The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is taking its next steps in esports competitions, adding chess and Just dance to the mixture.
In June, the IOC hosts the Olympic Esports Week, which expands the Olympic Virtual Series it hosted in 2021 with some new events. Like the Olympic Virtual Series, Olympic Esports Week will focus on virtual representations of physical activities. While that means you won’t see any Overlook 2 gold medalists, the IOC is adding some entries to the lineup that adhere less to the traditional concept of “sport.”
New to Olympic Esports Week are archery, tennis, taekwondo, Just dance (Ubisoft’s popular dance franchise), and chess, which will take place alongside recurring motorsport competitions (via Gran Turismo), cycling, baseball and sailing. Chess feels particularly remarkable to me given how huge it’s gotten on Twitch, and I think it could have huge appeal for watching the fight for the first Olympic esports chess champion.
Olympic Esports Week technically kicks off today, March 1st, with first qualifiers. The competitions will conclude with an in-person event that will take place in Singapore from June 22-25.
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