Cable Wakeboarding in Olympics 2020 race
It’s officially 1 year till the London 2012 Olympics, the medals have been unveiled, the 365 day countdown clock displayed, and Boris Johnson, in his own special way, has promised that London “will be ready”. It’s suddenly feeling very real. But come 2019, it could feel spine tinglingly real for a select few cable wakeboarders too!
You may well have heard the rumblings over the past fortnight about Cable Wakeboarding being considered for the Olympics 2020 but what’s actually been going on and what does it mean for wakeboarding? Whether Wakeboarding makes the final selection or not, could this be wakeboarding’s big break?
Well, back on 6th July in Durban, South Africa, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board, met to discuss amongst a number of things, “a shortlist of sports that will be considered for inclusion in the sports programme of the 2020 Games of the Olympiad. The sports are: baseball, karate, roller sports, softball, sports climbing, squash, wakeboard and wushu, one of which could be added to the 2020 Games sports programme to be voted on by the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013. The programme can include a maximum of 28 sports.”
So how did Wakeboarding get this far to even be considered? Well, the IWWF presented the IOC with a huge amount of stats gathered from wakeboard/waterski federations all around the world, giving an impression of participation levels and competition results both nationally and internationally.
So let’s not get too excited; there’s a 1/8 chance of wakeboarding getting selected when the IOC meet at the end of 2013, so its far from a done deal, but with the success of the X-Games giving ‘extreme’ sports greater exposure and big brands like Nike getting behind ‘young high octane’ sports in major campaigns, there’s a stronger interest than in previous years. And quite frankly,there’s nothing quite like the showboating experience of top cable riders currently in the Olympics, who knows?
What criteria the IOC will be looking for when it comes to voting for the new addition to the 2020 event will be a little difficult to pin point, but it’s easy to speculate that the degree of global interest and support in the candidate sports is a major factor.
So whilst we have 18 months to dream the dream, we’ve really been handed 18 months to let the world know why we love our sport. When else has wakeboarding ever been mentioned like this on a global platform? Already this week, Sky Sports News has mentioned wakeboarding consistently in their presenter links to reports on failed Olympic 2020 contender surfing. So, whether Wakeboarding makes it to the 2020 Olympics or not, this is a golden opportunity for each and every one of us to help boost interest and awareness in the sport, driving better opportunities for investment and sponsorship, securing the continued development of our sport, Olympics or not!
There are 8 sports that have been thrust into the sporting media spotlight, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Wushu and softball, amongst the others have been flooded with google searches. Its up to us, each and every one to make sure Wakeboarding is always ahead of the others.
So what can you do?
* Firstly, and most obviously, get out on the water! Participation is the key, and whilst the global media make their enquiries into Wakeboarding, the more people taking part, the greater the attraction to learn more about it.
* Encourage your friends to take part, word of mouth spreads like wild fire and the more people know about it, the greater investment and sponsorship will be available to support venues, events and athletes.
* Compete! Competing raises standards and sets new personal boundaries, but it also makes your efforts official, registered and recognised when the IOC review the sports in the line up.
* Register your vote. Here’s one way to start spreading the word. US SportsPro media on-line are running a poll as to which of the 8 sports the public think will win the 2020 selection. It’s a positive start to getting the support for wakeboarding acknowledged, so make sure you cast your vote, and please spread the link on FaceBook and Twitter.
Maybe, just maybe, our current crop of incredibly talented groms, could be the Olympic champions of the future. Wouldn’t that be awesome!
Tuesday 02 August 2011 | Permalink
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