Should Motorsports and eSports Be In the Olympics?

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Image courtesy of Kevin Mc Glone of Red Square Images.

In case you’ve been living under a particularly large rock, a little thing known as the Olympics just wrapped up in Rio on Sunday. A testament to the capabilities of the human body, the best technology available, and the relentlessness of VISA advertising, it offers a global stage for the absolute best to compete against one another.

So, how come we don’t get to see automotive racing?

Some less-than-charitable types might suggest that auto racing is less of a sport than something like hurdles or pole vaulting. These folks may argue that racing in a car is “easy”, or that it doesn’t require a high level of fitness. They’d be wrong, of course: F1 drivers in particular require massive amounts of training (both physical and mental) to perform at the level they do.

Case in point: back in 2014, Jenson Button was pitted against two Olympic medalists across a variety of tests. Despite being nearly a decade older than the Brownlee brothers, Button was able to nearly match them in both physical tests, while handily trouncing them in terms of reaction times. Check it out below:

For a sport to be considered an official addition to the games, it must have an international federation (IF) that’s recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As luck would have it, auto racing has just that sort of thing, with two of the words included (in French no less): the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile. And yes, the FIA does have the nod from the IOC.

Going one step further, the FIA is even a member of the Olympic’s Association of IOC-recognized International Sport Federations. ARISF represents sports such as karate and skateboarding — just two of some of the sports that have been added to the lineup for the 2020 games in Japan.

With the FIA being so closely tied to the IOC, the concept of watching four-wheeled action at the five-ringed games no longer seems quite so far-fetched. Could we see it happen in time for Tokyo? There’s still time: a sport needs to be approved at least three years before the games its meant to first appear at.

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Image courtesy of Kevin Mc Glone of Red Square Images.

Meanwhile, the FIA’s efforts to appeal to a broader audience have led it to a partnership with none other than Polyphony Digital, with GT Sport being both organizations’ entrance into the burgeoning eSports segment. ESPN has already dedicated a section of its website to eSports. The UK saw a TV channel launch for the same thing.

One organization sitting at the front of the movement is the International eSports Federation. The South Korea-based IeSF has been pushing for Olympic acceptance of eSports, requesting (and receiving) information on how to apply. The process will start this December.

eSports biggest hurdle — pun thoroughly intended — is the traditional, precise definition of “sport”. Dr. Mark Dyreson, a professor of kinesiology at Penn State University, had this to say to Polygon on the subject:

“It’s a big question — what makes it a sport as opposed to a different kind of game? How much physicality should it have to be a contest? Chess was considered to be a sport in some literature, and Sports Illustrated used to cover chess up until the ’70s.”

Since their return late in the 19th century, the Olympic Games have constantly re-shuffled the represented sports. The popularity of sports wax and wane over time, and the games reflect this: look at the afore-mentioned karate and skateboarding additions. Baseball is making a return to the Olympics in 2020 as well, after last being played at the 2008 Beijing games.

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Image courtesy of Kevin Mc Glone of Red Square Images.

As eSports continue to gain traction with the viewing public, not to mention revenue opportunities for advertisers, the IOC’s response to the IeSF application will have a lasting impression on competitive gaming.

The question of whether we could see the return of auto racing to the Olympics is a hard enough one to answer (yes, it’s happened before). But could we someday see Gran Turismo being played in a packed stadium under the glimmering light of the Olympic torch? Time will tell.

This article would not have come to pass without Aaron Miller’s excellent article about Motorsports and the Olympics at Thrillist. We support the #MotorsportsTokyo2020 movement.

Comments (46)

  1. austint30

    I can’t tell. Are those screenshots from GT Sport or real life? Honestly, GT Sport looks so realistic that it’s much harder to tell if it is real or not. I saved a bunch of GT Sport pictures as my desktop background going through a slideshow and my Dad thought those were real pictures. When I told my Dad it was a video game he was really shocked!

  2. CountessGardy

    After reading the comments, I can’t realistically see motorsport joining the Olympics anytime, seems very impractical.

  3. CWRules

    eSports? Not to dismiss the skill of the competitors, but it has no physical component, so it’s not a sport. It’s out for the same reason as chess.

