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Article: Neither Bodybuilders Or Crossfitters Are Athletes

Ernest Hemingway famously said, "The only sports are mountaineering, bull fighting, and automobile racing. All the rest are merely games."

Personally, esp. since I am a mountaineer, I'm going with Papa Hemingway's definition of sport. Sorry if it doesn't apply to the author, didn't mean to burst your bubble.
 
Sorry Dan Blewett, but you "blew-it" trying to sell your point on what constitutes an athlete.

Dan Blewett said:
Bottom line, if you have a day-job but go to CrossFit, powerlifting or Olympic lifting meets on weekends and don't make a significant portion of your income from it, you have no business calling yourself an athlete. Where do you fit in? Read on.
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Majoring in philosophy can make you think closely about the semantics of a word's definition, but it does not allow you to change it. Merriam-Webster definition of "Athlete:

": a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina"

The Oxford definition is even more vague. Neither state anything about income made or how many times a year you compete. Therefor, even your definitions of "Non-Athletes" are actually athletes, albeit "recreational athletes."
 
What kind of ****ing nerd takes the time to write an article like this? Jesus man. No one cares about your college degree or what definitions you found studying your dictionary. Always the fat nobodies that sit behind a keyboard typing up dumb **** like this instead of doing something worthwhile like training.
 
reefhog said:
I think he got a bit mixed up there. "Athlete" doesn't mean "professional athlete".
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I had this same conversation once about art. I said that not every attempt qualified as art, that there was a performance standard in there somewhere. The other side said any attempt qualifies as art, fridge magnets and all. I lost that argument and rightly so, I was wrong. Same story here. Anyone who laces up a pair of shoes and gives it a try is an athlete, just means the author isn't in quite as exclusive company as he'd like.
 
Most Olympian's have a day job to make a living. Coming in 4th at the Olympic Games may not get you sponsors or paid, but nobody would say, "He's not an athlete"... I agree with the Tanks who have replied to this article, this dude has confused "professional athlete" with an "athlete"... Athlete: a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill... Nothing to do with winning medals or money...
 
Dude does realize that most crossfit pros, IFBB pros, olympians, pro powerlifters/strongmen have dayjobs as sponsorship and prize money typically isn't enough to pay the bills especially when you consider the amount of food most athletes eat, $hit I'm just a wannabe bodybuilder not one competition to my name and I spend $5-600 a month on groceries alone.
 
Never argue with stupid people!
They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience - Mark Twain

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Yeah author seems to have a chip on his shoulder about weight lifters it seems.

I'd like to see him get down to paper skin thin bf, zero sub-q water retention, and hold isometric poses for 3 minutes at a time for half an hour.

He wouldn't be so hard on those athletes then.

Besides, bodybuilding is more akin to art anyways. It had all the right qualities to be classified as such. I'd rather consider my lifelong efforts as art work and a "master piece" rather than considering my efforts as nothing more than a really long athletic schedule.
 
Signing up for competitions doesn't earn you that label unless you're a champion or close to it.
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Close to champion? Then that means the only athletes were the ones who won a championship? So, if Jordan had never won a title or came close, he would have not been an athlete?

If Usain Bolt would have never won a race, he would not be an athlete?

If the highschool kid that plays 3 sports, and is very DAMN good at all 3 would not be an athlete unless his team wins his area championship or plays in the final 4?

Rubbish.
 
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