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FOR AND AGAINST: TENNIS
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We don't wish to keep harping back to Ireland's first gold medal, but John Pius Boland's
gold in the men's singles appears to put tennis into a proper Olympic context. That is,
it was one of the few sports which featured in the first modern Olympics in 1896.
So tennis moved on to become professional, and throughout the years of hypocrisy and
double standards in Olympic sport the game lost favour with the guardians of amateurism
within the IOC. But even the Olympics couldn't maintain the sham of amateur status.
Tennis came back and now the game has a high profile within the Olympics. Steffi Graf,
Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport have each won gold in the women's singles as has
Andre Agassi in the men's singles. In a sport which is notable for its overly-feted
stars, the Olympics have attracted the top players. Tennis has history, popularity, and
is relatively untainted with performance enhancing drugs. That gives it what many sports
have yet to achieve - credibility. - Johnny Watterson
Why should any sport be allowed into the Olympics when it can't claim to be innocent of
even one of the seven deadly sins. As if there wasn't enough exposure on that grand
slam circuit, these players have the greed to want more. Ah, sure the Olympic Games
wouldn't be the same without us they sigh, envious that other sports would get some
television coverage ahead of their own.
None of them will try to disguise their pride of "wearing their national colours", not
that they wouldn't swap it in a minute for three stripes and a blank cheque. Just hope
they don't double-fault in the bronze medal play-off or else all wroth from hell is
likely to break lose. And how many bananas can one possibly eat during a tennis match?
Pure gluttony if you ask me.
And all this in between the slothful carry-on of ball boys handing them their towels
and fetching their water. Worst of all though, there's the lust. As if there isn't
enough of it around Wimbledon, here we go again with the full colour spreads of Anna
Kournikova. Spare us all and send it back to the discontinued heap. - Ian O'Riordan
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YOU VOTE
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FIVE RING CIRCUS
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Everything you never wanted to know about the Sydney Games, and more
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GALLERY
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An online gallery of the XXVIIth Olympiad
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OLYMPIC EVOLUTION
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Chart the growth of Olympic sport as it moves into the 21st Century

The things they say
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