Pole Dancing in the Olympics
Can pole dancing be an Olympic sport? “Yes,” says thousands of pole dancing enthusiasts like Japan’s world-class pole dancer Mai Sato and KT Coates, popular pole dancer in England and one of the many pole dancers who are spearheading the campaign for pole dancing to be part of the 2012 Olympics.
“I could definitely see pole dancing in the Olympics,” says Sato. A dancer since the age of three, Sato bested eleven other contestants during the 2nd International Pole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo in December 2009.
“After a great deal of feedback from the pole-dance community, many of us have decided that it’s about time pole fitness is recognized as a competitive sport, and what better way for recognition than to be part of the 2012 Olympics held in London,” says KT Coates.
Based on reports from New York Daily News, Coates and many other pole dancers are currently promoting a petition to include pole dancing in the 2012 Olympics, which now has about 4,000 signatures. The dancers behind this petition are hoping to get an additional 1,000 signatures or more.
For pole dancing to make it to the Olympics, it first needs to gain IOC recognition as a sport. It has to be proven that pole dancing is a widely accepted and practiced sport which follows the Olympic Charter as well as other criteria set by the IOC session. Upon the approval of IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission, pole dancing will be included in the Olympics.
Surprisingly, there are pole dancers who think that pole dancing should stay as a form of adult entertainment and as a fitness activity. “I don’t think it should be an Olympic sport, because sure pole dancing is very much like regular dancing but it is for seduction and to please people, I don’t think it would be appropriate to have it in the Olympics.”
Many sports played in the Olympics require strength and endurance and pole dancing is an activity that definitely requires incredible strength and endurance. As pole dancing gain more popularity around the world, it is not impossible to see this exotic dance included in the 2012 Olympics.