- There isn’t enough of an international presence. Even though the sport is in many countries and strengthening all over the world, a substantial amount of nations could not field an Olympic level team of athletes any time soon. The sport is too young. At this point, only the US could put forth a team anywhere near Olympic level. Once the World Cup becomes highly competitive, then you know the sport is probably Olympic ready.
- Because the sport is so young, rules, strategies, and even the type of surfaces skated on and equipment used are changing and evolving rapidly. It’s awesome, but it makes it hard to predict exactly what a sport will look like 4, 8, 12 years in the future. Since the Olympics are planned ridiculously far in advance, they would choose a more stable sport over derby. Once the sport settles down and rule changes and adaptations become minor adjustments and not alterations that cause vast differences in gameplay, then I think it’s ready.
- There are currently no roller sports in the Olympics. People have been pushing to get them included for a while, and I think it will happen soon. When it does, it will make it much easier for derby to get in later on. But do you seriously believe that the Olympic committee would choose roller derby over roller hockey or speed skating? Both which have counterparts in the Winter Olympics already?
- Roller derby is still a greatly misunderstood sport. Now, a lot of other Olympic sports are as well, so this isn’t an ultimate deal breaker, but it definitely doesn’t make it any easier. Many, many people within the sports world don’t understand or even know about roller derby. The sport has to make itself a bit more understood for anyone to truly think it belongs in the Olympics.
- We skate under silly fake names and wear fishnets and tutus. Some of these names are not just funny but are either offensive or will never be considered appropriate enough to show on primetime, and not nearly appropriate enough for a country to want a skater named after reproductive organs representing them overseas. While I think clean names are a lot of fun and go hand in hand with the sport, there is a good chance that they have to either go completely or follow very strict regulations before the sport is Olympic ready. The absolutely ridiculous outfits will have to go too. I think it’s rad to play with colors and patterns, that’s a part of derby and a part of individuality, but there really isn’t enough practical reason to wear fishnets and tutus for it to look like we take ourselves seriously on a highly athletic level.
- Some leagues are working against the leagues pushing to be accepted as a sport as athletic or more than others. When adult only games and versions of roller derby that truly are more spectacle than sport are presented along side the more family-friendly athletic versions, then it becomes very hard for the sport to push forward on one direction or the other, and paints a very strange picture for the outside world. This is probably because a lot of derby skaters do like the more risque and showy side of the sport, which is fine. The sport needs to pick a direction overall, though. The other side can still exist, I just really don’t think the two extremes can coexist at the Olympic level.
- Olympic athletes train their entire lives in the sport they compete in. Michael Phelps started swimming at age 7. That’s about the norm, with some variations depending on the particular sport. I’m not saying that the top derby skaters aren’t incredibly good at what they do, but they’ve got an absolute maximum of 10 years or so under their belt, and all of them started when they were well into adulthood.
Now, this is not to say I don’t think roller derby will ever be in the Olympics, or that I don’t consider it to be much more grueling and athletic of a sport than at least a small handful of the Olympic games, I just don’t think it’s ready yet, and it’s a bit delusional to think we’ll see Suzy Hotrod at the 2020 games. If we all keep moving in the right direction, though, we could definitely see it there one day.
I don’t mean for this to start a riot, but I’d definitely like to hear your opinions, no matter which side of the debate they come from.
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