So I just heard that ”breaking” (breakdancing) will be an event in the 2024 Paris summer Olympic Games and that got me thinking—yoyo should be in the Olympics. It just seems perfectly suited for the Olympics and the kind of sport they need right now. Getting yoyo in the Olympics would be great for the sport.
Okay so we all agree yoyo should be in the Olympics, so how can we make it an event for LA 2028? This seems daunting but not impossible. There are some big reasons why the IOC should want Yoyo in the Olympics and the hurdles to making that happen can be overcome.
Here’s a list of things that will help Yoyo get into the Olympics.
-fairly international competition scene
-potential for performances to go viral (this is what they need because viewership is so horrendous)
-5 divisions that are all exciting to watch
-idk if this is true but I imagine yoyo could bring a younger demographic
Here are some hurdles we have to overcome
-boys club unfortunately
-coverage for the world Yoyo contest is terrible like the videos look like a middle school talent show. (I want Birds Eye views and slowmo and just better footage)
-No live play by play commentary or anything like that
-yoyo is a toy (even though it’s also so much more) so maybe not serious enough but idk they have been wild in the past and the ioc is desperate for more viewers
I am fairly new to this like I’ve never been to a contest and definitely don’t know the politics of the competitive scene so I’m probably being naive, but it does seem like everyone who makes money from yoyo related stuff should support an initiative to get yoyo in the Olympics. We gotta get redbull to sponsor the world Yoyo contest and get that on espn 2.
Let me know what y’all think. Am I being a dingus and overlooking something important? Can y’all think of any other hurdles yoyo needs to overcome to get into the Olympics or any thing else it already has going for it?
Idk if anyone here listens to the Go My Favorite Sports Team podcast but I was thinking of shooting my shot on their discord and trying to promote if yoyoing was a sport on there as a short segment because I think it absolutely qualifies as a sport in the same way that figure skating does
Recently Olympics added esports to their roster for 2023 and even skateboarding was added from previous tokyo olympic event, does that mean yoyoing possibly added in the future? Whos knows but thats just my guess.
I agree with you, if we put yoyo in term of art/performing art and display at MOMA or any art gallery/museum, it will totally make more sense than yoyo in Olympic.
As much as I would love to see competitions on larger stages with Red Bull and Mt Dew sponsors.
I doubt it will ever be Olympic level without changing drastically. Even though I only play 1A, I hardly watch most 1A videos. I find them too similar. Most of the time I just feel “Oh, look he is tying knots but not tying knots, just like the 4 guys before him”
I couldn’t imagine someone who knows nothing about yo-yoing would be thinking watching performances as they are now.
First one is obvious. How many Countries would send teams to compete? United States… Mexico…. China…. South Korea…. Canada…. A few European Countries and Japan and a few others. Not enough participation to draw a BIG CROWD.
…Remember, the Olympics has become a Big money making Commercial making Spectacle. The Event folks would have a pretty hard time selling Commercial time to The Companies looking for large viewership numbers. Sad, but true.
The majority of people that view the Olympic events certainly aren’t qualified Judges. But they do possess various degrees of knowledge about what people are ‘doing’ during their performances. Gymnastics, boxing, track and field, etc. etc. etc. Those same people(the majority of people that might watch a yo-yo competition besides actual yo-yo people) will have NO IDEA what they are looking at or how to compare freestyles from one to another. The non yo-yo public would watch somebody like Mickey doing blurry fast tricks for a few minutes on one throw and won’t have the slightest idea what they saw🤔.
Probably the biggest obstacle to overcome is the I.O.C (International Olympic Committee). Getting them to do anything ‘fresh’? You would have better luck pulling a nail out of a board by staring at it. Just the reality of having to deal with them at any level, should be the best reality check.
Face the fact that no matter how big yo-yoing ever gets, it will still be only be as popular as one song at a 3 hour Concert. An absolute number of less than one hundredth of one percent of the entire population of the planet Earth, will ever even hold a yo-yo in their hand if they live 100 years.
Anything I’ve said above should have no negative effect on your yo-yo playing enthusiasm. We are all here because we love yo-yos or Kendama a or Diabolos or juggling, or begleri Astro-jax or whatever skill toys make us smile. It’s fun to yo and to share and to collect and to compete and to watch and to make friends in the process and spread the Love……
And, there is certainly nothing wrong with wishing or dreaming about Yo-yo Olympics. But the bottom line is the same as dreaming you robbed a bank and got away with a giant bag of Ca$h… but when you wake up smiling in the morning, you realize that the only thing you have your arms wrapped around is your pillow. But life goes on and we will still have fun throwing.
Dancing of any kind is way more popular than yoyo. So is Curling. And I’m cool with keeping the incredibly corrupt I.O.C. away from yoyo altogether. I wish yoyo was more broadly popular, but it just isn’t.
Yup yup yup y’all all right! Everyone made good points! We’re having a good time and a good discussion. I do think the TikTok Yoyo viral videos show that there is a demand to see yoyo play.
I also definitely think of competitive yo-yoing as a sport like if f1 racing is a sport then I don’t know how yoyo competitions would not be considered sport. Players have to bend their routines to the scoring system to win like that’s a sport thing.
I would also say that I don’t really think Yoyo would ever be an Olympic sport (maybe like .003% chance). I just thought this idea could start a good discussion and, as someone fairly new to the Yoyo community, was curious what everyone with more knowledge and experience than me thought…so thanks for letting me know!
We need to think Globally not Locally (Bio-Dome Quote).
Yoyo in the Olympics as we know it… Maybe not?
But… What would a Yoyo Decathlon look like?
What events?
Longest Sleep time- Fixed Axel and/or Bearing- Olypmics like timed events.
5 Defined tricks in the shortest time?
Looping and knocking targets down?
Iron Man Eli Hops - Last man standing?
Longest distance 4A throw?
Thats only 5 events so far; What other Olympic yoyo events could there be?
Was just thinking. Comentary could define the tricks, give example of each trick prior to the event so the World would understand what they are looking for.
Media could get their “Slow Motion” shots.
Olympic Comitee gets to time something.
It could be interesting to see the competitors take on the list. What order they do them. Transitions…
During Fixed Axel February it was cool to see how enterants combined the 4 weekly tricks into one display.
So “How” could Yoyo be in the Olympics? Might be a better question?
I know I’m not the one to decide, but I have thought of this.
Myself I enjoy watching the exhibition videos that come out during the Worlds. I see Yo-Yoing in the Olympics with a lot more choreography. So much it will border on dance, and I doubt there will be that many people at home playing with their new mail-day yo-yo to tracks from Swain Lake in the back ground.
There is no physical endurance, strength, grace or coordination that pits player against player. Instead, yo-yo is an exhibition of skill where the competitor never moves more than twenty feet and triumph is measured in clicks. The only reason a competitor would break a sweat is because of the stage lights.
That said; not all Olympic “sports” are sports. Is Golf a sport? Equestrian? Regatta? Archery?
Many Olympic “sports” are just hold-overs from the beginning of the modern Olympic movement which really was just a bunch of rich European aristocrats getting together to play games at the turn of the century. Views on sport and competition were much different then.
I am sure many early Olympians would cringe at the sight of half-pipe skateboarding, or women’s ice-hockey.
