Many people still automatically assume that pole dancing is provocative, sexy, and has no place outside of strip clubs. But determined enthusiasts are trying to take it to an entirely new venue: The Summer Olympics. Although a petition circulated by an association of pole-fitness competitors and entrepreneurs to get pole dancing included in the London Games was rejected by the International Olympic Committee, undaunted supporters are making another push for 2016. Can pole dancing shake its naughty reputation and earn recognition as a legitimate sport? Here's what you should know:
Do people really think pole dancing is a sport?
Some do, and it has undeniably emerged as a fitness craze. Participation has doubled over the last six years, pushing pole dancing out of the darkness of erotic dancing clubs and into gyms around the country, and all over the world. Serious pole dancers even compete in international competitions. "Nowadays there are very few who are training to perform in a strip club," Anjel Dust, an organizer at the California Pole Dance Championships, told LA Weekly last year. "It's all about fitness or competitions."
Who's pushing for it to be in the Olympics?
A group called the International Pole Sport Federation is one of the leading forces behind the effort. Tim Trautman, the organization's president, says the main obstacle to getting people to treat pole dancing as a legitimate sport is the enduring stereotype that it is something erotic dancers do as they peel off their clothes. "We have to take some of the eroticism out of the moves and also take off the high heels," Trautman says. "We're going to frame it as these are athletes that you're watching."
What else are enthusiasts doing to legitimize the sport?
The IPSF is hosting a pole dancing world championship in London, featuring competitors from 25 countries, just before the Olympics begin, in an effort to get on the International Olympic Committee's radar screen. The sport is also adopting newly established bylaws and an official pole-dancing rule book.
But, seriously, could pole dancing ever qualify?
Even some supporters know success won't come easy. "I think one day it should be an Olympic sport, says Jeannine Wikering, who placed third in the 2008 European pole-dancing championships. "But that will take time." Let's be honest, says CBS Sports. Pole fitness (or "vertical dancing"), though strenuous, might never be able to "tone down its sexy past" enough to make the Games.
Do people really think pole dancing is a sport?
Some do, and it has undeniably emerged as a fitness craze. Participation has doubled over the last six years, pushing pole dancing out of the darkness of erotic dancing clubs and into gyms around the country, and all over the world. Serious pole dancers even compete in international competitions. "Nowadays there are very few who are training to perform in a strip club," Anjel Dust, an organizer at the California Pole Dance Championships, told LA Weekly last year. "It's all about fitness or competitions."
Who's pushing for it to be in the Olympics?
A group called the International Pole Sport Federation is one of the leading forces behind the effort. Tim Trautman, the organization's president, says the main obstacle to getting people to treat pole dancing as a legitimate sport is the enduring stereotype that it is something erotic dancers do as they peel off their clothes. "We have to take some of the eroticism out of the moves and also take off the high heels," Trautman says. "We're going to frame it as these are athletes that you're watching."
What else are enthusiasts doing to legitimize the sport?
The IPSF is hosting a pole dancing world championship in London, featuring competitors from 25 countries, just before the Olympics begin, in an effort to get on the International Olympic Committee's radar screen. The sport is also adopting newly established bylaws and an official pole-dancing rule book.
But, seriously, could pole dancing ever qualify?
Even some supporters know success won't come easy. "I think one day it should be an Olympic sport, says Jeannine Wikering, who placed third in the 2008 European pole-dancing championships. "But that will take time." Let's be honest, says CBS Sports. Pole fitness (or "vertical dancing"), though strenuous, might never be able to "tone down its sexy past" enough to make the Games.
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Posted: 2012-07-13 13:20:27
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I dont think it should be on the olympics. I wouldnt stop fapping at all. Acrobatics are already bad. XD
I do think that what you are saying reminds me of Elvis and his dancing when he first hit the stage.
Good points though.
Sorry, had to be done.
Our point was meant to be more on that side, we actually enjoy a lot of the artistic sports at play in the Olympics. However we have to argue, a lot of Shibari is oddly comfortable, not stressful in any way.
Regardless, our stance is that Pole Dancing should not be an Olympic Sport due to it's sexual nature and history.
Anyways, pole dancing would make the olympics a little easier to watch at least, so I say why not :D!
IMHO, they have no place in the Olympics. The Olympics should be about being the fastest, the strongest, the highest etc. For example, 100m is down to who is fastest, javelin is down to who car throw the furthest, high jump is about who can jump the highest.
The moment artistic interpretation gets involved, I lose interest. Did anybody watch the gymnastics and/or diving in China 2008? If not I will explain, a quick google search has given me the results of the gymnastics, Chinese gymnasts won more gold medals than any other country won gold, silver or bronze. The Chinese won 11 gold, the next highest was USA with 2 golds.
Coincedence? I think not.
Diving, 7 out of the 8 diving gold medals were won by Chinese divers
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Chinese also topped the diving table, but this time without so much dominance as before and in the gymnastics, China got 4 medals total. Compare that to the 18 gymnastics medals that they won in their own country.
So to summarise... Events where artistic interpretation is taken into account should not be allowed in the Olympics. Pole dancing (or whatever the official name would be) would be yet another one of these events where judge bias will cause the results to be corrupted.
So no, it should not become an Olympic sport.
Ha, Gaaaaaaaaay