easiest in which to score a gold medal and which would be hardest, with all the other ones ranked in between. (If it’s a team sport, you can’t sit on the bench — you have to play.)

Before you get all upset about the ranking of your favourite sport, one caveat: there are about 1,000 medals up for grabs at the Summer Olympics and it’s next to impossible to win any of them. We’re simply trying to find which sports are less impossible than the others.

Sailing

Have you seen a pirate movie? Those guys don’t seem especially smart or athletic, yet there they are plundering and escaping into the horizon all because of boat savvy. If they can do it, learning to harness the power of wind and moving a few jigs and booms doesn’t seem all that tough. And if all else fails, just become best buds with sailing tycoon Larry Ellison and politely ask him to buy you a medal.

Other sports in the running for ‘easiest medal’ include:

Archery/Shooting
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Modern Pentathlon
Synchronised Swimming
Fencing
Field Hockey
Soccer
Diving
Trampoline
Rugby Sevens
Canoe/Kayaking
Handball
Badminton
Table Tennis
Rowing
Cycling
Track (Field Events)
Water Polo
Basketball
Volleyball

Read the full story from Fox Sports US here