Article

Ever since the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, appeared as Super Mario in the Tokyo 2020 handover ceremony at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the scene was set for esports to become part of what the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defines as the ‘Olympic Family’ (OF). The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games’ brief was brimming with references to Japanese youth culture, Japan’s contribution to gaming history, the future of sports, the integration of increasingly immersive digital storytelling features within elite sports broadcasting, and the gamification of spectatorship.[1] Furthermore, it spoke of the growing proximity of the Olympic and esports industries, which is the focus of this article. More specifically, the article examines the historical development of the relationship between esports and the Olympic Movement, harnessing the metaphor of the ‘family’ as an explanation for why the relationship is complex, multifaceted, unresolved, and intimately tied to a variety of processes that continue to limit further integration.

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History of Esports in the Olympic Movement

Rio 2016 was the first Olympic Games where an esports tournament (of sorts) took place, though very few people knew about it at the time. While it was not part of the formal Olympic program, a small, international esports tournament was delivered over two days at Team GB’s national pavilion. Produced by Chester King—now CEO of the British Esports Association and Vice President of the Global Esports Federation—players competed in Nintendo’s popular Super Smash Bros game.[2] The choice of this game title was no coincidence, with the Super Mario brand holding a long-standing association with the IOC through a recurring games license, which has been in place since the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.[3]

As the tournament took place, the wider family of International Sports Federations was also growing more acutely aware of the rise of esports, with the International E-Sports Federation (IESF) applying to become a member of Sport Accord in 2012, while also forging partnerships with several sports federations. For instance, in 2015, the IESF announced a partnership with the International Association of Athletics Federations, working within its ‘Athletics for a Better World’ initiative.[4] A year after the 2016 Rio Games, President of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, generated headlines by stating his desire for esports to be part of the 2024 Olympic program.[5]

The following year, at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, Olympic Worldwide Partner, Intel, produced the Intel Esports Masters tournament, which took place just days before the Games’ Opening Ceremony, an event that was co-branded with the Olympic rings. Later that year, the IOC held a major symposium on esports in Lausanne, bringing gaming publishers together with sports federation leaders. Also that year, the IOC Olympism in Action Forum, which took place alongside the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, placed esports at center stage within a concluding, plenary session about the future of sport.[6]

More recently, in December 2019, the Global Esports Federation was founded, led by many former IOC executives and Olympians, with support from the Chinese gaming giant, Tencent. At the IOC Session in Lausanne on February 10, 2020, the IOC Esports Liaison Group rapporteur and Union Cycliste Internationale President, David Lappartient, encouraged federations to establish closer connections with esports organizations, at a time when his own sport—cycling—was attempting to create international competitions with the virtual esport platform, Zwift.[7] In his press conference following the Lausanne Session, IOC President, Thomas Bach, was asked about Zwift by journalists and stated, for the first time, that such activities were “not simulating sport” but, in fact, were sport.[8] Bach added that the simulation of sports could be part of the Olympic Games at some point in the future:

Sport simulating in some of these games is already misleading…if I take the example of cycling, the cycling competitions on this Zwift program, they are not simulating sport; this is sport. The only difference is the bicycle is not moving, but the physical challenge, the rules of competition are absolutely the same. And we see similar developments also in other sports. This is why we are encouraging their International Federations to look into the e-versions of their sport and to try and get, at least, a regulatory authority, so that then we would have a partner there with whom we could drive this development.[9]

This statement was a pivotal moment in the historic relationship between the OF and esports, but it also reveals insights into the intertwined, institutional relationships that exist around the OF and esports. In short, the OF’s moves into esports are tied to the wider working relationships of their Worldwide Partners, who are moving closer to esports in their own events strategies.

