The Olympics consists of a variety of sports that are popular around the world. However, there are still several sports that aren’t currently included in the Olympics. There are of course reasons behind this, but they aren’t necessarily clear and there are a lot of unhappy sports fans that don’t get to watch their favourite sports in action during the Olympic Games.
The problem the organizers have when it comes to the Olympics, is that the tournament will never be able to cater for all sports because it would be unmanageable, so that is a good enough reason to have to stop somewhere when it comes to adding other sports. Things will likely change in the future, and there will almost be certainly sports taken out of the Olympics that will leave room for new ones. Here are five of the most popular sports worldwide that aren’t included in the Olympic Games.
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Cricket
Cricket is enjoyed by more than an estimated 2.5 billion fans worldwide, so it’s hard to see why it’s not played at the Olympic Games, especially seeing as it is just behind Football when it comes to the number of spectators that watch it. Cricket was once an Olympic sport back in 1900, but it wasn’t popular and unfortunately that was its first and last appearance. There is another good reason why Cricket isn’t an Olympic sport, and that is simply because even though it is popular in England, India, Australia, New Zealand, and a few other countries, it just isn’t played by many other countries professionally which is its ultimate downfall. If Cricket starts getting played on a larger scale around the world, then we could see it as an Olympic sport in the future, but it certainly wouldn’t be for test cricket as there just wouldn’t be enough time to cater for it.
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Squash
Squash is played around the world by more than 17 million people in over 150 countries, so that would suggest it’s a popular enough sport to be in the Olympic Games, but apparently not. It was put forward to be an Olympic sport for the 2012 games, but it didn’t get the votes it needed, and instead, the Olympics went ahead with less sports than normal. It’s one of the most popular indoor sports and it has been deemed one of the most popular sports when it comes to keeping fit, so Squash has the potential to be an Olympic sport in the future.
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Chess
A lot of people around the world wouldn’t like to see chess as an Olympic sport, primarily because they don’t see it as a sport at all, but rather a game. Football is a game too, so why isn’t chess included in the Olympics? There could be a variety of reasons for it, but there aren’t any clear ones to suggest it won’t be included in the future. Back in the 1924 Olympics, it was initially put forward as an Olympic sport, but as the federation found it near on impossible to separate professional players from amateurs, it never went ahead. Even to this day, the chess federation puts chess forward to be an Olympic sport, but it doesn’t get the votes needed to be included.
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Snooker
Snooker is becoming much more popular on a yearly basis thanks to entertaining players like the popular Ronnie O’ Sullivan. Promotor Eddie Hearn is also doing a great job in promoting the sport by setting up new tournaments around the globe, in countries such as China. A lot of foreign players are now entering the tournaments and players like Ding Junhui and Marco Fu are populating it in their native China. Snooker has missed out on a spot in the 2020 Olympics, and many people think 2024 will be the year it’s added thanks to the global appeal it’s getting.
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Poker
Could we ever see Poker in the Olympics? If chess doesn’t have much chance of becoming an Olympic sport, then why should a game of poker? Poker is quickly becoming more than a game though, and there is, in fact, a lot of mind games involved that could someday push it towards the Olympic games. Whether it does or not remains to be seen, but as it is popular among the online gaming community and there are many professionals earning a living from it, it does have a chance in the future.
The above is just a list of five of the many popular sports being played throughout the world that are not included in the Olympic Games. Sports such as cricket and chess may struggle to ever get included in the Olympic Games because they are deemed to be “too long-winded”. But if other smaller sports get left out in the future, it could always create room for one or more of the above sports to be included.