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TheOlympic Esports Series[a] was anOlympic Games-styleesports event featuring multiple differentvirtual sports and video games coming together in a single location similar to amulti-sport event, run by theInternational Olympic Committee.[2]
While esports and competitive video gaming have traditionallynot been considered a sport, theOlympic Movement began taking an interest as early as 2007, when esports was included at the2007 Asian Indoor Games. In 2017, an Olympic Summit was held focused on theInternational Olympic Committee and esports. After an online-only Olympic Virtual Series was held during theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the IOC eventually announced the creation of the Olympic Esports Series, as part of the Olympic Esports Week in November 2022. Theinaugural edition was held in Singapore in June 2023, with a second edition planned for 2024, which did not take place.[2]
The events at the Olympic Esports Series had a connection with traditionalOlympic sports, as the video game titles selected were chosen byinternational federations. It featured a mix of both physical sport taking place in a virtual world, such as inZwift, as well as sports-based video games such asGran Turismo. The lack of traditional esports titles at the Olympic Esports Series, and the inclusion of lesser-known games representing traditional Olympic sports, was subject of criticism.
Unlike at the regular Olympic Games,medals anddiplomas were not awarded at the Olympic Esports Series. The top three in each event were awarded gold, silver, and bronze-coloured trophies instead.[3]
Following its approval at the142nd IOC Session, the Olympic Esports Series is set to be replaced by theOlympic Esports Games, slated to be held every two years in-between theSummer andWinter Olympics starting in 2027, originally planned for 2025.[4][5][6] The 2027 games will take place in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia.[7]
Traditional esports titles such asCounter-Strike,Dota andLeague of Legends have been considered to be "too violent" for inclusion in an Olympic-style esports competition.[8] An Olympic Summit was held in October 2017 to consider the possible adoption of esports by the Olympic Movement,[9] with a further IOC Esports Forum held in July 2018.[10] However, the lack of a single international federation to govern esports, a requirement for a sport to be recognised as anOlympic sport, along with the issue of violence in games, meant the IOC would not consider adding esports to theOlympic Games.[11]
Other sporting events, such as theAsian Games held by theOlympic Council of Asia and theSoutheast Asian Games, recognise esports as a medal event. It was first added to a major Games at the2007 Asian Indoor Games, and became a full medal event of the Asian Games starting with the2022 Asian Games held in 2023.[12]
After theCOVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the2020 Summer Olympics to 2021, the inaugural IOC-backed esports event, known as the Olympic Virtual Series, was announced for 2021.[13] Sports included in that were baseball, cycling, motorsport,rowing, and sailing[14] – four of which would return as part of the Olympic Esports Series in 2023.
A second Olympic Virtual Series was planned for 2022,[15] but did not take place, instead being replaced by the Olympic Esports Series.
Source:[16]
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball home run derby eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 | Ryohei Osaka Japan | Yusuke Tominaga Japan | Hiroki Horiike Japan | |||
| Baseball tournament finals eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 | Syoma Mori Japan | Yoshinori Kato Japan | Yosuke Fujimoto Japan | |||
| Cycling ultimate chase race[b][17] Zwift | Alistair Brownlee Great Britain | Lucy Charles-Barclay Great Britain | John Kariuki Kenya | |||
| Motorsport Gran Turismo Sport | Valerio Gallo Italy | Mikail Hizal Germany | Baptiste Beauvois France | |||
| Rowing Open format |  Colombia | |||||
| Sailing inshore - nacra 17 Virtual Regatta | Arthur Farley Great Britain | Bart Lambriex Netherlands | Joan Cardona Spain | |||
| Sailing inshore - ILCA dinghy Virtual Regatta | Kaan Mazlumca Turkey | Filippo Lanfranchi Italy | Gaéten de Kat France | |||
| Sailing inshore - 49er Virtual Regatta | Lukas Mohr Denmark | Arthur Farley Great Britain | Tangi Le Golf France | |||
| Sailing offshore Virtual Regatta | Erik Danielsson Sweden | Christopher Powers United States | Luiz Carlos Bonetti Brazil | |||
| |
| Host city | Singapore |
|---|---|
| Motto | Play Beyond Possible |
| Organisers | International Olympic Committee,Singapore National Olympic Council |
