Sun Media – January 31, 2009
:

Carolyne Braid, owner of Pole Dancing Winnipeg, is part of a global community that would like to see pole dancing — the activity commonly associated with strip clubs and a wad of small bills — included in a future Summer Olympic Games.

“What we really are trying to do is take it out of the clubs, trying to bring it more mainstream,” Braid said yesterday. “We’re trying to get people to recognize the fact that there truly is a lot of skill and athleticism required to do this.

“It really isn’t that different than gymnastics from a training perspective, it’s just that this happens to be vertical.”

While pole dancing is making its way into the living rooms of suburbia thanks to operations like Braid’s, it still has a long way to go when compared to Europe. There, the European Pole Dancing Championships is an event judged not from the round of applause from the spectators in the front row, but on the athletic ability of the participants.

Obviously, losing the sexual element is the biggest hurdle facing the activity in gaining Olympic status, but Braid feels not many can appreciate the skill needed when assuming the pole position. It is a gymnast discipline, one that takes a unique strength and agility.

And all the clothes stay on.

“Not everyone has the opportunity to try to pick up their own body weight on a pole, but what I’ve found is once people experience touching the pole, be at a home party or formal fitness classes, the first reaction that we always get is ‘Wow. This really does take a lot of work,’ ” she said.




  1. Jimbo says:

    Pole? Does anybody care about zee English?

  2. SN says:

    Thanks Jimbo, that was fricken hilarious!

  3. Poppa Boner says:

    Here is a gold metal winner!

  4. OvenMaster says:

    *snorts* Physical assets and appearances had better count strongly in scoring, or else you can bet the participants will end up looking like the Communist-era female gymnasts.

  5. JimR says:

    Have you ever seen a poler bare?

  6. dusanmal says:

    Well, this supposed sport is definitely more athletic than something like baseball where most of the “athletes” stand idly most of the time and when time comes for them to need to run have an option to be substituted by someone else who actually can run…
    (My advice for baseball improvement: pitcher needs to throw ball at least every 3 seconds or faster; multiple plays can be ongoing at the same time; no time-outs or breaks within the inning; no substitutions unless due to the injury – and than it is permanent for that game;…)

  7. Paddy-O says:

    Having ANY competition in the Olympics that requires subjective judging to determine a winner or loser is inappropriate.

  8. OvenMaster says:

    #3: Thank you.

  9. BubbaRay says:

    #6, dusanmal,

    Guess you’re in the minority of fans in the US. The most difficult task in sports (so it’s said) is to hit a tiny round ball with a round bat. Although there has been dilution of talent (more teams), this sport still attracts millions of fans and billions of advertising and fan dollars.

    Razz it all you like, too bad you don’t share in the revenue by being one of the top baseball athletes in the US today. It’s a tough game.

    “Major League Baseball had record revenue of $6.5 billion for the 2008 regular season, while attendances fell less than 1 percent to more than 78.6 million, the second-highest in history.”

  10. V Cole says:

    It goes to show you what goes for major fun up there in the north of Canada in Winnipeg Canada

  11. Buzz says:

    Personally, I don’t like to lick poles very much. Especially if they are outdoors in winter.

  12. Jack S. says:

    …and for my next trick, watch me pull your dick out of my ass!

  13. Lou Minatti says:

    Fascinating.

    Say, India announced today that they’ll be coming out with a $20 laptop. I figured it would be mentioned on John C. Dvorak’s blog. John is a tech guru and all. But I guess his blog has more important topics to discuss, like people who use the 20 items or less checkout line when they have 25 items or football players with tattoo fetishes.

  14. Special Ed says:

    #13 said “Blah, blah, blah blah…”

  15. Nimby says:

    Sounds good to me. And can we, in turn, get some nekkid lady shotputters in our bars?

  16. Lou Minatti says:

    “#13 said “Blah, blah, blah blah…”

    Indeed. That’s the quality of most of the posts here. Just blah blah blah… rehashed nonsense culled from other, more topical websites that was vaguely funny 2 weeks ago.

    It continues to surprise me. Dvorak is one of the premiere tech writers. He’s certainly in the top 5. I enjoy hearing his podcasts and listening to him on TWiT. Seems to me he could do a LOT better with his own website.

    Maybe you can post some Windows ME jokes next, Ed?

  17. Mr. Fusion says:

    Did you know Alexander Graham Belinski was the first Telephone Pole? 🙂
    (ta dum)

    #16, Lou,

    You didn’t mention you will be here all week and to tip the servers. 🙂
    (ta dum)

    C’mon Lou, there is nothing wrong about your mother wearing Army boots. But there are a couple of soldiers that want to get back to their base. 🙂
    (ta dum)

  18. JimR says:

    Hmmm… a $20 laptop… perfect for $20 lap dancers.

  19. Imagine a cold pole in Winnipeg
    Or a freezing cold Manitoba ethnic Ukrainian

  20. Nimby says:

    # 4 OvenMaster said, “Physical assets and appearances had better count strongly in scoring…”

    Gotta be PC, you know. I just read an article in the NYT that briefly mentions that even science has to be modified so as not objectify da wimmen fokes.

    http://nytimes.com/2009/01/22/health/nutrition/22best.html
    “Their heads would be blocked out of the photos… Then the subjects and judges would rate the body in each photo on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being spectacular.

    The volunteers were men, age 18 to 40 (the university’s human-subjects review board looked askance at having women photographed and rated like that).” Uhm, whatever happened to EQUAL rights?

  21. orangetiki says:

    Can I get a readout on the BS meter?

  22. Poppa Boner says:

    #16 – Blew, who said this was a tech blog?

  23. OvenMaster says:

    #20: “Gotta be PC, you know. I just read an article in the NYT that briefly mentions that even science has to be modified so as not objectify da wimmen fokes.”

    Just shoot me now, then.

  24. Firas says:

    @#20 – Nimby
    If you were actually “reading” the article -which I did btw- you would notice that the part of the article you quoted has nothing to do with modifying science to stop objectifying women. In fact, the article is barely scientific at all and talks about fitness. I’m not arguing that PC hasn’t gone too far, that feminism is good or whatever but your example is not really an example of anything.

  25. Nimby says:

    #24 – Hmmm. A university “study” to determine if a six week fitness regimen would result in observable improvements as noted by “objective” observers. Sounds a bit hinky but meets the definitions of a scientific test. However the study was modified for political correctness. I admit an error in saying the “science” was modified. I should have said scientific method. Otherwise, I stand by my comment.

  26. I thought that Ringette would be the new Canadian national sport
    And now its pole dancing
    Then again what do expect from Winnipeg a Canadian province with such town and cities as The Pas ( correctly not Thepas) and the city of Flin Flon Manitoba Canada


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