‘Esports in the Olympics’. It’s a phrase we still can’t get used to reading or typing, but here we are in 2017 and the powers that be are discussing it.
While esports will be part of the Asian Games 2022, it’s not been confirmed whether it will take place at the Olympics in the future or not.
The prospect of esports being included in the Olympics have taken a knock recently, with the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, saying: “We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people.
“This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing. And there we have to draw a clear line,” he told the South China Morning Post.
Now, Misfits’s British League of Legends manager, Joe “InnerFlame” Elouassi, has told he told GamesIndustry.biz his thoughts on the matter.
“I would personally love to run a project like that, and I know many others who would. I know many players who’d love to represent the UK as well.”
InnerFlame, Misfits
“I would love to represent the UK, and the Olympics is a big deal to anyone on this planet, so of course I’m disappointed [with the IOC’s comments],” he said.
“In time, it could be a possibility. There’s a lot more from a government perspective [that could be done], not only in the UK but everywhere. If you represent the UK in the Olympics, you get a budget from the government. We – Team GB, I guess – would welcome that.
“I would personally love to run a project like that, and I know many others who would. I know many players who’d love to represent the UK as well.”
A few days ago, the British mid-laner for Schalke’s League of Legends team, Marc “Caedrel” Lamont, told Esports News UK in a soon-to-be-published interview he’d be interested in playing in a potential Team GB.
The door is open it seems – let’s see where further developments take this interesting idea.
Last year, the League of Legends community reacted to the idea of a Team GB in League of Legends. Reaction was mixed.
But since then, we have top-laner Alphari and jungler Maxlore who are now playing at Worlds, and mid-laner Caedrel in the LCS.
Now we just need to find a world-class UK bot-lane…
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
