Snooker's Olympic Ambitions

A great article at the excelent InsideSnooker website about Snooker being included in the Olympics.

http://www.inside-snooker.com/snooker/2 ... -ambitions

I couldn't agree more with everything Dave Hendon said there, Snooker should have been by now included in the Olympic games, but unfortunately the governing bodies of the past, namely under the Rodney Walker regime, made no effort at all to include it.

But as Dave rightly said, it would defintely bring a whole new dimension into Snooker, with global expansion and potencial new viewers. I definately think that, unlike others in the past, Jason Ferguson is making a good job at including Snooker at the Olympics. It might still take a while, but I definately think Snooker is heading in the right direction.

Well, I guess if tennis can be played at Olympic level, why not snooker?

SnookerFan wrote:Well, I guess if tennis can be played at Olympic level, why not snooker?

tennis is a major international sport.

snooker is a largely uk based sport.

hardly comparable.

u just being silly again cos u hate tennis.

hitman_ronnie1 wrote:tennis is a major international sport.

snooker is a largely uk based sport.

hardly comparable.

u just being silly again cos u hate tennis.

The comparison was that they are both played professionally, really. I never thought the Olympics should let in sports whereby there are bigger honours in that sport, than winning the Olympic Gold medal. It seems silly that they have Olympic Soccer as well. Winning a gold medal isn't anywhere near as big a deal as winning the World Cup or Champions League, so it seems daft to have it at the Olympics.

Don't care that much either way though, because I don't like the Olympics that much anyway.

Besides snooker isn't largely UK based any more, even if it doesn't have the same global interest as tennis. What about all the Asian tournaments / players these days? Or the fact that it's getting a lot more interest in continental Europe?

SnookerFan wrote:

hitman_ronnie1 wrote:tennis is a major international sport.

snooker is a largely uk based sport.

hardly comparable.

u just being silly again cos u hate tennis.

The comparison was that they are both played professionally, really. I never thought the Olympics should let in sports whereby there are bigger honours in that sport, than winning the Olympic Gold medal. It seems silly that they have Olympic Soccer as well. Winning a gold medal isn't anywhere near as big a deal as winning the World Cup or Champions League, so it seems daft to have it at the Olympics.

Don't care that much either way though, because I don't like the Olympics that much anyway.

that is a good point really.

Winning a Olympic Medal should be the Pinnacle of a sport and quite clearly it isn't in Tennis, Football and it wouldn't be in Snooker either.

Wildey wrote:that is a good point really.

Winning a Olympic Medal should be the Pinnacle of a sport and quite clearly it isn't in Tennis, Football and it wouldn't be in Snooker either.

Exactly.

I'd take tennis and football out rather than putting snooker in. But being that the Olympic Committee seem to allow such sports, I see no reason why they shouldn't allow snooker.

SnookerFan wrote:

Wildey wrote:that is a good point really.

Winning a Olympic Medal should be the Pinnacle of a sport and quite clearly it isn't in Tennis, Football and it wouldn't be in Snooker either.

Exactly.

I'd take tennis and football out rather than putting snooker in. But being that the Olympic Committee seem to allow such sports, I see no reason why they shouldn't allow snooker.

No reason at all for snooker not to be included, especially when the IOC allows sports like shooting and archery to be in the games.

Cloud Strife wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:

Wildey wrote:that is a good point really.

Winning a Olympic Medal should be the Pinnacle of a sport and quite clearly it isn't in Tennis, Football and it wouldn't be in Snooker either.

Exactly.

I'd take tennis and football out rather than putting snooker in. But being that the Olympic Committee seem to allow such sports, I see no reason why they shouldn't allow snooker.

No reason at all for snooker not to be included, especially when the IOC allows sports like shooting and archery to be in the games.

Exactly, as Dave Hendon said, the so called "non-physical" sports also belong to the Olympic Games, so Snooker should definately be included.

And winning an Olympic Gold Medal in Snooker wouldn't obviosuly be bigger than winning the Worlds, thats not even up for discussion, same as in Tennis with the Majors. The important point here is that if Snooker were indeed to be included in the Games, it would give the game a whole new dimension with widespread recognition all across the globe and potencial new viewers who would be interested in Snooker.

You say that, but I've never heard of anyone seeing an event at the Olympics and then choosing to follow it more closely.

Skullman wrote:You say that, but I've never heard of anyone seeing an event at the Olympics and then choosing to follow it more closely.

Why not? I mean, I first became interested in Athletics after watching the 2004 Games in Athens, and I also like to watch Shooting occasionaly after also watching it first at the Olympics. And don't say I'm the only one, many people watch the Olympics and then start to watch closely that particular sport.

So I don't agree with you at all, the Olympics does give that game a widespread recognition, especially for Sports which are new to the Games, so yeah it would only benefit the game if Snooker was involved, and I hope we see it in a near future, 2016 Games in Brazil is out of the question I think, but at the 2020 Games I hope Snooker will be there.

Maybe everyone I know are just casual sports watchers then

lets put it like this it wouldn't do snooker any harm to be included but winning Olympic medals wont be the pinacle of a players career.

and only a limited amount of players from each country could be included with Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland counting as 1 country.

Wildey wrote:lets put it like this it wouldn't do snooker any harm to be included but winning Olympic medals wont be the pinacle of a players career.

and only a limited amount of players from each country could be included with Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland counting as 1 country.

Snooker could certainly use it. It would be a chance to promote the sport on the global stage.

Put it this way, I wouldn't normally give sports like archery or shooting the time of day, but during the Olympics I do try to follow those events.

It would be the same for snooker in places where it isn't that popular. People would tune in simply because it is the Olympics. Obviously, the goal would be to have those people supporting the sport once the games are over.

So many sports are trying to get in to the Olympic Games so I'm not sure snookers chance is that great, but the amount of countries in Asia playing the game may help the cause, sometimes countries without a big tradition in other sports and the Olympic movement seems to want a range of sports that are attractive to a wide range of countries. If they're serious about their Olympic ambition the snooker authorities all need to work hard at promoting snooker in those countries (In particular less obvious ones - Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Qatar are instances that spring to mind).