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What's the story?
The Olympics may well open its doors to all video gamers and eSports enthusiasts come 2024. Tony Estanguet, co-president of the Paris Olympic bid committee, in a recent interview stated that they will hold talks with representatives of eSports as well as IOC to find a solution to merge the digital platform into the Olympic program.
“We have to look at it because we can’t say, ’It’s not us. It’s not about Olympics,’” Estanguet was quoted in an interview by AP.. “The youth, yes they are interested in eSport and this kind of thing. Let’s look at it. Let’s meet them. Let’s try if we can find some bridges.
“I don’t want to say ‘no’ from the beginning. I think it’s interesting to interact with the IOC, with them, the esports family, to better understand what the process is and why it is such a success.”
In case you didn't know...
Paris was declared as the hosts for the 2024 Olympics a few days earlier in an International Olympic Committee gathering in Lima, Peru. This would mark a return of the Games to the French capital after a gap of 100 years.
The 2020 and 2028 editions of the Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo and Los Angeles respectively.
The heart of the matter
Estanguet further claimed that the Olympic games must show an open-mindedness about considering eSports as a legitimate sport. And bringing the digital prowess will only help make the Olympic games more popular and relevant to the new generation.
The eSports community will, however, have to wait with bated breath till 2019 for a final decision on this. That is the year when the program for the 2024 Games will start to take shape.
Video
eSports has a huge following in various first world as well as third world countries and the massive draw has been evident in various eSports tourneys held across the globe.
Author's take
It's certainly great to see the Olympic organisers keeping their minds open to the inclusion of a sport that has gained popularity amongst the new generations. And we not only hope but also are quite sure that integrating this discipline in the Games will raise the profile as well as the popularity of the biggest sporting extravaganza in the World.
The IOC had already included sports like Surfing, Skateboard and Sports Climbing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in a bid to "take sport to the youth." And the inclusion of eSports will further help the IOC in fulfilling their goal.
