Bach: Considering the establishment of the Olympic E-sports Games

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Whether e-sports can enter the Olympic Games may soon have a new answer. IOC President Bach revealed here on the evening of the 14th that the IOC is considering the establishment of the Olympic Games that belong to e-sports.

Bach made the above remarks in his speech at the opening ceremony of the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee held that night. He said, "I have asked the new IOC e-Sports Commission to study and establish the Olympic e-Sports Games."

According to statistics, about 3 billion people around the world play video games, of which more than 500 million are particularly interested in e-sports, including virtual sports and simulated sports. Most of them are young people under the age of 34. Bach said that the IOC attaches great importance to this, so since 2018, the IOC has been involved in the development of e-sports in an all-round manner.

Bach said: "We have chosen a way to not only be active in the field of e-sports, but also be faithful to the values that we have followed for more than a century. In the field of e-sports, values have always been the red line that we will not cross. Our clear position has also won more and more respect in the field of e-sports. In order to conform to the Olympic values, a leading publisher in the industry redesigned one of their popular games - so that players can shoot targets instead of people. "

In 2021, the IOC will hold the Olympic Virtual Series. This is the first pilot project of the IOC in the field of e-sports. Based on the successful experience of the Olympic Virtual Series, the International Olympic Committee held the first Olympic E-sports Week this year, and the results were very popular - including the qualifiers, the E-sports Series attracted more than 500000 participants, and the live viewing volume of the games on all channels exceeded 6 million.

Bach said: "This is a promising start, but it is only a beginning. Like in any sport, even after a promising start, the real game is still ahead."

Bach also talked about AI in his speech that night. He said: "Our continued success depends on how we embrace the accelerating development of digital technology, especially AI. This makes our Olympic 2020 Agenda more urgent - 'either change or be changed'."

Bach stressed that the IOC must take the initiative, "We must conduct a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and risks of AI, and then take immediate action. I am pleased to tell you that this work is already in progress. If things go well, you may see some preliminary results in Paris (the Olympic Games)".

The 141st Session of the IOC will last until the 17th. The main agenda of this plenary session includes voting on the amendments to the Olympic Charter and the project settings of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and electing several new IOC members. In addition, the plenary session will assess the mid-term implementation of the Olympic 2020+5 Agenda, and hear reports on the progress of preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, 2026 Milan Cortinarian Pezo Winter Olympic Games and the next two Youth Olympic Games.

key word: international olympic committee Bach electronic sports Series