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.
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