Bowling towards the Olympics
World Bowls files paperwork for Olympics bid The sport of bowls has jumped over the first hurdle in its quest to become an Olympic sport, as Inside The Games reports.
World Bowls has submitted its recognition request file to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sports department.
Acceptance by the IOC would pave the way for potential inclusion at the Olympic Games in future.
Lawn bowls is already an established event at the Commonwealth Games, but the sport’s efforts for IOC recognition were previously hindered by a requirement for 75 affiliated countries.
This has recently been lowered to just 50 nations, however, to give World Bowls the option of applying.
“Preparation of the IOC recognition request file has been a mammoth task requiring completion of a detailed questionnaire consisting of over 40 pages accompanied by around 120 supporting documents, which also includes a very positive letter of support for our application for IOC recognition from the Commonwealth Games Federation,” said Gary Smith, chief executive of World Bowls.
“Our recognition request file will now be studied and processed by the IOC sports department before passing to the IOC Executive Board for consideration at their December 2016 meeting.
“Obtaining IOC recognition is a necessary initial step in order to be able to progress an application for our sport to be included in future Olympic Games.”
Bowls has been a Commonwealth Games sport since the inaugural edition of the event’s precursor, the 1930 British Empire Games.
It is a core sport and must be included in the sporting programme of each edition of the Games.
It was not included in the programme of the 1966 Games in Jamaica’s capital Kingston due to no sufficient bowling greens being available.
At the 2014 Games in Glasgow, the men’s and women’s fours events returned to the programme for the first time since the 2002 Games in Manchester, while two new Para-sport events – mixed pairs and open triples – made their debut.
In October of last year, the sport of boules launched a campaign to get onto the Olympic programme in 2024.
The French game is governed by the Confédération Mondiale Sport Boules (CMSB).
