Stick, Twist or All In for the Olympics?

I don't need to tell anyone how well received this Olympics has been in the UK, despite the pre-Games cynicism that dominated news bulletins.

So well has it gone and so much enthusiasm has it created, that the population is struggling to remember what normal life was like before the Olympics, and what we're all going to do after Sunday's Closing Ceremony.

Maybe it could have at least been extended by a week, and allowed more tickets to be sold to a nation hungry to see whatever live sport they can, by bringing in new sports, and reviving those sports that have dropped out of the Olympics along the way. Why would any sport turn down the opportunity to be part of this phenomenal celebration of sport? Only four sports have been present at every summer Olympics - athletics, fencing, gymnastics and swimming.

Believe it or not, the International Olympic Committee is the one creating the barrier, having decided that there will be a limit of 28 sports, 300 events and 10,000 athletes at any Olympics, which has been in place since the 2000 Games in Sydney. With baseball and softball being dropped in London (the IOC allegedly felt they were too American and not global enough in their reach), there are 26 sports being competed for, but that will be back up to the maximum 28 in 2016 when rugby sevens and golf will join the party.

But there are plenty of sports who fit the IOC's stated requirements for being an Olympic sport - it needs to be widely practiced around the world, be able to supply at least 2 medal disciplines, and offer both men's and women's versions. Sports relying primarily on mechanical propulsion may not be considered.

Demonstration sports were discontinued after the 1992 games, but were often brought in at the behest of the hosts to showcase a sport, and while medals were awarded, they didn't count for the overall totals. Such sports included American and Aussie rules football, bowls, lifesaving, roller hockey and hot air ballooning!

After fulfilling the criteria above, for a sport to be brought in to the Olympics, it needs its governing body recognised by the IOC. After that they may apply for inclusion.

Sports currently in this category include baseball, snooker, cricket, korfball, netball, polo, squash, surfing and tug of war, as well as the, perhaps, more controversial bridge and chess. All of which, including bridge and chess, I'd wager, would have filled whatever venues were used. And let me suggest a few others that would have been popular - darts, lacrosse, croquet.

It may be that no other country will again offer the unprecedented demand for sport, and hence for tickets, that London has, so maybe the limit the IOC has implemented will suffice, but if the Games do return to London, they would do well to remember and take advantage of the opportunity to make the Games the most wide-ranging and inclusive Olympics ever seen.

And we would have something to see us through to the end of August... when something called the Premier League begins again. That might occupy a few hours of media coverage.

image: © Shawn Carpenter

Nigel Owen

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Born into a sporting family, with a father who played both local league football and cricket, and a PE teacher and ladies international cricket umpire mother, Nigel Owen soon caught the sporting bug, going to watch his father from an early age. He followed his father's lead, playing local football and cricket, before recently retiring from playing both, but now referees football and helps run Teddington Cricket Club. There are few sports he doesn't enjoy playing and/or watching - golf, snooker, tennis, horse racing, even managing to find the only curling rink in England.

Nigel has spent his whole career in the banking world, and currently works for RBC in London.