Esports and the Olympic Movement

Leonid Shmatenko, Oleksandr Volkov and Rodolphe Ruffié-Farrugia

Chapter Chapter 2 in Esports Law and Practice, 2025, pp 9-26 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The International Olympic Committee has historically been cautious about its engagement with esports. Initially, the commercially driven industry of esports was perceived as an absolute contrast to the values-based traditional Olympic sports. The main concerns centred around a batch of issues usually associated with the popular esports’ titles such as certain levels of violence and discrimination in video games, shortage of physical activity and the different nature of competition. Following years of moderate attempts to break the deadlock, 2024 seems to become a gamechanger when the IOC decided to launch Olympic Esports Games declaring a ‘new era’ for the Olympic Movement and hoping to attract the attention of proactive youth. Meanwhile, the question whether this rather enthusiastic and generally welcomed step is indeed so ‘groundbreaking’ leaves room for existing debates inside the industry.

Keywords: Esports; Olympics; Olympic Agenda 2020+5; Olympic Esports Games; Olympic values; Olympic Movement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803925998
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