The International Olympic Committee properly joined the digital era. At the 142nd IOC Member Assembly held this Tuesday in Paris, on the eve of the Olympic Games, the creation of the Olympic eSports Games was unanimously approved. The first edition will take place in 2025 in Saudi Arabia, promoters of the initiative.
IOC President Thomas Bach led the assembly and called for a show of hands to approve the Games, an initiative that had no votes against or abstentions. The recently approved proposal was presented to the IOC member countries in October 2023, at the 141st Assembly, when the German leader himself announced that the then newborn IOC eSports Commission was studying the possibility, even without mention date or venue.
Now that it is confirmed, Bach commented: “If we want to remain relevant in the lives of young people, if we want to continue inspiring the next generation with our Olympic values, then we have to go where the young people are, in the real world and in the digital world. We have to go to e-sports.”
The initial proposal contemplates holding the event every two years. The International Olympic Committee had already been developing actions in the direction of approaching eSports. The very creation of the IOC Commission, which is headed by Frenchman David Lappartient, also president of the International Cycling Union, was one of the signals. The announcement of this new workspace was confirmed precisely at the end of the first Olympic Electronic Sports Week organized by the IOC, held in Singapore in June 2023.
For now, the eyes of the world remain focused on the full development of Paris 2024. Although virtual gazes will surely also have a focus on the development of this news: the Olympic eSports Games in Saudi Arabia in 2025 and the entry of the IOC to the digital world.
Mark the date 🥳 pic.twitter.com/CPRrwrirba
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) July 23, 2024