During the same session, the former IOC Vice President Richard “Dick” Pound indicated that the Olympic family needed to figure out its esports strategy or risk being “taken to the cleaners.”[10] While there is some ambiguity about what Pound meant by this, it may be reasonably interpreted as an allusion to the changing economic foundation of elite sports, as television consumer culture mutates into a myriad of online streaming channels, driven by the desire for audiences to watch gamers share their content. The old configurations that surround the elite sports world, reliant on traditional media consumption habits are changing and events need to evolve alongside this transformation. Yet, Pound elaborated on why there may be some reason to be cautious about brokering a deeper relationship with the esports world:

I’m certainly all in favor of exploring the phenomenon of esport, but I think we should be very cognizant of the fact that we’re a 19^th century organization trying to deal with a 21^st century phenomenon and we probably shouldn’t think that we know as much as we may think we know. I do believe that we should be trying to understand what objective there might be in the esport community of having a relationship with the Olympic movement and what do they hope to get out of that.[11]

 Esports as Olympic Level Sport

In sum, a great deal has happened over the last five years to bring the OF and the esports industry closer together and, over this time, debate has often focused on one question: Will esports ever become part of the Olympic Games? Importantly, what people mean by this is whether esports will ever be medals events within the sports program, but I will go on to elaborate on why this may just be one way of thinking about what might be a positive answer to this question and suggest, in the conclusion, an alternative way of thinking about the dilemma. Over the years, I have thought a lot about this esports question for the OF and have often been asked to provide an answer; people seem fascinated by the prospect that esports could become Olympic medal events. In this respect, I have also wondered why it is so fascinating and concluded that it has something to do with the re-articulation of gaming within society, which is often a highly controversial subject. After all, historically gaming has often been targeted as a scapegoat for what is seen as an increasingly sedentary global society, a narrative that tends to be reinforced by engaged health advocates.[12] In this sense, if gaming activity can become recognized as, not just sport, but Olympic level sport, then it would be hard to sustain this evaluation of gaming, which is why it is such a transformative matter.

Yet, whether or not esports become Olympic sports is only one component of what is interesting about the prospect of this emerging relationship between the two worlds. More crucially, the question may encourage a deeper engagement with transformations that are taking place within global youth culture, which are even more profound. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile exploring the practical consequences of a decision to include esports within the Olympic program, if only to understand what is at stake and why it matters so much as a focus of public debate.

Supposing, then, that esports becomes a fully-fledged Olympic Games medals event; what might be the impact of this on how the global community values the Olympic program or elite esports performances more generally? Perhaps one question that arises from these circumstances—and, indeed, what describes the anxiety within the sports industries over esports—is whether audiences might begin to equate excellence within esports with excellence experienced in traditional sports. Indeed, the concern that esports might be characterized as a proper sport is partially located in the perceived risk that esports participation could lead young people to exclude other sports from their lives, in favor of esports. Such anxiety is also founded in the belief that playing esports is not really doing the same for somebody to promote a healthy lifestyle as other sports.

This concern is evidenced when examining responses from within the IOC community. For instance, during the IOC Session in 2020, IOC member Anant Singh described esports players as “couch potatoes,”[13] a term used also by President Thomas Bach in the March 2021 IOC Session.[14] Bach also expressed the desire for the IOC partnerships with esports to facilitate the transition of gamers into choosing traditional sports participation suggesting further that there remains a negative appraisal of gaming behavior from within the sports community. Bach stated: “our main motivation is to look for ways how we can get the people playing these games…how we can convince them to do the real thing….to get the couch potatoes off the couch. So, why don’t you try to kick the ball yourself, if you like it so much.”[15] In this respect, from the sports community, the perception is that non-active esports participation correlates with sedentary lifestyles. Yet, this perspective is not born out of scientific data.[16] While gaming may be associated with sedentary behavior, esports—as a particular manifestation of gaming—claims otherwise and this nuance seems mostly lost on the sports community.

The process of re-conceptualization of what is defined as a sport is a persistent theme within sports culture, with such activities as skateboarding recently generating such debate as it enters the Olympic program.[17] The debate is less about what one may determine to be the essential qualities of sport and more about the IOC seeking to ensure that the Olympic program is adequately connected with youth culture. In short, it is principally about ensuring that the Olympic Games continues to matter for future audiences.