| Edition | 1st |
| Athletes | 131[18] from 57 nations[c] |
| Events | 10[c] in 10sports, plus 6exhibition events across 5 video game titles |
| Opening | 22 June 2023 (2023-06-22) |
| Closing | 25 June 2023 (2023-06-25) |
| Opened by | President of SingaporeHalimah Yacob |
| Main venue | Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre |
| Website | olympics |
In November 2022, the IOC announced that the inaugural Olympic Esports Week, set to be held in Singapore in June 2023, would include the in-person live finals of the 2023 Olympic Esports Series.[20] The initial nine game titles and sports were announced on 1 March 2023,[21] with a tenth event inshooting (Fortnite) added on 5 May.[22]
The first Olympic Esports Series finals were held in person from 23 to 25 June 2023 in Singapore at theSuntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, as part of the inaugural Olympic Esports Week, which began a day earlier on 22 June with anopening ceremony.[23]
At the opening ceremony, both IOC presidentThomas Bach and thePresident of Singapore,Halimah Yacob, appeared remotely,[18] with Halimah – who was on astate visit to Qatar at the time of the event[24] – declaring the Olympic Esports Week open in her speech.[25]
Some 131 finalists[18] took part in the Olympic Esports Week, which consisted of ten events in tenOlympic sports, while trophies were also awarded in an 11th event which had been held completely online.[19] The sports involved werearchery, baseball,chess,cycling,dance,motorsport,sailing,shooting,taekwondo, and tennis. The game chosen for each sport was put forward by each international sports federation in conjunction with the game's publisher, except forFortnite in shooting whereEpic Games disclaimed any involvement.[22]
Eight Olympians competed in thetaekwondo event:Wu Jingyu fromChina, who ended up winning bronze;Rohullah Nikpai ofAfghanistan;Leonardo Basile (Italy);Aaron Cook (Great Britain andMoldova);Carmen Marton ofAustralia;Yasmina Aziez fromFrance;Hwang Kyung-seon ofSouth Korea; andNur Tatar ofTurkey.[26]
Additionally, thechess event featured ninegrandmasters and onefemale International Master:Aleksei Sarana,Maksim Chigaev,Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn,Aleksandr Rakhmanov,Oleksandr Bortnyk,Samvel Ter-Sahakyan,Bassem Amin,Tin Jingyao,Kevin Goh, andIrene Kharisma Sukandar.[27] This was the first IOC-sanctioned event at which Russian athletes – Chigaev and Rakhmanov – took part as "individual neutral athletes" (or AIN, from the French "athlètes individuels neutres"), as well as competing alongside a Ukrainian – Bortnyk,[28] following the 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent suspension of theRussian Olympic Committee from the IOC.
The event reportedly drew 20,000 spectators to the Suntec Convention Centre over the four days.[2]
Source:[29]
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery Tic Tac Bow | Jared Montgomery United States | David Chan United States | Kyosuke Takebayashi Japan |
| Baseball[30] WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros | Shoma Mori Japan | Hiroki Horiike Japan | Wang Chia-Ming Chinese Taipei |
| Chess[31] Chess.com | Aleksey Sarana Serbia | Maksim Chigaev Individual Neutral Athletes | Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn Vietnam |
| Cycling Zwift | Team Fuego Martin Maertens (GER) James Barnes (RSA) Lou Bates (GBR) Marlene Bjärehed (SWE) | Team Epic Ben Hill (AUS) Michał Kamiński (POL) Jacquie Godbe (USA) Charlotte Colclough (GBR) | Team Lava Teppo Laurio (FIN) Lionel Vujasin (BEL) Alice Lethbridge (GBR) Kong Lam (HKG) |
| Dance[32] Just Dance | Amandine Morisset France | Joseph Cordero United States | Antonino Pomilia Italy |
| Motorsport[33] Gran Turismo 7 | Kylian Drumont France | William Murdoch Great Britain | Angel Inostroza Chile |
| Sailing inshore[19] Virtual Regatta | Tim Carpentier France | Cavan Fyans Great Britain | Francisco Melo Portugal |
| Sailing offshore[d][19] Virtual Regatta | Baptiste Renaut France | Xavier Coquard France | Aurélie Martin France |
| Shooting[31][34] Fortnite[e] | Lucas Malissa Australia | Alexander Feyzjou United States | Andrej Piratov Latvia |
| Taekwondo[36] Virtual Taekwondo | Nigel Tan Singapore | Natalie Tor Singapore | Wu Jingyu China |
| Tennis[31] Tennis Clash | Anass Benghazi France | He Shenghao China | William Foster Great Britain |
As well as the ten events forming the Olympic Esports Series, the Olympic Esports Week in 2023 also includedexhibition events in more traditional esports titles such asRocket League,Street Fighter 6, andNBA 2K23,[37] as well as the sports-focusedArena Games Triathlon in aduathlon format as well asVirtual Table Tennis.
