14/10/2023 – 17:15
The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), German Thomas Bach, stated this Saturday (14) that there are plans to create an E-Sports Olympic Games (electronic sports) soon. The president made the statement during another meeting of the entity’s leadership in Mumbai (India).
“I asked our E-Sports Commission to study the creation of Olympic Games in these sports,” said Bach.
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The IOC is exploring plans for the creation of Olympic Esports Games. The ground-breaking announcement was made by IOC President Thomas Bach during today’s Opening Ceremony of the 141st IOC Session taking place in Mumbai, India, in the presence of the Indian Prime Minister,… pic.twitter.com/BmtbaB93eb
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) October 14, 2023
According to the director, studies show that more than three billion people are fans of games around the world, including around 500 million people who are interested in competitions of this type, whether in games that simulate ‘conventional’ sports or other types. .
Bach also reiterated the fact that the majority of E-Sports players are under 34 years of age, a list of age groups that is of special interest to the IOC.
The creation of a gamer Olympics comes in the wake of the IOC’s initiatives to implement competitions in the electronic atmosphere. In 2021, the entity created the so-called Olympic E-Sports Series, a type of electronic sports competition circuit and recently launched E-Sports Week, held in Singapore in June.
This event had debate tables and exhibitions on several games, but also crowned circuit champions in ten games, almost all of them simulators of ‘real’ sports, although not all of them Olympic. Some examples: Tic Tac Bow (archery), Virtual Taekwondo (taekwondo) and Tennis Clash (tennis). Successful games outside the sports simulation atmosphere, such as ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Fortnite’, were also part of the week.
According to Thomas Bach, these events are like the first steps towards establishing an electronic sports Olympics.
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