In any case, the process of becoming an Olympic sport is never an overnight decision born out of something being officially recognized by scholars as a sport. Rather, the journey towards Olympic Games inclusion reflects a far less visible process whereby a community steadily grows its codified, competitive activity around the world, its international standards, and gradually establishes credibility among a range of international expectations, such as having a doping control program, gender equality within the executive commission, and a compelling business model.[18] While each of these journeys is characterized by controversy— for example whether the codification of climbing into an Olympic sport betrays what climbing should involve[19]–the eventual inclusion denotes the existence of a large community who believe in its value and of a highly developed competitive scene, which evidences the skills needed to become an international, elite player. On these terms, esports fits the criteria incredibly well; many people are playing esports competitively all over the world and competitions are highly regulated and standardized. In this respect, esports seem well on their way to accommodating the Olympic criteria for inclusion, even if there remain disputes over other crucial concerns.

Societal Changes on Esports

Yet, this historical conjecture about inclusion in the Olympic Games is a fraction of what has been going on, more widely, in the world of esports. Indeed, the developments in esports have very little to do with the esports question facing the OF. For those within the esports world, the questions being asked by the OF barely register as a matter of significant concern. Esports is doing absolutely fine without Olympic recognition and will continue to do so. Thus, the more interesting question to ask may be whether the world’s biggest esports events will begin to attract Olympic athletes into their events. After all, if active esports— such as Zwift races—are accompanied by significant prize money, athletes may also compete in these versions of their sports and, perhaps even prioritize these competitions.  Many Olympic athletes are already heavily into gaming and, if they do not face medal prospects, then pivoting into an esports title could be a smart career move. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of athletes moved into streaming their own gaming activity to stay connected and, for many this may be a significant opportunity to generate additional revenue.[20]

The inclusion of esport into the Olympic program, along with the impact it has on sports spectators, would also provoke a moment of societal realization that one cannot continue to belittle the time people spend playing computer games as time wasted. If a teenager can win an Olympic medal by playing a computer game competitively, then is it no longer reasonable to label time spent playing games as time wasted. Indeed, one of the big shifts taking place around esports presently is the emergence of a new, societal narrative on computer game playing, which is becoming associated with a variety of innovation economies, from artificial intelligence to immersive technologies. Already, esports have highly developed educational programs, evidencing alignment with STEM skills and innovation cultures.[21] Those industries that have allowed sports to flourish as international events are at the heart of the esports community, where innovation in gaming technology drives development.

These are not minor matters for the sports world; they are world-changing ideas, which press at the core of how the industry sees itself. Furthermore, the prospect of integrating digital interfaces within sports experiences are the kinds of concerns that realize the imaginations of science fiction writers who have, for decades, foretold of humanity becoming permanently plugged into a digital world, living out their lives in virtual space. The prospect of sports becoming digitally constituted, where the playing field is, essentially, a computer game, is deeply wedded to anxieties that pervade such a future. Such ideas are most eloquently articulated by Ender’s Game, a story in which warfare has become indistinguishable from a computer game and where the best ‘players’ are children.[22] It is because of these wider narratives around the encroachment of digital life into physical life that the esports question is so impassioned.

Yet, these matters are mostly self-contained within the single question over whether to include or exclude esport from the Olympic Games sports program. They are just one part of a bigger story that is emerging around the world of esports and we risk losing sight of the bigger picture by focusing just on this matter. For this reason, I want to structure my critical discussion on the esports question around three key parameters, which broadly describe the discursive trajectory of their relationship. In doing so, I invoke the metaphor of the family used widely within the Olympic industry to describe three key phases to the historical journey of esports in relation to the Olympic industry. Together, these interpretations reveal why it is that esports will find increasing closeness within the OF, making its elevation to a medals event inevitable.

Family Introductions

One of the misconceptions about the closeness of the worlds of the OF and the esports industry is that they are born out of just the last decade. In fact, the IOC has worked with the computer games industry for a lot longer, with its first official Olympic Games computer game, Hyper Olympic ‘84, being launched alongside the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. Over the years, various iterations of the Olympic Games official computer game have been released, settling with combined sports titles and sport themed “Mario and Sonic” titles for most of the twenty-first century.