    Real motorsport is trickier, but I recently heard a good argument against it: The Olympics should always be the pinnacle of all the sports within it. That’s why golf was a bad inclusion; Olympic golf is not as important as some non-Olympic golf Tournaments. If motorsport was to be an Olympic event, it would be in the same situation where the top drivers will ignore it in favor of F1.

  4. Baron Blitz Red

    No, absolutely not. Apart from the money issue, realistically only a handful of countries could be properly represented. As in, how many cars are truly 100% made in any one country? That alone narrows down the field quite a bit… right?

    If you can’t have a truly 100% (insert country’s name) car, team, etc., etc., you are not truly representing your country are you?

    As for Olympic E-sports… best joke so far this year! ;-)

    Cheers

    1. potvinsuks

      My friend. They don’t hand out Gold medals to the Country for where the equipment was made in. They hand out the Medals to the athletes in the Olympics, in which they represent their respective Countries.

      If this should come to fruition, you gotta think that all the vehicles would be identical.

    2. Baron Blitz Red

      potvinsuks… I could agree that there would be identical specs to keep things fair, but do you honestly think that the Americans would agree to buy a racecar from another country to represent theirs? Or the Germans buying a Japanese car to use?

      Cheers

  5. dinosaur202

    Motorsports? yes, eSports? NO. But there are some problems with Motorsports in the Olympics, how will poorer countries get cars? Will the host country provide them with cars? What if the host country CAN’T provide the countries with cars? What if the countries don’t have race tracks? Will they do rally racing if there’s no tracks?

  6. TRLWNC7396

    I have thought about this, as well. I think that taking in all of the factors, auto racing could (and maybe should) stay with the X-games.

    Simulation/e-games? Hmm… That’s a hard question. On one side, it may be laughed out. On the other side, I think it has tremendous opportunities.

    We shall see.

  7. VetteZR1

    Why don’t they have the little gymnastic pixies spin their ribbons while riding in convertibles. Ought to be a fun event! NOT

  8. Brendan Rorrison

    I personally wouldn’t be up for seeing it. I can understand the argument but for me Olympic sports are trying to be as pure as possible. There’s just no room for Motorsport or eSports in my opinion.

  9. gladbecker82

    As a German this would most likely secure us another gold medal. So I welcome it. There is no way any country could beat a concerted effort by Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes, with drivers like Rosberg, Vettel or Hulkenberg

    1. potvinsuks

      Although, I admit German cars are EXCELLENT machines, I think you may have missed the point here.

      If this should become a reality, the drivers/athletes who would compete in the Olympics in motorsport, would not drive vehicles from their maiden Countrys. Think about it. Do Olympic swimmers only wear swimming trunks that were only made in their Country? Or does a Hockey player representing Sweden only wear Joffa brand Sticks? No and no.

      I believe, the idea would be to have the players representing their Countries with all of the drivers, driving identical cars, regardless of which Country the vehicles were made in.

  10. RodolphoPNeto

    Young lads racing on Superkarts and maybe some entry-level open wheel class could work, maybe. Otherwise it would probably get too professional, money driven. Videogames? I laughed here…

  11. marcvic

    Definitely not for either.

    Esports is an obvious no for reasons already mentioned.

    Motorsports, is simply too expensive to implement into the olympics, and would favor a country that has more money. Money would also restrict a bunch of countries from being able to compete altogether. With the majority of olympics events, it involves an athlete using only their body to propel themselves, or a very cheap, simple object in a certain way, with simple obstacles. Doesn’t cost much for golf clubs, javelin, shot put, etc. compared to a complicated racing machine.

    Also, as it’s been stated, there are just waaay too many variables to consider (who provides vehicles, what type, drivers, etc.)

    1. eran0004

      Well, horses are quite expensive as well. And there are forms of motorsport that are very cheap, such as folkracing.

  12. Stylin

    i love motorsport, but i dont feel it belongs in the olympics. esports in the olympics? i would say esports belong in an eolympics, but certainly not the olympics.

  13. potvinsuks

    If they’re allowing Guns in the Olympics (Winter and Summer), then I say, YES bring Motorsports to the Olympics!

  14. dylanlikes88

    My quickie opinion:
    There should be some kind of motorsport event in the Olympics, but it would have to be an endurance race of some sort.

    E-sports on the other hand, should not.

  15. breyzipp

    eSports of course not, lol.

