The wait for all fans of sport it’s over: they open today at Olympic Esports Series 2023competition dedicated to electronic sports made by International Olympic Committee with the collaboration of international federations and game publishers. The games will be attended by amateur and professional players of 9 sportincluding mobile games, console games, physical games and PC games, 4 of which are already present in the 2021 Virtual Series, i.e. baseball con Wbsc eBaseball: Power Pros (su PlayStation 5 e 4 o Nintendo Switch) e la World Baseball Softball Confederation, cycling with Uci e Zwift, motorsport con Gran Turismo 7 (su PlayStation 4 o 5) e the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, e boating con Virtual Regatta and World Sailing. To these will be added another 5, that is danza con Just Dance, chess con Chess.com (with mobile device or computer), taekwondo con World Taekwondo and Virtual Taekwondo, tennis con Tennis Clash e l’International Tennis Federation, e archery con World Archery Federation e Tic Tac Bow. The public will be able to watch the games throughout the competition on the olympic official platform and and on the Instagram profile @Olympics.
In fact, the players who manage to access the finals will meet in Olympic Esports Week 2023, the week from 22 to 25 Juneon stage at the Suntec Center in Singapore live for the Olympic Esports Finals 2023, where players will be able to play in front of fans. The finals will also be an opportunity to get in touch with other sports and competitions that are not yet on the Olympic programme, and with the new technologies. The event is a important recognition for esportsa sector that is growing all over the world and which is gaining more and more space and which is finding more and more legitimacy within the Olympic Movement also thanks to the International Olympic Committee.
“The choice of Singapore for us it is linked to innovation and the history of the Olympic Movement – explains Vincent Pereira, head of virtual sport & gaming of the International Olympic Committee -. Singapore was the first organization of the esports competition from 2010. There is a very strong bond, and that is why we have considered him a partner to rely on in the organization for theOlympic Esports Week”. The event is in fact organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Community, Youth and Sport of Singapore and the Singapore National Olympic Committee.
How qualifying takes place
For what concern baseballthe selections will start on March 13 in Japan and since March 31st for the rest of the world. For players of Chess.com, however, the qualifiers will start from March 20 and will take place with a mix of open and invitational competitions with three rounds. The top 8 qualifiers will have access to the competition in Singapore. For Just Dance players will be selected from Just Dance World Cup champions, who will receive an invitation to participate in the Singapore event. For Grand Touring, in addition to the reigning champion Valerio Gallo, those who will take part in the selections starting from 13 April will be able to participate. More details will be available on Olympics.com, as well as to participate with Tennis Clash. Participation in the competition of teakwondo, on the other hand, will be by invitation. I best 16 will take part in the finals. April 1 will be the day of the qualifiers, also open to fans, of archery with Tic Tac Bow during Archery World Cup events. For cycling, they will be selected the best 16 cyclists (8 men and 8 women) among the participants of the Zwift Grand Prix and the Uci Cycling Esports World Championships. Finally, the players of Virtual Regatta entering Singapore, the players with the highest average score of each of the 9 competitions starting on 17 of March for two categories, offshore and inshore.
In fact, it is no coincidence that of the 15 “recommendations” of the strategic agenda of the 2020+5 Olympics, number 9 is dedicated to support development of virtual sports and community engagement of the gaming. “One of our main goals is to reach a wider audience” Pereira informs. And it is precisely with this goal in mind that compared to the Olympic Virtual Series 2021, which involved more than 250,000 participants from over 100 countries around the world, this year the games change their name: “For this reason we passed by virtual sport to esport – continues Pereira -, just to have one wider public understanding. Of course we are also open and ready to hear what people want and expect. We will do so without setting aside our Olympic values and our global mission which is to support the development of the Olympic Movement”.
