Since Esports' inception gamers and e-athletes alike have been pushing for the gaming medium to be accepted into the Olympics - most notably games like Rocket League and Overwatch.
The president of the Olympics committee recently shot down the proposal. Steven Bach, a veteran gold medalist in the Olympics, said that the "so-called killer games" will not be accepted into the worldwide competition on the grounds that they are "contradictory to the Olympic values".
“We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination," Bach elaborated. Many have pointed out that the modern Olympic Games were founded by the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin because, as Wikipedia puts it, he "believed that men who received physical education would be better prepared to fight in wars, and better able to win conflicts like the Franco-Prussian War, in which France had been humiliated."
However, Bach believes that: “Every combat sport has its origins in a real fight against people. But sport is the civilized expression about this. If you have e-games where it’s about killing somebody, this cannot be brought into line with our Olympic values.”
It seems that the committee hadn't put much thought to the situtation, given that many e-athletes were pushing for more traditional sports-esque games to be included - such as Rocket League, a game in which your goal is to score goals against your opponents.
Do you think Esports should be included in the Olympics? What do you think of the committee's judgement?
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