International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said an Olympic Esports Games could be added for 2025 or 2026.
“I guess we could count on the first edition, offer such an Olympic Esports Games for the year 2025, or the latest 2026,” Bach told Xinhua earlier this week. Bach also recognized the ever-evolving world of AI. “AI will play a major role and a very important role not only for sports and the Olympic Games, but for all our lives,” Bach said.
Rather than adding Esports to the current Summer or Winter Olympics, it looks as if the Esports Games would be a totally separate event, like the Youth Olympics that began in Summer 2010. At the end of 2023, the IOC approved five sports to be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics including baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash. The Esports event would not be added into the current Summer or Winter Olympics like these five sports were.
Notably, as LA was bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics, the city planned for its Olympic bid to include Esports.
Last year, the IOC had its first “Olympic Esports Week.” The inaugural event took place from June 22-25th, 2023 in Singapore. The event was first announced on March 1, 2023 with nine game titles and sports, while shooting was added on May 5th.
The ten game titles and sports included:
- Archery
- Baseball
- Chess
- Cycling
- Dance
- Motorsport
- Shooting
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
See detailed results from each event here.
Last spring, SwimSwam looked into how Esports could impact swimming.
catch MD taking Ws in Michael Phelps 2008 for the Xbox kinect
This is my time
it sounds ridiculous but i dont hate it lol
That’s all the world needs. More out of shape kids staring at computer screens. 😡
https://www.verizon.com/about/parenting/professional-gamer-fitness
I have issues with this statement “Any child with the ambition and talent to be a professional gamer could have a career making money that aligns with the dollars awarded to other professional athletes.” This is similar to stating that any child with the ambition and talent to be a professional basketball player could achieve their goal. I do not think that the pool is large enough to accommodate any child.
Ah yes, esports, my favorite swimming event!