Bowling is one of the most popular sports globally, having many fans and enthusiasts who love to play and watch their favorite bowlers knock pins and get strikes. However, it is not featured in the biggest international sports event known as the Olympics.
You might be wondering, is bowling an Olympic sport? Well, that is precisely what I am here to tell you.
In this article, I will talk about bowling’s inclusion in world sports tournaments, why bowling is not an official Olympic sport, and the reasons I believe that bowling should be an Olympic sport. So, sit back, relax, and make sure you read this article until the end.
Bowling in World Tournaments
Suppose you think that bowling was never a part of the international Olympic Games. That is not how it is. In the 20th century, it was a part of the Olympics in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. It was featured in many other international world sports tournaments as well, if you are wondering. Let us look at the inclusion of bowling in world tournaments over the years.
Bowling in Paralympics
Although not considered a featured sport in Olympics anymore, Bowling has always played an extraordinary role in the Special Olympics known as the Paralympics.
The game has been included in the Paralympics since the late 20th century and is still an essential inclusion in the tournament. Special bowling greens were used in the past for the game in the tournament to ease the incredibly professional players.
Bowling in Commonwealth Games
If you are wondering whether bowling is still a featured sport in Commonwealth games, unfortunately, that is not true. However, bowling was a necessary inclusion in the tournament over the majority of the 1990s.
The last time bowling was a part of the Commonwealth Games was 1998. Commonwealth bowling championships were held after that, but the sport was not included in the Commonwealth games again.
Why is Bowling not an Olympic Sport?
Even for the 2020 Olympic Games, bowling was considered a choice of sport to be added around 2013; however, in 2015, the international Olympic committee decided to ax the idea of including bowling in Olympics 2020, which is to be held in 2021, and it has even been excluded from the 2024 Olympics. But why is that? You might be wondering.
According to the International Olympic Committee, bowling equipment and alleys require many monetary resources, which is not easy for underdeveloped countries to utilize to provide proper training facilities to their young and interested bowling players.
Although controversial, this particular reasoning is considered the main logic behind bowling from the international Olympic Games. In addition, heartbreaking as it is, there are not much bowling enthusiasts can do about it. Therefore, finding ways of raising our voices and getting them heard is the way of rebellion we need to adopt.
Why Bowling should be an Olympic Sport
There are tons of reasons that we bowling enthusiasts believe that ten-pin bowling should be an Olympic sport. Here are some of the major reasons that bowling should be included in the next Olympics to come.
Millions of Players
The first and foremost reason for the inclusion of any game in the Olympics is crowd popularity. Hockey, wrestling, tennis, and many other games are featured in the international Olympic Games because of how famous they are and how many people are invested in them.
Well, bowling has more than 100 million followers worldwide, and I believe that is more than enough for it to be a profitable inclusion in the international sports event and 100 million people follow and love the sport for a reason.
Hundreds of Thousands of Bowling Lanes
It is considered that over 250 thousand bowling lanes and thousands of bowling alleys are operating around the world. Especially in the United States region and the region of Europe, bowling is especially popular.
The sport can surely be televised more in underdeveloped countries, but by providing bowling a platform on the Olympic level, only people will come to notice the game and learn to play and love it.
Short Time Requirement
Many games that are amazingly popular around the world are not included in the Olympics and for a valid reason – they require a lot of time. Longer games would harm the sophisticated and simple time frame of the International Olympic Games.
Nevertheless, bowling is a very short-time requiring game that takes less than an hour to complete. In addition, there are so many ten-pin bowling variations that anyone suitable for the Olympic level can be adopted and featured in the International event, I believe.
Competition
Competition and professionalism are significant in all sports around the world. If players are not skilled and the matches are not interesting, there would be no reason for them to be placed in an event as incredible as the International Olympic Games.
Bowling is such a skill-requiring and technical sport that professionals are incredibly good at playing it. That is why there is a lot of competition in the sport and why it is perfect to be included in the Olympics.
There are many other reasons, but I rest my case here simply by saying that bowling is a great sport and is perfect to be given the graceful opportunity of being featured in the upcoming Olympics.
Conclusion
Bowling is not an Olympic sport, but in the future, there are chances that it might feature in sports tournaments internationally. We, as bowling enthusiasts, need to make our voices be heard and need to keep practicing to become professionals.
We also need to get more bowling alleys established in underdeveloped countries and places where bowling is not very widely known so more people can learn to love the game.
With the recent advancement in the sport and the popularity, bowling is being noticed again, so we should hope for the best and get ready for bowling to be featured in these big events.
