OlympicWushu
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[edit] Wushu in the Olympics?
[edit] Update: September 2005
There has been much discussion as to whether or not wushu will be an Olympic sport. Many coaches, sifus, school owners and other promoters of the sport enjoy claiming that wushu will be included in the 2008 Olympics, but a fair amount of that is simply wishful thinking. The honest answer (as of September 2005) is no one knows yet.
[edit] Update: November 2005
At the 114th IOC session in November of 2002 Wushu was initially rejected as a new sport, but the IOC was decided honor the request of the IWuF for further consideration.
[edit] Update: October 2005
BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhuanet)-- At the Sixth Art Exhibition of Sports in China on October 13th Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC said: "There will be a wushu competition during the Olympic Games. It's not going to be one of the official 28 sports but we will organize with BOCOG (the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad) a wushu competition."
Rogge did not say if this would be a proper demonstration sport. He did say that the medals will not count toward the total medal count (like the demonstration sports used to). But we do not know if wushu would even receive real Olympic medals (like the demonstration sports used to). One source called the inclusion a "representation sport" but this is a yet undefined label.
[edit] Update: October 2005
SHANGHAI, Oct. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said here on Sunday that the martial art of wushu will not become an Olympic sport or an exhibition sport in the 2008 Beijing Games. "We are not introducing Wushu into the Olympic program. It will not be an exhibition. Not at all," said Rogge, who is on a visit of the Formula One race of the Chinese Grand Prix, his first time to watch a F1 race.
But to comfort the Chinese organizers, who have been trying hard in the past decade to persuade the IOC to accept wushu as an official Olympic event, Rogge said that there will be an international wushu competition organized by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG).
At the same time, Rogge, who came to China early this week to attend the opening ceremony of the 10th Chinese National Games held in Nanjing about 300 kilometers away from here, pointed out that wushu will neither be an exhibition event nor an Olympic sport.
"There will be no demonstration or exhibition sport in the 2008 Olympic Games," he told Xinhua.
When asked if there is any possibility for wushu to become a medal event in future Olympic Games beyond 2012, Rogge said: "No one can predict the future. I am not going to make long-term prediction on the future. But today I can tell you that we have made decision about the 2012 Games. But after 2012, we have not made decision."
The IOC has capped the number of official events at 28.
[edit] Update: December 2005
So far every attempt made by the IWuF to get wushu added as a medal sport to the Olympics has been shut down by the IOC. Now the current plan devised by the IWuF is to hold an international tournament during the Olympics in Beijing 2008.
IWuF President Yu Zaiqing said (8th IWUF Congress Minutes):
"The IOC will allow us to organize an international wushu event during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but this event is not one of the 28 official Olympic sports, it is not a demonstration event, either. It will be the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Wushu Tournament. I am confident in having the opportunity to stage an excellent wushu performance in 2008. We would keep in touch with the IOC and continue to do our utmost for the bright future of wushu movement."
Many people claim that wushu will be a demonstration sport; however the format of adding new sports form hosting countries has changed. See DemonstrationSport for details.
