We as bowlers would like to see bowling in the Olympics. Will this ever happen is a different story. There are so many sports already involved in the Olympics. We are also talking about baseball and softball which was removed from the Olympic Games after 2008. Those are two sports with a stronger backing and played world wide. I am not saying bowling is not played world wide, but in my opinion bowling is not as well known as baseball or softball. The thing I enjoy most about the Games is the talent, ability, and will power in those athletes. It is amazing to see the best in the world compete to see who is the best at their event. Now one thing that throws me off a bit would be equestrian. In my opinion, we are watching and judging who the best horse is. Yes a human being is riding the horse, but the horse is the one being judged on jumping, dressage, and eventing. Dressage, we are talking about how well a horse can trot and dance. Not to bash any event and I am sure a lot of training is involved but shouldn’t we be trying to get the best human dancer? I guess in my mind, I see the Olympics as the best human athletes, not horses. Personally I think any sport or event where the human is the one being judged should be an Olympic sport. I want to see the best human bowler in the world!

Now what will it take to get bowling into the Olympics? I am sure in some minds they are thinking well bowling needs to be a sport first. That is where I chuckle a bit and respond, if it is so easy then head to the Pro Tour and give it your best shot! To get into the Olympics, it starts with the IOC (International Olympic Committee). They decide on what sport is in or out. They do not even decide on the sport based on the amount of countries involved but more on the general interest of the sport. Bowling does have a lot of interest but compared to say, baseball which I think has a higher interest than bowling, and baseball was taken out after 2008. What are the chances that bowling gets in? Did you know that bowling is played by roughly 70 million people every year! So to think bowling doesn’t have enough interest is funny to me. Whether I am going bowling with a couple friends for the fun of it or bowling in a league/tournament I still believe that bowling has enough general interest to make a run for the Olympics. Unfortunately I do not get to decide on that! The IOC includes sports in its program that they believe are widely practiced around the world and will draw a lot of viewers.

To sum this up, we have the interest in the sport of bowling but to get viewers to actually watch is the hard part. I believe that the USBC is on the right track with getting bowling out into the public with BowlTV, which streams live bowling events around the world. For example, Junior Gold, PABCON, and other events that get streamed are helping the sport of bowling grow. Get bowling into the eyes of the public and maybe in the future we might see bowling in the Olympics!

Congratulations to all the Medal Winners at the 2012 PABCON!