Olympic Programme Review 06/05/2011

It was a week ago when IDSF returned the questionnaire REVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME OF THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD IN 2020 to the Sports Department of the International Olympic Committee. By doing so, DanceSport submitted its newest bid for inclusion into the Olympic Sports Programme and applied for revalidation of its status as an IOC recognised International Sports Federation.

 31 other world governing bodies of recognised sports embarked on their quests towards the same goal jointly with IDSF. In the case of DanceSport, however, this could well bring the cynics to the floor once more. Within our own community we could soon listen to someone quote the Australian sportswriter one more time.

"I refuse to believe that anything performed in a dinner suit is an actual sport. Not until there is a ball in the room!" 

To duck the potshots and to focus the internal discussion, IDSF briefly outlines what information the IOC had solicited from the 32 candidates.

• Quantitative evolution since 2007: from the number of National Member Bodies recognised by their National Olympic Committees to the list of countries that won medals in World Championships; spectator attendance at the premier IDSF events; worldwide television coverage and sales
• Athletes: athletes’ commission; initiatives to monitor the athletes’ entourage (coaches, agents); athlete health programmes
• Youth: programmes aimed at young people from the age of five
• Digital media: website, facebook, twitter, YouTube
• Sport development
• Improvements to sport presentation

With a synopsis on everything required under these headings and a strict limit of 300 words imposed, IDSF was hard pressed to fit it all onto four pages. Many, many things have happened in DanceSport since 2007, and inventorying them all as part of this review process only confirms that IDSF continues to move in the right direction.