Against all odds, the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo will go ahead. Now is quite a good time to discuss snooker’s relationship with the greatest international sporting event in the world.
There was some optimism to give the sport greater international standing. This is especially the case when WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson submitted a bid to have snooker included in the 2020 Olympics. For example, Judd Trump voiced his support for the bid, saying that winning an Olympic gold medal “would top winning the World Championship” back in 2015. Ronnie O’Sullivan thought the opposite, as he reckoned being a World Champion would mean much more than being an Olympian.
Unfortunately for the sport, that bold bid had failed in favour of baseball, climbing, karate, roller sports and surfing among others. The board decided to persevere and plan to bid to enter the 2024 Olympics, believing that the sport has a greater global reputation than before. A trial for the format for cue sports to be played at the 2024 games was put forward at the 2019 World Team Trophy, also featuring nine-ball and carom billiards. There are prestigious competitions outside the WPBSA bubble such as the World Games and the African Games. Heck, even football legend Pelé believes that snooker should be included in the Olympic Games! Think of the global reach cue sports would have if it was accepted into the Olympic Games?
Snooker in relation to the Olympics
But do I think it should be an Olympic sport? Personally, no. I don’t know if that is the traditional or unambitious way of thinking. I am not sure if I am in the minority or not. Though I cannot speak for all cue sports.
My first point is that I believe a sport shouldn’t be an Olympic sport if the Olympics isn’t the pinnacle of the sport. When someone wins a gold medal at the Olympic Games, it is usually the greatest achievement of that athlete’s career. Snooker already has the World Snooker Championship, which is regarded as the crème de la crème in our sport. We also have the UK Championship, Masters, World Cup and the Champion of Champions. When we have the World Snooker Championship, why would we need the Olympics at all?
It is also the question as to whether cue sports is ready for the Olympic heights. I’ll only look at the snooker perspective, since I know little regarding pool, billiards, etc. Is snooker global enough? Indeed, snooker has improved leaps and bounds globally. But it’s difficult to see that on the professional tour. There are 18 nationalities on the 122-strong field. Almost half of that are from England and more than four-fifths are from the United Kingdom and China combined. There won’t be too many national representatives, especially since there might be three professionals max from one country. If we are looking outside of the professional game, will the quality decline?
Would Snooker Actually Benefit Being in the Olympics
This is a tricky question. There are two things that concern me here.
The first is the increasing number of random sports in the Olympics. We have seen the likes of football, skateboarding and surfing enter the Olympics. The Games accepted these games in order to accept the younger viewers.
I always thought the Olympics should always feature events that the Ancient Greeks did back in the BC times. I always find events such as golf, tennis, clay pigeon shooting and dressage quite odd. But then again, the tug-of-war and poetry were once included in the competition! Obviously, snooker wouldn’t fit that criterion.
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The other worry is that the Olympics is getting too big. I’m not sure if there is a concern that the Games is getting diluted or that so many sports are being spread too thin throughout. It is getting more and more difficult to find cities that have the capacity to host this wonderful thing. Paris, Los Angeles and most recently Brisbane will be hosting the next three Olympics. But where else could take on so much of the responsibility in such a vast area? Snooker will just be an additional arena and will be a nuisance to organise, especially somewhere where it has to be quiet.
What do you think?
I am clearly in the “no” camp, though I can see the potential in snooker joining the Olympics. As mentioned before, they won’t stop trying to get it into the 2024 edition!
But what do you think?
Totally agree. The “well known” sports that have Olympic events are very strange, as you say it should be the pinnacle of 4 years training for one day on the big stage, not an afterthought to a professional’s calendar.
I also think that the Tokyo/covid situation will see the Olympics scaled back for future bids – people now know that the IOC don’t care about boring things like training schedules and spectator safety, it’s been exposed as a set of legally binding contracts than anything particularly joyous (we already knew that anyway of course). The circus coming to town won’t be as appetising for future venues who know that even a state of emergency doesn’t stop the machine.
As a side note CoR, I’ve really enjoyed all your feature pieces over the last year or so, I can imagine it’s quite disheartening to see ‘0 Comments’ but I’d just like to say keep up the good work!
That’s very kind of you to say Roger, thank you very much!
I usually don’t get many comments anyway. A lot of activity comes from Twitter but even so, it’s tricky to come back. I appreciate taking time out of your day to write that, so thanks again.