Esport at the Olympics. Will Dota 2 become the next football

On February 4, the Beijing Winter Olympics kicked off. And for sure, many of us follow the Winter Olympics 2022. But are all the disciplines that the IOC provides us with interest?

Surely there will be fans of hockey or biathlon at the winter games, or there will be many football fans who are waiting for the summer Olympics. But what about disciplines that are closer to the younger generation? How about esports?

For years eSports tournaments have been proving that they deserve attention and the IOC naturally cannot turn a blind eye to this. Until 2021, IOC representatives had a negative attitude towards e-sports, and explained their reluctance to add it to the Olympic program, due to cruelty and violence in games:

We cannot have in the Olympic programme a game which is promoting violence or discrimination. So-called killer games. They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted. Of course every combat sport has its origins in a real fight among people, but sport is the civilized expression about this. If you have egames where it's about killing somebody, this cannot be brought into line with our Olympic values.

2019 was a breakthrough year in the emergence of esports at the Olympics. The 2020 Olympic Games kicked off with the epic Olympics Virtual Series - the first-ever digital experience. The esports athletes competed in virtual hybrid sports that included racing, sailing, rowing, cycling, and baseball. The popularity of such games made it clear to the IOC that their reluctance to add esports to the official Olympics program was a huge mistake.

IOC President Thomas Bach commented on this event:

The Olympic Virtual Series is a new, unique Olympic digital experience that aims to grow direct engagement with new audiences in the field of virtual sports. Its conception is in line with Olympic Agenda 2020+5 and the IOC’s Digital Strategy. It encourages sports participation and promotes the Olympic values, with a special focus on youth.

But despite this statement, eSports has not yet been added to the program of the Olympic Games.

Esports in the official program of the Asian Games 2022

For the first time, esports competitions could be seen at the Asian Games in 2018. And although then these competitions did not affect the overall team standings and were only a demonstration performance, this influenced the decision of the IOC to revise the list of official disciplines in 2020.

In 2018, during the Asian Games, you could watch the following disciplines: League of Legends, Arena of Valor, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, Serhii_Rubtsov, StarCraft II, Hearthstone and Clash Royale.

The decision to expand the competitive disciplines for the 2022 Asian Games was made at the 39th meeting of the Olympic Council of Asia. The official list of sports was replenished with e-sports and breakdancing - the OCA qualified them as intellectual and dance sports, respectively.

The list of esports games included:

• Dota 2

• League of Legends

• Street Fighter V

• Arena of Valor (Asian Games Version)

• Dream Three Kingdoms 2

• EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games

• HearthStone

• PUBG Mobile (Asian Games Version)

eSports and sports

The first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens. The program of the modern Olympic Games includes 42 summer disciplines and 15 winter disciplines. For 126 years, the program for the Olympics has not changed much. During these years, 15 disciplines were excluded from the official program due to their obsolescence or unpopularity.

And what a shock it was when the IOC in 2016 accepted skateboarding and surfing into the Olympic Games program. And if we consider that even in this case, skateboarding and surfing have already had a long history, then how did the relatively young eSports get into this list? And is it possible to equate such computer games as Dota 2, Street Fighter V with the same football or boxing with their centuries-old history?

Among the population, it is customary to think that esportsmen do not make any effort, they sit and knock on the keyboard. However, Ingo Frobese, a professor at the German University of Sports and an athlete rehabilitation specialist who has been involved in this research for five years, thinks otherwise. According to him, esports players rely a lot on their motor skills and reactions.

In particular, the motor demands and capabilities have impressed us. The gamers to create up to 400 movements per Minute to a keyboard and mouse, four Times more than the average bear! The Whole thing asymmetrical, because both hands are parallel moves, there are different regions of the brain used in parallel.

The scientist has not observed such loads in any sport, including table tennis, where synchronous actions between hands and eyes are necessary. In addition, games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike require strategic orientation and tactical thinking skills. During competitions, huge doses of cortisol, the hormone responsible for stress, are released into the blood of an e-sportsman. The same amount of cortisol is produced by Formula 1 pilots. The pulse quickens to 160-180 beats per minute. And that's not counting motor skills.

In addition, do not forget about the popularity of eSports around the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, esports began to gain enormous popularity, and broadcasts on streaming sites such as Twitch and Youtube gained millions of viewers.

The statistics also show that there are a whopping 2.5 billion players worldwide, far exceeding the number of players in "popular sports" such as football or tennis.

This upward trend will only continue thanks to the optimistic forecasts of esports enthusiasts in the next few years. After all, as access to live streaming expands, more and more people are starting to see esports as their preferred form of entertainment. Kids enjoy watching streams instead of cartoons on TV, and adults prefer watching esports on Twitch over cable TV.

This growing number of fans and potential spectators is a great solution for the Olympic Games, which are declining in spectator numbers. By introducing esports to the Olympics, the IOC will also target a new, younger audience.