TheRocket League category featured two events: a men's show match betweenKarmine Corp andGen.G and won by Karmine Corp, and a women's show match betweenG2 Luna and Williams Resolve, won by Resolve.Street Fighter 6 was held as a four-playerdouble-elimination tournament, and eventually won by Thailand's Thum Homchuen.[38] That tournament also featuredHajime Taniguchi, aka Tokido, considered a legend in the Street Fighter esports scene.[39]NBA 2K23 was held as a singleround-robin event with no official winner, and was contested by the national eFIBA teams of Philippines, Brazil, and Türkiye.[39]
The primary criticism when the Olympic Esports Series was announced was the IOC's choice of game titles,[40][41] with onlyGran Turismo andJust Dance having significant global recognition andPower Pros within Japan. The list of nine initial titles was described byPolygon as "odd", although the IOC's explanation was that the games chosen aligned with the Olympic Values and were proposed by international sports governing bodies.[42]
Many involved with the esports industry were unhappy with the game list, withThe Guardian quoting a digital agency representative as saying: "Last week’s announcement left us feeling disappointed and, honestly, a little embarrassed. Instead of working with existing game publishers or well-established tournaments, it seems that the Olympic committee has instead decided to use this event as a marketing vehicle for brand-new, poorly thought out, unlicensed mobile games."[43] Gaming and esports websiteDexerto reported on the online reaction, which saw esports fans responding negatively to the IOC's announcement on Twitter, describing the list of games as an "out-of-touch lineup".[44] Some of the criticism, from Western fans, was also directed at the fact that many of the games selected were mobile titles.[40]
However, there was some acceptance from the esports community over the IOC's reasoning for its game selection, including fromGlobal Esports Federation vice-president Chester King, the chief executive ofBritish Esports, who called it "a very sensible first approach" because "we've got to make sure all the stakeholders in the IOC accept it and like it".[41] Additional criticism came afterFortnite was added to the game list for 2023, as the normal battle royale mode – featuring shooting at other characters – was removed in favour of a specially created format in which players would shoot targets instead.[45] In a video segment,IGN called it "the dumbest Olympic esport".[46] After the conclusion of the first event, the lack of participation from African players was criticised, with an opinion piece in Kenya'sDaily Nation questioning the decision of the IOC to use online qualifiers for the Olympic Esports Series, due to connectivity and stability issues in Africa which make staying connected to servers a "logistical challenge".[47]
In June 2024, the IOC Executive Board announced that it would create anOlympic Esports Games, with the142nd IOC Session held during the 2024 Summer Olympics due to vote on the proposal.[48] In July 2024, it was announced that the inaugural Olympic Esports Games would be held inRiyadh,Saudi Arabia, following a new partnership with theSaudi Arabian Olympic Committee.[49][50] The proposal was ultimately approved by a unanimous vote on 23 July 2024.[51]
The IOC is also pleased by the success of the inaugural Olympic Esports Week that took place in Singapore, where the IOC recommendations were strictly applied, which enabled players from Ukraine and players with a Russian passport to compete peacefully together.
Were the IOC and the respective International Federations aware of the logistical challenges of servers when they put out a blanket online qualifiers as the criteria of selecting the top gamers?
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