WHAT MAKES A SPORT?
Physical activity, or something more?
Two days before the opening ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn pulled off a thrilling upset over Kim “sOs” Yoojin, a heavy favorite with ve major championships under his belt.
Instead of stunning feats of endurance or dexterity on the eld, both players were battling it out in Starcraft II. Scarlett used the famed “Zerg rush” of lore to crush her opponent, and the nal result was a 4-1 rout.
The match took place in Gangneum, a seaside city not far from the Olympic
Stadium. The competition was the Intel
Extreme Masters Pyeongchang, and Scarlett had not only become the rst woman to win a major international esports tournament, but also the rst person to win an esports event with official links to the Olympics.
Unfortunately, esports isn’t an Olympic event yet. Despite encouraging signs elsewhere – esports is slated to be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou,
China – proper Olympic recognition hasn’t arrived yet.
However, IEM Pyeongchang offered reason to be hopeful. The competition was broadcast on the Olympic Channel and was partially supported by the International Olympic Committee. Five
Korean League of Legend players also bore the Olympic torch on its journey through South Korea, another rst for competitive esports.
Late last year, the IOC released a statement saying that “competitive esports could be considered as a sporting activity, and the players involved prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports”.
Still, the obstacles to inclusion as an Olympic event are immense. Despite the IOC’s acknowledgement of esports as a sporting activity, the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, has explicitly stated that video games are not in line with its values. “We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing,” said Bach in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
Nevertheless, Bach conceded that sports simulators like FIFA could one day be an exception.
More importantly, esports suffers from a pernicious problem with perception. Athletes are understandably wary of video games being placed on the same level as conventional sporting events. After all, when you put your body through backbreaking routines on a daily basis, you’re naturally skeptical of a sedentary activity that at rst glance involves nothing more than huddling over your computer screen.
Alpine skier Ted Ligety summed it up when he told Reuters that only physical sports belong in the Olympics. “The mental side of esports can be tough I’m guessing for those guys, but the Olympics is where you have to do some sort of physical exertion,” Ligety said.
Other critics agree as well, which is why the lack of physical action has often been cited as the reason chess and other games involving intellect have never been accepted.