More widely, many of the OF’s partnerships exist with media companies, whose core business has been expanding rapidly into the world of esports. Organizations like Google, Facebook, and other social media are intimately present in the games industry, which reveals why those OF stakeholders have been able to nudge the IOC in directions that lead to closer associations. Even the Olympic Games rights holding broadcasters have begun to integrate esports broadcasts into their programming over the last five years. In short, the economic foundation of the Olympic industry involves partnerships with major, transnational organizations which are also turning their attention to esports.[23] Furthermore, in a similar way to how social media giants have become privileged players within the OF, so too can we observe major streaming platforms and game developers becoming more coveted as brand partners.

Ever since its modern inception, the Olympics have been deeply intertwined with the media and, in particular, its recent success financially is linked to harnessing media innovation. This dimension of the Olympic Games mega-event is further reason for why the OF and esports worlds are being brought closer together. Today, the biggest transformations occurring around media industries are in the realms of streaming gaming content, which has become a global force in creating an entirely new demographic of media consumers. Yet, the economic foundation of the Olympic movement is still mostly reliant on 20^th century technology, namely, the television.

As such, when Dick Pound indicated that the IOC is a “19^th century” organization he might just as well have been talking about the media organizations whose growing fragility underpins the IOC’s financial security. Indeed, the Olympic Channel is a manifestation of this anxiety, functioning as an attempt to build a self-governed broadcast channel, rooted in a deeper shift in the Olympic industry over the last 20 years to become its own media company. This direction of travel is further evidenced by the creation of the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS). If the twentieth century model was the sale of exclusive rights to broadcast the Games on television, then the twenty-first century model is looking much more like finding the best streaming partner to ensure a) the most streaming hours b) most attractive data driven proposition and c) a greater capacity to innovate with immersive televisual storytelling.

These circumstances contrast with what is happening in the worlds of other OF members, namely its major sponsors that already heavily invest in the world of esports. From Coca-Cola to Intel, these Olympic Worldwide Partners have developed multiple partnerships with esports brands to sponsor new content and reach new demographics. For example, in 2015, Coca-Cola partnered with the gaming website, IGN, on a weekly esports YouTube show, evidencing how the broadcasting model around live events is becoming rapidly disrupted by streaming audiences. This is well known to the IOC which, after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, reported for the first time its viewing figures in terms of live streamed hours instead of watched television hours.[24] These transformations speak to how the OF has become increasingly oriented towards the economic values of the esports industry and, as a consequence, an opening up of dialogues about their future relationship.

Family Disputes

Concurrent with the dynamic conditions propelling the Olympic industry into the esports world has been a focus of conversation over whether these two cultural phenomena are suitably matched. Are esports like sports, or should they be treated as something else? A lot has hinged on answering this question, as scholars and OF spokespeople became focused on whether there was sufficient conceptual common ground to justify connecting these two communities. A great deal of this scholarly debate has had no bearing on what has been happening within the esports industry, which raises important questions for academics to consider, not least of which is how academic researchers’ interface with industry leaders. After all, many nations are beginning to recognize esports as sports—including China, South Korea, USA, Russia, Italy, and Denmark—[25] and if scholars conclude that the qualities of esports are different from sports, then it does not really matter much to the social reality of these two worlds.

Beyond these definitional matters, questions have also emerged about optics and symbolism within esports and its compatibility with traditional sports. Notably, in 2018, IOC President Thomas Bach stated that the games that portray violence are incompatible with the values of sport, a view that has been reiterated on numerous occasions as a “red line” for the IOC. Setting aside the fact that there are 15 Olympic events that involve using guns, there may yet be deeper concerns about the narratives portrayed within such games, that create additional concern. Whereas biathlon may be relatively culturally ahistorical or absent of narrative, many esports titles that involve violence are underpinned by stories that depict different nations in battle, which may fuel anxieties about geopolitical tensions that are too controversial for the Olympic Movement to embrace. For instance, Call of Duty began as a World War II story and players find themselves within combat zones associated with this narrative. Alternatively, Counter Strike: Global Offensive is located in terrorism and counter-terrorism narratives. Neither of these are likely to be acceptable to the global community that surround the Olympic Movement. Everything from character design (e.g. objectification of women), choice of army (e.g. East versus West), geographical imagery of where the battles are taking place, are laden with problems that make it difficult for the supposedly neutral political space of the Olympic Games to embrace.

