OlymPicks: Esports Tournaments Becoming Mainstream, But Officials Hedge Their Bets With Old-Fashioned Hockey

Whatever happened to sports being for jocks, and video games being for geeks?

Such misconceptions are proving to be especially outdated now, given that the gaming competition League of Legends World Championships was held at none other than the Bird's Nest in Beijing this past weekend, a venue that was designed and built for Olympic competitions. This promoted a writer at The Next Web to declare: "... the fact this esports event is taking place inside one of the most recognizable sports venues on the planet gives it some undeniable prestige. Esports are big; that’s a simple, undeniable fact – and it’s time to put this discussion to rest."

This development was followed by news this morning (Nov 6) that major tech firm and key 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic sponsor Intel will be coordinating an official esports tournament ahead of the Games.

Inside the Games reports that gaming firm Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft II will be one of the major featured titles at the tournament because, as Intel reps pointed out, that game is "one of the most celebrated esports titles of all time." Another key exhibition for this esports tournament will be Steep Road to the Olympics, the officially licensed game of Pyeongchang 2018 developed by gaming giant Ubisoft.

In an official statement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, "players involved play with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports" at the Intel tournament, and Inside the Games went on to add that "the IOC and the Global Association of International Sports Federations are set to enter a 'dialogue' with the gaming industry and players to explore the area further."

So where does that leave esports when it comes to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics? Back in May, we wrote about how this debate flared up, with Los Angeles’ 2024 Olympic bid chairman Casey Wasserman saying, “We view esports’ immense global popularity and continued advances in digital technologies as tremendous tools for reconnecting millennials with the Olympic movement … LA 2024 will work to ensure technology enhances young people’s sports experiences, instead of replacing them, and becomes a platform for further popularizing Olympic and Paralympic sports.”

While such statements may have heartened esports fans in Beijing, those hopes were no doubt deflated when International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach took a more skeptical stance, saying: “We do not see an organization or a structure that will give us confidence, or guarantee, that in this area the Olympic rules and values of sport are respected and in place, and that the implementation of these rules are monitored and secured."

That being said, Bach didn't rule out the possibility entirely, ending with: “We are watching it, we see the differences, we see the lack of organization. But we also see the high engagement of youth in esports. Therefore, we have to carefully consider how this could be consolidated.”

And as esports fans hold out hope for a breakthrough in that regard, Beijing Olympic officials remain focused on more conventional winter sports. Hockey, in particular, seems to be their most highly touted prospect. State media ran a lengthy feature today (via ECNS) that described the sport's burgeoning popularity not only on a professional level, but also in minor leagues. The writer visited the junior league's opening game at the Joy City mall's rink recently, and went on to note that that league was "initiated by the parents of around 60 hockey-loving children in 2008" and has since "developed into the biggest of its kind in Asia with 2,554 players from 162 teams registered with the Beijing Hockey Association to compete in five age groups, from under 6 to under 14, this season."

All that lead the author to a very assertive conclusion: "The rise of junior ice hockey in the Chinese capital has underlined the surging popularity of winter sports as a whole, driven by the country's commitment to involve 300 million people in winter sports activities in the lead up to the 2022 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."

So any young diehard gamers in Beijing with dreams of winning a gold medal for their StarCraft prowess, might instead want to strap on a pair of skates, because moving more than just your hands seems to be the best bet for sports prosperity here in China for the foreseeable future.

Photos: The Next Web, Polygun.com, cbc.ca