Gridiron at the Olympic games… or maybe it will be Chess, Orienteering or Tug of War.
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is taking the next step and applying to have gridiron become a part of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo.
There are many steps that IFAF must go through to get gridiron to the Olympic Games one of which is have the sport recognised as an Olympic sport, which requires that it must be widely practised in at least 75 countries, spread over four continents.
While IFAF claims 71 countries on its web site it would appear to have a little way to go and to say it is widely practised is a bit of a reach, that being said other sports like Chess, Orienteering and Tug of War are also looking for Olympic recognition and I have not been to my local Tug of War team to try out.
The possibility of American football becoming an Olympic sport is pretty low, but it is intriguing. What will happen with the US team? Would it be Pros? Probably not as they would not risk injury or would it be more like the basketball team before 1992 when it was a college all star team?
I guess only time will tell, I have a simple rule for Olympic sports if the Olympic Gold is not the highest award you can win in your sport, your sport probably shouldn’t be there.
