by Ted Wallbutton
WSF Chief Executive & Secretary General, December 2001.

Every Squash player in the world must be frustrated and concerned that their favourite sport is not on the programme of the Olympic Games. People from other sports usually assume that Squash is included, until they are told not and then ask ‘Why ever not’?

I just hate going into the chat rooms of Squash websites. There is always someone there who will write “Squash not in the Olympics? It’s crazy. Ballroom dancing is there and not Squash. Why don’t THEY do something about it? It must be easy”. My heart sinks. How do you answer that in a few words? Well, this is a short summary of the countless hours that have gone into the Olympic Bid and I hope it will serve to reassure you all that the WSF is very active and committed in its Olympic pursuit.

But let’s handle a simple one first, and one that gives me severe heartburn, Ballroom Dancing is not in the Olympics. It was made an IOC Recognised sport in 1999 and issued some less than straightforward press releases. Squash has been IOC Recognised since 1986; so dancing has some way to trot despite their spin.

THE OLYMPIC BID
The World Squash Federation has been campaigning for Squash to be on the Olympic programme ever since the sport was granted ‘Recognised’ status by the International Olympic Committee in 1986. The process is long and difficult and, until now, has been made even more so by the fact that there are no hard and fast rules to state what you have to do, or achieve, to gain that elusive place. The only persons generally recognised by the IOC in this process are the President and Secretary General of the International Federation for the sport but, in addition to huge amount of work done by President Susie Simcock, the WSF has also benefited from the appointment of Mike Corby as Director of Olympic Affairs when he was first elected as Vice-President of the WSF in 1996. Mike is a former Olympian, having played Hockey for Great Britain in two Games, and is also a former highly ranked Squash player who represented his country countless times. It is on them, and me, that the great burden of work falls.

At this time there are at least ten sports, with a good claim to a place in the Games, lobbying hard for inclusion and another ten sports with lesser claims that are also very active. Some sports first applied for a place in 1945 and have still not made the programme, so, as the WSF was not founded until 1967, we have made good progress to be one of the front running contenders.

Although there are no hard and fast rules, the advice given by the IOC to Recognised sports is to ensure that they are represented on the Regional Multi-Sport Games and then lobby hard with the Host City for each Olympics.

Squash has done exceedingly well in the first category. The sport is currently played in the Asian Games, All Africa Games, PanAmerica Games, Commonwealth Games, South East Asia Games, West Asian Games, South Asia Games, Central American Games, Bolivarian Games, ODESUR Games, Oceania Games, Caribbean Games, World Games, Maccabiah Games and World University Championships. This success has not come easily and has been the result of incredibly hard work and much expense by the WSF and its five Regional Federations.

The lobby process on Host Cities started with Barcelona in 1992 and continued for Atlanta, Sydney and Athens. The best chance was in Sydney and Squash actually gained a letter of support from the Sydney Organising Committee but, in the final analysis, only two new sports were added to the programme - Taekwondo and Triathlon. The selection process of these two sports is a long story and one that may be found elsewhere.

ATHENS 2004 - THE BIG HOPE
Gaining a place on the 2004 programme in Athens was always going to be a difficult task as Squash is not widely played in Greece and the Squash Federation is part of the Greek Tennis Federation. Also, nine sports were trying extremely hard to gain entry and all of them presented to the Athens Organising Committee and to the IOC and spent a great deal of time and money on the campaigns. The President and Management Committee of the WSF met with President Samaranch at IOC Headquarters in March 1999 at Chateau Vidy and carried out a full presentation of the case for inclusion. Many meetings were held with the Athens Organising Committee over a two-year period before and after the IOC meeting. President Samaranch reported to the ASOIF/GAISF meeting in April 2000 that there were significant problems being experienced by the Organising Committee in constructing sports sites and meeting the deadlines and this led to an eventual decision that no new sports would be included in the Athens Games. The IOC decided that Triathlon and Taekwondo would be retained - but rejected any additions. Spare some sympathy for Water-Skiing. They managed to gain the support of the Athens Organising Committee, who recommended it to the IOC, and then had the dreadful news of no additions to the programme. Squash was greatly disappointed; but Water-Skiing were absolutely shattered. Several sports, such as Ten Pin Bowling, expended huge sums on the Athens campaign, their budgets would keep the WSF afloat for many a year. Insider opinion is that Squash and Karate were the second and third sports on the Athens list but, when the first choice fails, second is not a good place to be.

WHY NO NEW SPORTS
One of the major factors in the rejection of new sports is the pressure put on athlete numbers by sports that are already on the Olympic programme adding new disciplines. Atlanta saw mountain biking, beach volleyball, kayak & slalom canoeing, rhythmic & artistic gymnastics and other events included and the Sydney programme added trampoline and synchronised diving plus women's events in water polo, weightlifting, pentathlon and trap & skeet shooting. Even in Athens there will be new disciplines, such as Women’s Wrestling. In this way the athlete numbers grow to an unmanageable level and squeeze out new additions.

NOW FOR BEIJING 2008
In 2000 the WSF President Susie Simcock was elected as the first woman member of the Council of the General Association of International Sports Federations, further adding to Squash’s growing reputation and credibility in Olympic circles. Susie and Mike Corby, made a commitment to delegates at the WSF AGM in Hong Kong in 2000 to continue to press for Olympic Squash and outlined advanced plans for promotional activity in the five cities bidding for the 2008 Games - Osaka, Paris, Toronto, Beijing and Istanbul. The WSF had reached provisional agreement with the Paris Organising Committee that Squash would follow Fencing into the Grand Palais on the Champs Elysee for the second week of the Games. But in the final vote, Beijing won the bid and the WSF is now hard at work continuing the programme we started three years ago for the growth of Squash in China and keeping up pressure on the Beijing organising committee.

SQUASH PLAYING IOC PRESIDENT
One of the helpful factors to emerge from the IOC Congress in Moscow in 2001 was the election of Belgian Surgeon Jacques Rogge as the IOC President in succession to Juan Antonio Samaranch. The official c.v. for Dr. Rogge on the Moscow website listed his sporting passions as Sailing (he was an Olympian in the Finn class), Rugby (he played for Belgium’s second XV) and SQUASH. So at last we have an IOC President who knows and loves our sport. We hope that a new and more objective form of selection for new sports will follow his appointment and, with our strong case, we should have the chance of gaining inclusion. But don’t underrate the opposition. There are at least ten other sports trying to gain a place and some, like Rugby and Golf, have financial resources we can only envy. Even Ten Pin Bowling has massive support from the manufacturers of bowling lanes.

So Beijing is a hard challenge, but Squash players rise to a sporting challenge and the fight will continue to gain a rightful place for Squash on the Olympic programme.