Alexander Gorbachenko on cybersports at the Olympics: This At a meeting in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the creation of the Olympic cybersports games. The tournament is planned to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025. The idea of creating a cybersport Games was discussed at the IOC back in June 2024. Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, said, “With the creation of the Olympic cyber sports games, we are keeping pace with the digital revolution.” Already now the IOC is actively working on the development of the qualification process and other important details of the upcoming tournament.
Alexander Gorbachenko, Director of the Intercontinental Cybersports League, commented on the above news in an exclusive conversation with a journalist from the RuNews24.ru news agency.
“Holding events that include many types of program and disciplines is a great opportunity for products from Russia that have a large international audience. One such product is the game “IL-2 Sturmovik” from 1S Games Studios. It is played in 185 countries around the world and has pilots, competitors and athletes who can demonstrate a high level of skill. If the Russian Olympic Committee looks at this event, it may be a starting point for a new dialog to establish relations between the ROC and the IOC,” the expert said.
Alexander Gorbachenko is sure that the International Olympic Committee may not need computer sport as such, but the Olympic format of competitions with national teams and a large number of program types is something that can be done on its own. However, neither the International Computer Sports Federation nor the Global Esports Federation has been able to achieve this. The IOC has managed to do it.
“I now have to recognize that supporting such events is necessary for the development of cybersports worldwide. Given that the IOC has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia, which is the owner of the largest international tournament operator ESL, we can expect such events to be very popular.
However, there is one “but.” If we focus solely on digital versions of real sports disciplines, it may be difficult to reach an audience. But if we include traditional games such as Dota, Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Warface, Valorant in the Olympics, the interest in the competition will be guaranteed.
In addition, the qualifying competitions in the participating countries, which will precede the finals of the cybersport Olympics, will help to maximize interest in the finals around the world,” notes the interlocutor of the publication.
Alexander Fedorovich concluded that he would very much like Russian athletes to participate in all this.
“I hope that professional clubs will also be able to participate, because the experience of the “Games of the Future” shows the highest level of digital game of those who participated in them”, - he said.
Let's add that, the edition of L'Equipe reports that the IOC is negotiating the inclusion of such games as League of Legends, Street Fighter and Rocket League in the program of the cybersport Olympics. And FIFA announced its plans to hold an official cybersport tournament in soccer in Rocket League before the end of 2024.