The first Olympic Estport Games, initially planned this year, will finally be held in Ryad, further strengthening the growing weight of Saudi Arabia in sports geopolitics.
Announced Tuesday by the IOC, this postponement is not a surprise since the new event, confident last July to the Gulf kingdom for twelve years, requires invent bridges between the Olympic universe and that of electronic sports.
“The first edition” of these future games “will take place in 2027 in Ryad,” said Lausanian’s body in a statement, after a meeting on Sunday in the Saudi capital among his boss Thomas Bach, the crown prince Mohammed Bin Salmane and Saudi Sports Minister.
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On the other hand, the qualification course for this new event will begin “this year, with the first Olympic competitions,” the organization specifies.
For several years eager to integrate electronic sports into the Olympic world without distorting traditional Games, the IOC had decided just before the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 to launch a completely different event.
For this, he had concluded an unprecedented agreement in the Olympic history with the Saudi National Olympic Committee, which must welcome the future Olympic Games of Esport until 2037, according to a periodicity that remains to be defined.
President of the ESport Commission at the origin of this association, French David Lappartient had recommended games “every two years”, so every year not Olympic, but a decision on this issue has not yet been made.
Adapt the EPPORT to the Olympic principles: the constitution of national teams, negotiations with game editors, the creation of an anti -doping program and the control of competitions, compliance with “non -violence” withdrawn by Thomas Bach It is also a complex task.
The weight of Saudi Arabia in global sport
Therefore, the Olympic body is based on the foundation of the Esports World Cup (EWCF), which “will contribute its experience in the selection of games, tournament structure and commitment of the ecosystem”, which will allow in particular “to establish principles of Qualification “For these future games, according to COI.
In more general terms, the new event further strengthens the weight of Saudi Arabia in world sport, which multiplies the reception of competitions (football, formula 1, riding, boxing), won in December 2034 football, football, And he has already mentioned his ambition of one day organizes the Summer Olympic Games.
In a more unexpected and widely criticized way, the country must welcome the 2029 Asian Games in their futuristic complex in the construction of Neom, a pharaonic project promoted by Mohammed Bin Salmane, which intends to develop issues and tourism to reduce the dependence of the dependence of the dependence of the dependence of the dependence of the kingdom to the income of black gold.
Aware of the controversies surrounding the sports power of the Gulf kingdom, suspect for its detractors to try to divert international attention from their human rights violations, Thomas Bach had assured last July that the sport games would be “in full compliance of the Olympic letter and the Olympic letter.
On Tuesday, the agency of Lausana insisted on the “strong growth” of Saudi sport “as a whole”, with “more than 100 international male and female competitions”, but also a rate of participation in sports activities multiplied by three since 2015 ” to “reach almost 50% of the population.”
Source: BFM TV
