Esports will never be in Olympics because video games ‘promote violence and discrimination’ says IOC chief
'Killer games... are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted,' says International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach
ESPORTS are a multi-billion dollar industry with more fans around the globe than many Olympic sports - but that's not enough to get them into the Olympics, according to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
Speaking at the Asian Games, which has esports as an exhibition event this year ahead of potentially making it a medal event in 2022, Bach was clear that the Olympics were not going to be next.
“Of course every combat sport has its origins in a real fight among people,” he told the Associated Press. “But sport is the civilized expression about this. If you have egames where it’s about killing somebody, this cannot be brought into line with our Olympic values.”
“We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination,” he told AP. “So-called killer games. They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted.”
His tough stance came as something of a surprise after Lausanne, Switzerland, played host to an official Olympic esports forum last month.
Paris' bid for the 2024 games also included esports as an exhibition event.
The status of esports at the Olympic or similar level is the lack of one over-arching governing body, and the huge variety of games covered under one umbrella.
That lack of single governing body has reportedly thrown a spanner in the works for the 2022 Asian Games.
At this year's games, competitors played Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer and StarCraft II -- all of which have large-scale organised competitions, but under different auspices.
Do you think that video games should be in the Olympic Games? Let us know in the comments.
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