Will Cheerleading Become an Official Olympic Sport?
There is an ever increasing hue and cry for cheerleading to be included as an Olympic sport. But what are some of the attributes which might make cheerleading appealing to the Olympic committee and what are some of the pitfalls.
Cheerleaders are fine athletes to begin with. The amount of time spent training and the conditioning required surely fits the Olympic ideal for athletes. The injuries that cheerleaders often sustain mirrors the same as that of many other events already included as Olympic sports. A high level of cheering skill is exhibited through out the known cheerleading universe. If curling can be an Olympic sport why not include cheerleading?
Problems with Cheerleading Becoming an Olympic Sport
One of the problems for cheerleading as an Olympic sport is that the judging of the competitions will no doubt be somewhat subjective. Judged events can often lend to controversy. We have already seen in other judged Olympic sports such as figure skating and ice dancing just how biased judges can be.
Another problem is that while cheerleading is a huge sport in the United States and Canada, it is still developing throughout the remainder of the world. It seems that many more countries would have to support cheerleading for there to be any significant international competition. However, it's fun to imagine the array of cheerleading uniforms and cheerleading chants from countries across the world if cheerleading did become an Olympic sport!
One Reason why Cheerleading Should Not be Included as an Olympic Sport
According to Kim Gage of Marietta, Georgia, the reason that cheerleading should not be included as an Olympic sport is that it would be contrary to the very reason the cheering exists - to support another team. Gage points out that support is the reason for being for a cheer squad and not competition. It seems that the world is not quite ready to include cheerleading as an Olympic sport at this time, but hold on because it is coming.