Perhaps bringing the esports design community closer to the OF would lead developers to design more sensitive expressions of conflict, but this also gets to another challenging concern, which is over the way in which players—and commentators—make sense of gaming narratives. Are the game worlds of esports to be treated like the artistic narrative of a film, where the auteur’s vision should be relatively unencumbered and, indeed, trusted? Alternatively, are esports narratives more like the sport’s playing field, which should strive to uphold certain principles and values that all who are competing can share and celebrate? There is some evidence to suggest that the IOC seeks, first, for their existing members to work towards creating virtual versions of their sports, which is why the emphasis on active esports is of such high priority.[26]

These are complex matters to resolve, especially when one considers that present Olympic sports are also a manifestation of geopolitical, global history. Some sports have been enabled to become internationally shared, while others have not. They are further complicated when considering that the value that sports spectators derive from their experience of sport is likely to encompass values that the Olympic world may consider to be lacking in moral fortitude. After all, sports are a place in which hypermasculinity, toxic behaviors, and a combative approach to life through competition have thrived. Nevertheless, beyond definition or narrative, the OF has wrestled with its compatibility with esports, suggesting that such activity may promote absence from physical activity. Yet, this concern is located more in the history of gaming culture, rather than in the more recent history of esports and the esports industry is at pains to draw this distinction, gradually evidencing how esports are a route towards healthy gaming habits.[27] However, for the OF, the two are still intimately connected and, for years, sports advocates have sought to denigrate gaming, based on the assumption that it promotes sedentary lifestyles. In this sense, sports have seen themselves as the antidote to what gaming culture represents.

Over the last five years, the rise of esports has shown how its community is different from the wider behaviors of non-competitive gaming wherein becoming a great competitor, it is also crucial to be physically fit and lead a healthy lifestyle.[28] Yet, this association with the broader gaming community and its associated nasties, is undeniably an influential reference point for sports federation leaders, which are mostly comprised of people who are outside of the esports participation demographic and who may perceive the habits of young gamers to be lacking in a variety of virtues that they see to be the positive societal contributions of sports. In this respect, digital gaming has become more than just a benign outsider to sports. Rather, gaming culture is treated as a competitor to sports, the success of which has been treated as a social ill to be challenged, rather than a family member to embrace.

Nevertheless, such perspectives are important as a number of other principles and realizations have emerged, which have caused the OF to reframe its appreciation of esports. Evidence of this is found in the wider activity of OF stakeholders and leaders. For example, former IOC Athletes Commission President Angela Ruggiero has argued esports and sports will come together.[29] Also, in the Global Esports Federation inaugural conference in 2020, Ruggiero led a conversation with IOC Olympic Games Executive Director, Christophe Dubi, which was carefully pitched so as to promote positive discussion around esports, without formally committing the IOC to partnerships.[30] As well, the IOC has given prominence to esports in major events through its channels, recently the 2018 Olympism In Action Forum and on its Olympic Channel. Each of these moments evidence a changing relationship between the IOC specifically and the OF more generally and the esports world.

Conclusion: Families Align

The above has shown how the worlds of the OF and esports are being brought closer together and how each may be remade as a result of these dialogues. One of the key features of the esports world today is its expansion and diversification. While a small number of titles comprise the largest share of the worldwide market, esports titles consist of a wide variety of game types and player profiles, which continues to expand around new markets and new technologies. Furthermore, there is a growing alignment in the creative production of esports, which has brought even greater closeness with the OF. Consider the production of the League of Legends 2020 World Finals in China, which involved pioneering projection mapping and green screen technology to realize one of the most spectacular opening ceremonies in history.[31] Such accomplishments resonate with the OF, where its own Games ceremonies are highly revered, bringing the most creative talent around the world to tell stories in ways that spectators have never seen before.

