IOC announces plans to create Olympic Esports Games
Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Comitee (IOC), confirmed that IOC is examining into the idea of an Olympic eSports Games.
The president of the IOC, announced on Saturday that the International Olympic Committee is considering establishing an Olympic eSports Games.
During the 141st IOC session's opening ceremony on Saturday in Mumbai, Bach stated that he had requested that the new eSports Commission of the International Olympic Committee research the origins of Olympic sports events.
Lots of people are interested in eSports and gaming
Three billion people worldwide participate in eSports and gaming, according to the German.
Over 500 million people, according to estimates, are particularly interested in eSports, which include sport simulations and virtual sports.
Bach continued," What's even more important to us is that the majority of them are younger than 34."
The Olympic virtual series was created by the IOC in 2021. The IOC's first eSports pilot project was this one.
We then started the Olympic eSports week in Singapore earlier this year, Bach said," building on the lessons from the virtual series."
We observed evidence that our holistic strategy is effective in Singapore. The Olympic and eSports communities were successfully combined by us.
Over 500,000 people participated in the Olympic eSports Series overall, including the qualifiers, and more than six million people watched live action on all channels, with 75 % of viewers being between the ages of 13 and 34.
This was an encouraging beginning. But it's only a beginning. The real race is still ahead after the promising start, as it always is in sports, according to Bach.
Olympic games and AI?
Fencing champion Bach from the 1976 Olympics admitted that artificial intelligence ( AI ) had partially produced some of his speech.
Every difficulty has both opportunities and risks, he claimed.
"AI has the power to transform athlete training by providing them with individualized instruction."
What does this mean for data security and the human coach's future?
" There are football fans among us— let's say VAR and Hawkeye tennis players." What will AI mean for other sports, including fencing, figure skating, boxing, and gymnastics?
"Will AI support or transform the human element", Bach continued?
Will the human touch be lost? The final Games of the pre-AI era will take place in Paris 2024. Every observer can ultimately control their own experience.
But we can change before we are changed, he insisted. Technological and commercial interests will engulf us like a tsunami if we don't. In both the physical and virtual worlds, sport must go where people are.
However, Narendra Modi's speech at the ceremony, in which the Indian Prime Minister confirmed his nation would bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics and become the only Asian country to do so, overshadowed Bach's announcement of a potential eSports Games.
