Wed, Jul 9 09:30 AM Peter Hoy, Forbes.com
Face it: You're not the perfect athlete.
You're no Michael Phelps, and you're no Carl Lewis; heck you probably didn't even make varsity in high school. So if you want a trip to the Olympics, and you didn't start training when you were 7 (Phelps did), you're probably going as a spectator. But don't despair--it's entirely possible that you can compete as an athlete in the London games in 2012 (it's far too late to qualify for Beijing). You are just going to have to take the road less traveled.
If you just want to be able to call yourself an Olympian in the loosest sense of the word, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes 31 demonstration sports, from bandy to korfball. Never heard of those? Neither have most people, which is why you'll have a (relatively) good shot at getting on a national team. Korfball, by the way, is a derivation of basketball that stresses minimal physical contact, and bandy is a cousin of ice hockey.
For the real deal, however, and a spot in London 2012, you're going to have to choose from one of the events on the IOC's official program. Your best bet is to find an easy sport and a non-competitive country to send you.
Of the 28 official Olympic summer sports, rowing might be your best choice--specifically, the seldom considered and oft-ridiculed position of coxswain, or the guy that motivates the rowers and steers the boat. By Olympic standards, it's a pretty easy job. You spend most of your time sitting down.
So easy, in fact, that in lieu of trials, China's state-run television launched an American Idol-type reality show in 2006 to find a pair of navigators who will sit in the sterns of China's racing shells for the Beijing Games.
Coxing requires little in the way of conditioning, speed or strength. You will, however, have to watch your weight--the American who coxed his eight-man boat to the gold medal in 2004 weighed only 121 lbs, and the Romanian gold medalist who coxed the women's eight that year weighed in at a slight 110 lbs.
Too old or too fat for coxing? Target shooting might be the call.
The Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn was 60 years old when he took home gold in the 1908 Olympics. He picked up a silver medal 12 years later when he was 72--almost 20 years older than life expectancy at the time.
Now you need to find a country willing to send you. Think small. Think non-competitive.
Countries like Ecuador and Paraguay, which each have won a grand total of one medal in the summer games, might have room on their Olympic squads. In fact, there are 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) qualified to participate in the summer games, and many of these don't have enough athletes to compete in every event.
If you are an American, you might not even have to give up your U.S. citizenship. Included among the smallest NOCs are U.S. commonwealths and protectorates such as American Samoa (pop. 58,000), Guam (pop. 176,000) and the Marshall Islands (pop. 62,000). American Samoa only sent two athletes to the 2004 Olympics, Guam sent three and the Marshalls will send their first-ever Olympic squad to Beijing in 2008. You could be part of their future.
Good luck.
Exactly one month out from the start of the 2008 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today gave its assessment from the Chinese capital on how the organisers are faring.