Equally, sports federations have begun to see successes arise from their own initiatives to integrate design principles from esports, drawing partly on the last fifteen years of immersive design programs with their audiences. From introducing Mario Karting elements into Formula E racing, where spectators can affect in-car performance, to the volume of digital gaming experimentation that took place during the COVID-19 lockdown period,[32] sports federations are well on their way to discovering that their future resides in the immersive, playable principles of esports participation, where the capacity to generate audience data and engage with the emerging habits of young players and where spectators are behaviorally engaged in the orchestration of the competition is central to the sporting federations’ continued relevance as an entertainment industry.

All of these features suggest how the OF and esports worlds are beginning to align. Yet, all of the discussion about the esports question is over whether the OF should welcome the esports world into its family. Very little is discussed about whether the esports industry is particularly interested in forging relationships with traditional sports and this is the elephant in the room. Esports do not need the Olympic Games, but it is quite likely that the Olympic Games need esports. More precisely, the OF needs to engage the creative professionals who are designing audience experiences to re-imagine the sports audience experience for the Gen Z who are tuning into media content via streaming channels, rather than televisions. The structures that lead audiences to choose to consume media content are changing and esports reveals the principal components of this transformation.

It is apparent that there remain tensions over whether or not esports should become Olympic events, a prospect that is under increasing pressure as other major events begin to provide such space within their programs, such as the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.[33] In this respect, the problem is that the Olympic Games program is already full, with many other sports that may claim to be ahead of esports in the queue for inclusion within the program. In this sense, novel solutions are needed to bring these worlds even closer together, even if there is appetite to do so.

One solution might be to make esports medals events that are part of the cultural program rather than the sports program, so as to bypass the controversy associated with typical programmatic inclusion. The consequence of this would also be a reinvigoration of the Olympic cultural program, giving it the prominence that it deserves and encouraging audiences to understand Olympic excellence to also be tied to the arts, rather than just sports. There is some historic precedent for this, as arts disciplines were competitions in the early part of the modern Olympic Games.[34] There might even be medals for the artistic elements of game design. Yet, the appeal of categorizing esports as cultural competition and, perhaps where this differs from other artistic practices, is that there is no complex subjectivity involved with determining winners within esports competitions. In this respect, including esports as medals events within the cultural program may diminish the existing controversies surrounding the esports question, while also allowing the OF to elevate the wider principals of Olympism and excellence that underpin its Charter. Such an approach can also be a way of celebrating what is undoubtedly the 21^st century’s most creative industry: game design.

Disclaimer

Professor Miah is Deputy Editor of the International Journal of Esports, Advisory Board Member to the British Esports Association and Commission Member for the Global Esports Federation. None of these roles involve remuneration.

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References

[1] Tokyo 2020, “Flag Handover Segment Media Guide : Tokyo 2020”, 2016, https://library.olympic.org/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/166618/flag-handover-segment-media-guide-tokyo-2020-the-tokyo-organising-committee-of-the-olympic-and-paral

[2]Andy Miah, “Will Super Mario ever be an Olympic sport?” The Conversation, August 24, 2016, https://theconversation.com/will-super-mario-ever-be-an-olympic-sport-64274

[3]Andy Miah, Sport 2.0: Transforming sports for a digital world (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017).

[4] International E-Sports Federation, “IESF, Partnership With Athletics For A Better World, Powered By IAAF,” April 25, 2015, https://ie-sf.org/news/3718

[5]“AP Interview: Paris open to esports on 2024 Olympic program,” Associated Press, August 8, 2017, https://apnews.com/article/ca6640ffde80403ea17f339247192324  [Accessed: 30 December, 2020].

[6]IOC, “The International Olympic Committee introduces the Olympism in Action Forum, 2018, https://stillmedab.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/News/2018/10/OiAF-Media-pack.pdf

[7]“UCI Cycling Esports World Championships History in the Making — The Battle for Rainbow Stripes on Zwift!,” 2020, https://www.zwift.com/uk/2020-uci-cycling-esports-world-championships

[8]Thomas Bach, “IOC 135^th Session, Closing Press Conference,”, 2020, Olympic Channel, https://youtu.be/fbY_dn9AiaU

[9]Bach, “IOC 135^th Session.”

[10]Richard Pound, “IOC 135^th Session,” January 10, 2020, https://youtu.be/rihy7JLpTwo [42:23 mins).