    As for motorsports, which one then? There are soooo many motorsports reaching from karting to all sorts of formula, GT, offroad racing it would be hard to pick one. And then the next question will be to add jetski, speedboat, truck racing, motorbike racing etc to it as well. I honestly think a separate “motorised” olympics would be better but let’s face it, it wil NEVER happen for financial reasons.

    1. gladbecker82

      I agree, say there is a limit of 2 million Dollar to create a race car, and have it only build by people from that country. Plus a driver of that country. And just look at Slowakia and what they achieved with the Praga R1. Limits only in HP and weight, so there would be as much freedom as possible.

  16. The Chosen One

    I can see the argument. Most of the sports in the Olympics test the athlete’s ability to EXERT forces, while racing requires the athlete to RESIST forces.
    It’s still athleticism, albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum.

  17. Scuderia Paul

    No, as much as I truly love motorsport it, along with eSports, has no place in the Olympics. The Olympics is all about human endeavour and pushing the physical aspect of sports. Motorsport is of course physical but it’s inclusion would be to go against the spirit of the Olympics.

    1. Scuderia Paul

      Having said that, the breadth of disciplines in the Olympics is always growing, and we have dressage for crying out loud, but seeing motorsport there wouldn’t feel right. Especially if Bolt would be quicker than some drivers!

  18. Punknoodle

    I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago. I can imagine the Olympics doing something like the Race of Champions where they set up a stadium course and use a couple of KTM X-Bows or something.

    Problem is, that doesn’t capture what truly makes a driver special. Race craft is a huge part of racing and not just pure speed. So they would need to have some kind of event where it is like a normal race, with qualifying and then a race.

    So obviously they would make it so that the cars are identical, down to set up and tires. But why not make it a team event, include the engineer as well to try and get the most out of the car/driver combination? Surely the default combination would suit some drivers more than others.

    Do we need to ensure that the drivers need to do a rally stage, then a circuit racing stage, an oval stage? Or do we base it all on the one style of racing, which, in my opinion would suit drivers of a certain category more.

    Then we come to riders – do we need a motorcycle event as well?

    Lots of things to consider. Driver selection – how do drivers qualify to get in? With so many different categories how do you select who participates?

    Personally I think motorsport is a highly technical sport with a huge amount of variables so it’s best left to its own world championships.

  19. ml_paladin888

    the whole nation-based motorsports things has been tried already (have people already forgotten A1GP?) and it kinda imploded after a few years.

  20. warp9engage

    eSports? No. Real motorsport, on the other hand, is long overdue to be in the Olympic Games. Racing is definitely a test to a human’s physical and mental abilities and anyone who says the opposite is, most likely, ill-informed.

    There are sports on the Olympics that require equipment (cycling, for instance) or rely on other forms of power for the athlete (equestrian, and I quote “What is the difference between horsepower and horsepower?”).

    With that in mind, I propose an Olympic Formula race, on a Tokyo street course, based on Formula E, intended for circuit racers. Also, an Olympic Rally. These would be good for a start. Teams are nations and cars are all equal.

  21. GTP Ziggy

    Usually the Olympics are geared to using your own physical body, not through a machine… That would be weird… I dunno…

    1. cheba

      Not all Olympic sports focus on using the body for propulsion. For instance in sailing, bobsled or equestrian sports, the human body is not the main source of propulsion, but you use your body to control the vehicle/horse.

      I think motorsports could fit in. It would likely have to be electric cars in order to provide cars with as identical performance as possible to the contestants.

      There have been motorsports in the Olympics before. The 1908 Olympics featured powerboat racing.

    2. GTP Ziggy

      I’m not talking about that, their is no mechanisms used except in the powerboats, but it would not look right… I don’t believe it is pyhsical enough.

    3. potvinsuks

      @ gtp Ziggy “their is no mechanisms used except in the powerboats” Really? How about Skeet Shooting?
      Or that sport in both the winter and summer Olympics where they either run, ski, swim then shoot at a dart board etc etc.

      If they’re using Guns for Christ Sake (Mechanical Propulsion Mechanisim), then WHY the hek not Cars?

      I say why not?!?!

      At first, it’s kinda a strange notion, but if you think about it for a bit, you will begin to change your mind maybe.

  22. MrWaflz55

    Video games aren’t sports. They shouldn’t be considered sports. Also the thought of them in the olympics? Lol no.

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