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04/04/2019
Olympics 2024 Bid News

SQUASH CONTEMPLATES OLYMPIC LEGAL ACTION

The World Squash Federation (WSF) and the Professional Squash Association (PSA) appear to be considering a claim for compensation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), following the sport’s latest and strangest Olympic setback.

Squash’s bid for a place in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris was halted within a few days of its launch when the IOC stunned the sporting world by recommending breakdancing alongside three other ‘new’ sports for the Paris programme. The WSF and PSA feel they were misled by the IOC’s original bid criteria, which caused squash to spend signifi cant sums of money on a marketing campaign, a video production and transporting a glass court to Buenos Aires.

Their statement says: “The World Squash Federation (WSF) and the Professional Squash Association (PSA) have jointly written to IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell to express our concerns and seek further clarifi cation regarding the selection process for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ahead of the IOC’s Executive Board Meeting.

“Squash has been overlooked for inclusion on the Paris 2024 Olympic Programme, with the Organising Committee instead electing to propose that breakdancing, climbing, skateboarding and surfi ng should be added to the programme.

“Major concerns include but are not limited to:
• The criteria for nominees that were stipulated at the beginning of the bidding process were very different when announced at the time of the outcome conference, but not communicated to bidding sports.

• Sports already confi rmed by the IOC for Tokyo 2020 were preferred to new sports, leaving virtually no opportunity for other sports to make their case.

• We trust the IOC will recognise our concerns and invite squash’s representatives to a meeting in the near future to discuss squash’s Olympic future.” This is the fourth time squash has suffered Olympic rejection in a surprising manner.

• See the editorial comment in Squash Player magazine, the WSF’s view on page eight of the digital edition and Rod Gilmour’s analysis on page 10.