[11]Pound, “IOC 135th Session.”

[12]Mira A. Kohorst, Deepti M. Warad, Amulya M. Nageswara Rao, Vilmarie Rodriguez, “Obesity, Sedentary Lifestyle, and Video Hames: The New Thrombophilia Cocktail in Adolescents,” Pediatric Blood Cancer 65, no. 7: e27041.

[13]Anant Singh, “IOC 135th Session,” January 10, 2020, https://youtu.be/rihy7JLpTwo [41:19 mins)

[14]Thomas Bach, “137th IOC Session – Day 3,” 2021,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRHWRrdPpI

[15]Bach, “137th IOC Session.”

[16]Michael G. Trotter, Tristan J. Coulter, Paul A. Davis, Dylan R. Poulus, and Remco Polman, “The association between esports participation, health and physical activity behavior,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 19 (2020): 7329.

[17]Jonathan Clark, “With Skateboarding Heading to the Olympics, What’s Next for the Anti-Sport?”, Rolling Stone, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-sports/with-skateboarding-heading-to-the-olympics-whats-next-for-the-anti-sport-248563/

[18] International Olympic Committee. “Olympic programme – Host city proposal evaluation criteria for events,” June 8, 2015, https://stillmedab.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/Who-We-Are/Commissions/Olympic-Programme/Olympic-programme-Host-city-proposal-Evaluation-criteria.pdf#_ga=2.180474351.975290486.1611397781-716914876.1609331371

[19]Andy Miah, “Climbing upwards of climbing backwards? The technological metamorphoses of climbing and mountaineering,” The Science of Climbing and Mountaineering [CD-ROM Chapter 27] (London: Human Kinetics, 2000).

[20]Donovan Russo, “Play ball!’: Pro athletes like NBA star Kevin Durant turning to esports during coronavirus,” CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/pro-athletes-turn-to-esports-to-stay-active-during-coronavirus.html

[21]Craig G. Anderson, A. M. Tsaasan, Jason Reitman, Je Seok Lee, Minnie Wu, Holly Steel, Tom Turner, and Constance Steinkuehler, “Understanding esports as a stem career ready curriculum in the wild,” In 2018 10th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8493445

[22]Andy Miah, Drones: the brilliant, the bad and the beautiful (Bingley, U.K.: Emerald Group Publishing, 2020).

[23]Andy Miah, Alex Fenton, and Simon Chadwick, “Virtual Reality and Sports: The Rise of Mixed, Augmented, Immersive, and Esports Experiences,” In 21st Century Sports: How technologies will change sport in the digital age, Ed., Sascha L. Schmidt (Berlin: Springer, 2020), 249-262.

[24] Miah, Sport 2.0

[25]Esports.net “Is Esports a Sport? Countries where Esports is considered a sport”, 2020, https://www.esports.net/wiki/guides/is-esports-a-sport/

[26] IOC, 2020.

[27]Trotter et al., “The association between esports participation.”

[28]“E-Sports Embraces Traditional Training Methods: Less Pizza, More Yoga,” The New York Times, April 2, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/sports/esports-league-of-legends.html

[29]Angela Ruggiero, “Sports Innovation Lab CEO Angela Ruggiero expects esports in the Olympics,” HBO, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLUeBVFB-Oo

[30]Global Esports Federation, “Angela Ruggiero and Christoph Dubi,” 2020.  https://sportsilab.wistia.com/medias/fl9g8goa2q?wtime=30m4s

[31]League of Legends, “Worlds 2020 Tech – Behind The Scenes,” 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61tE7i1frg

[32]Andy Miah, “Virtual Tour de France shows how esports has come of age during lockdown,” The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/virtual-tour-de-france-shows-how-esports-has-come-of-age-during-lockdown-143547

[33]“Gaming levels up with historic Asiad inclusion, China Daily, December 18, 2020, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/18/WS5fdbfdf9a31024ad0ba9c87d.html

[34]Beatriz Garcia, “One hundred years of cultural programming within the Olympic Games (1912–2012): origins, evolution and projections,” International Journal of Cultural Policy 14, no. 4 (2008): 361-376.