2020 Summer Olympics will introduce competitive fishing to broaden its audience
It was more than a hundred years ago that the first modern Summer Olympic Games was held in Athens. A lot happened since then and from time-to-time organizers had to reinvent the Olympics in order to keep it fresh and interesting. Unfortunately, for the last twenty years it seemed that such reinvention is hardly possible. Critics long argued that the Olympic Games are unreasonably expensive and largely unprofitable events. And while watching sport is still a popular activity the Olympics have failed to attract a considerable audience since the '90s.
To address these concerns The Olympic Committee for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics decided to introduce a new category to the already large list of sports. Now, countries can try to best each other in professional fishing.
“We wanted to expand our variety of games and fishing is an ever-popular activity. We expect that Olympic fishing is going to be a hit. Hopefully this will be an effective way to reach out to a wider audience” said Franklin Pilforth during a press conference in Tokyo early Friday afternoon.
Fans of the sport have asked the Committee to include fishing in the Olympics since 2007 and it was expected to make its debut during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. However, in 2015 the Rio Olympic Committee dropped the idea in favour of underwater hockey. A sport that is not going to be featured in the Tokyo Olympics.
Following the announcement, the American Olympic team was the first to announce their participation in the category. The United States have some of the finest professional fishermen in the world. There are already negotiations underway with the Federal Government to build a large training facility in Nevada.
The Olympic Committee also considers to bring chess boxing (a popular sport that combines chess with professional boxing) to the Olympics. But there is concern that the introduction of this very unconventional sport would drastically change the image of the Olympic Games.
