The Olympic Games 2021 on Such will host their first official tournament of sports or electronic sports with the Olympic Virtual Series, with five video game in competition. According to International Olympic Committee, these have been chosen to be “sports titles”.
According to Kit McConnell, athletic director of the International Olympic Committee, “It is fair to say that we continue to be a sport-based and sport-focused organization,” so they seek to maintain the Olympic Virtual Series “Focused on sports titles.”
As it is recalled, the games chosen were eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, Gran Turismo, Virtual Regatta, Zwift and one for open rowing, and all are equivalent to virtual simulators of the sports of baseball, motor racing, rowing, cycling and rowing, respectively.
As the sports director points out, at least for now, the International Olympic Committee is intentionally choosing to host competitions in virtual versions of physical sports, which is why fantasy video games (and the most important in the world of esports) such as Dota 2, League of Legends O Counter Strike they will have no place for the moment.
“We do not believe that there is a mutual exclusivity between the esports community and the traditional sports community,” said McConnell, trying to calm the waters for the future.
There is a road map
“Since elite sports and games competitors are relatively new to the highly competitive environment, they have more limited access to resources than athletes in traditional sports,” says the International Olympic Committee in its latest strategic roadmap, which was published in March.
“The International Olympic Committee recognizes these challenges and aims to adapt various existing tools and resources to support them in different fields, such as gender equality, mental and physical health, integrity of competence and career transition ”.
According to the same roadmap, it is being analyzed that the sports award medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games and the Olympic Virtual Series of this year, which is only demonstrative, will be of great help so that this becomes a reality.
The Olympic Virtual Series will take place from May 13 to June 13, 2021 and seeks to reach new Olympic audiences, especially young people more familiar with digital sports.
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