Positives and Negatives about Snooker in the Olympics

The Olympic Games are happening for the 31st time at this moment in Rio de Janeiro, and many Snooker fans wonder why our beloved sport doesn't take part of it.
In recent years, with Barry Hearn taking charge of Word Snooker and Jason Ferguson taking charge of the WPBSA, Snooker has had a considerable global boom, but when Snooker did bid to get into the Olympic Games for Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Committe replied with a "not now".
Here, I will reflect on why did they decide it, if they are right and what Snooker can make to get in, looking at the positive points of a potential inclusion and the negative points that let Snooker down in the race to make the Olympics.

Why not?

What impact would Olympic have?

Last season Snooker had an audience of 1,5 Billion people, and during the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible viewing figures got to 350 Million. That said, I think it would make a very positive impact in the Olympics because it would attract a new public. I'm not saying that who watches Snooker doesn't watch the Olympics but many people have Cue Sports as their favourite sport and if it's ever included to the Olympic Games their interest will grow.

What impact would Snooker have?

You can't argue against the fact that it would be fantastic for Snooker to get into the Olympics. 

It would attract the interest of many more sport fans and it would make many countries, principally the USA, invest a lot in the Sport. That said, gaining the Olympic status would accelerate Snooker's globalization process, improve the game's standards with more people playing, and enlarge Snooker's audience.

Would a Gold Medal mean more than a World Title?

This is the biggest doubt about this subject. While Ronnie O`Sullivan says it wouldn't, Judd Trump says it'd mean more to him. 

In my personal opinion it wouldn't be more important than a Triple Crown win, and not because the UK Championship, The Masters or the World Championship are bigger events than the Olympics, they're far from it. But Snooker in the Olympics would be like Football, Tennis, Boxing, and Basketball, these sports have an own government body that is huge and they have a well structured professional tour which offers a lot of money to their players. 

World Snooker gives the players more money to win a title than the Olympic Committee give someone who earned a Gold medal, and World Snooker tour is there every year, not once each four. 

It is true that in athleticism, swimming and a few other sports you earn a knowledge if you get a medal that at the end will mean a lot more money for you. 

But in Snooker's case, you earn that knowledge by winning the Triple Crown events that reach great audiences on TV, and you have a lot more money on offer in "secondary events" annually, and I'd say that historically the Triple Crown events would still mean more to Snooker as well.

Also the Olympics is an event that brings together many sports, I'm not sure if Snooker would get so much visibility, and for a Snooker fan there's nothing like the Crucible where all the - many - lights are- exclusively - on us.

Also, with World Snooker's tour being so busy we'd might even see some top stars missing the Olympics, as it's the case in Football and Tennis.

However, of course it'd be great to watch Snooker during the Olympics and I'm sure the players would be thrilled to represent their nation.

Is Snooker skilled enough to be there?

Absolutely yes. I think Snooker requires more ability than any Sport that is being played in the ongoing Olympics or the sports that will be included for Tokyo 2020. Personally, I've never played neither watched a Sport that I thought it's harder than Snooker.

Snooker might not require from it's players a lot physically - though recently it's been proved how important it is to be fit in Snooker -, but it's very strategical, you must choose right when to be defensive or attacking, it's like chess really, and you must practice very hard too, it's the most clinical sport you'll see and it's brutal psychologically.

Why Snooker isn't there yet?

When the Olympic Committee announced there was a few places available for "new" sports to take part in Tokyo 2020, Snooker gave it a go and in a way, because of how famous it is and the global advancement we've had in the past few years, people got surprised when Snooker was renegade.

A few things contributed for this decision by the Olympic Committe, firstly Women's Snooker has a very low quality compared to the Men's and by the time we didn't even had anything taking care of the Disability's game. But that "No" was a lesson, since then a lot has been made, the Women's tour was restructured and the "WDBS" was created to develop Snooker for people with disability and it's been a success so far.

It's fair to say as well that Snooker didn't bid alone, other formats of Cue Sports meant to get in it as well and none of them is as famous or as organized as Snooker.

I also wonder how much influence Ronnie O`Sullivan - the biggest draw in the game - made with his declarations that Snooker didn't fit in the Olympics.



Snooker has a little break as the Olympic Games are going on, but we'll be back soon for the prestigious Paul Hunter Classic, the professional stages will run from 26th to 28th August with recent World Open winner Ali Carter aiming to defend the title he won last year against the likes of Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham, to follow the Paul Hunter Classic and not miss anything going on the Snooker World, follow us on Facebook.