International Olympic Committee announces e-sports event

The International Olympic Committee has launched a global virtual sports competition. The finals of games such as chess, baseball and cycling will take place in Singapore from June 22 to 25. Gran Turismo and bicycle sim maker Zwift, among others, are participating in this edition.

The International Olympic Committee issued the announcing the e-sports event. The finals of the event will be held in Singapore from June 22-25. A live stream of this can be followed around that time via the website of the IOC and social media. Both amateurs and professional players can participate, according to the Committee.

A similar event will take place in Tokyo in 2021. More than 250,000 participants from more than 100 countries participated. According to the IOC, this edition is ‘a good step towards a broader development of e-sports within the Olympic movement’.

The event consists of nine sports, each with its own individual competitions: archery (Tic Tac Bow), baseball (WBSC e-baseball: Power Pros), chess (Chess.com), cycling (UCI, Zwift), dancing (JustDance), motorsport (Gran Turismo), sailing (Virtual Regatta), taekwondo (Virtual Taekwondo) and tennis (Tennis Clash).

The IOC will announce more in April about how people can participate and what prizes can be won.

Source: IOC