It's the pinnacle of sporting achievement. Representing your country in a sport you've dedicated your life to. Pulling on your nation's colours because you've earned the right.
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At risk of sounding like John Candy in Cool Runnings - that's what the Olympics are all about.
And the spirit of inclusion is alive and well as the IOC confirmed what we've known for a few months. The 2024 and 2028 games are heading to Paris and LA, respectively.
For the gaming industry it was even more exciting as LA has said it will campaign for esports to compete on the global stage in 11 years.
Video games? But it's not even a sport! Cue outrage from the conservative masses.
I remember the same accusations being levelled at BMX. But its been a highlight since its inclusion at the Beijing Games in 2008. And Tokyo in three years will feature even more sports, as baseball (returning), surfing, indoor climbing and skateboarding make their way into the Olympic program.
What makes an Olympic sport is an evolving concept. There is an arbitrary criteria based around popularity, tradition, universality, the athletes' health, costs and the development of its international federation. Esports meets all of these.
Esports is a catch-all phrase to describe athletes competing professionally in video games. While it may not have the historical depth as a sport such as baseball, it has been growing for about 20 years. It now has over 120 million people watching every month. And each game requires different skills. It is a sport.
Its popularity is undeniable. The finals of League of Legends outperformed the NBA finals in terms of viewing figures. And esports in Australia is thriving; each month over 1.4 million people log on to platforms such as Twitch to watch their favourite athletes compete.
Our fans are sports fans first, as Nielsen research shows that an Australian who uses Twitch is 2.2 times as likely to have bought a ticket to another sport online in the last month.
The streaming Twitch audience, I imagine, is an attraction for the Olympic movement. While NRL broadcasters were found to use old images of inflated crowds sizes and consumption of mainstream sports such as football are down, esports continues to grow.
And these are people who are harder to reach, 72 per cent are under 40 and 31 per cent under 24. It's an audience that is not consuming sport in the same way as the generation before. They're subscriptionless cord-cutters.
Even the co-president of the Paris Olympic bid committee, Tony Estanguet, confirmed he wants to tap into our audience for their games. "The youth, yes they are interested in esport and this kind of thing.
"Let's look at it. Let's meet them. Let's try if we can find some bridges."
Big show: Despite big crowds in person for major events, most of eSports viewership watches online. Photo: Uriel Espinoza/ESL
One elephant in the room remains. And that is private involvement. Each league in esports plays in a game made by a private publisher. Unlike athletics where the field can be any running track, the developers hold the rights to each broadcast. So there will need to be some negotiation as to how that is resolved.
If any city can pull it off, LA has a track record. For instance the last time the Olympics were there it provided another watershed moment, opening up the games to commercial sponsors in a bid to help pay for it.
While there are obstacles to overcome, and undoubtedly a period of readjusting for some sports fans to go through, new esports venues in LA will help pave the way for a smooth arrival to the Olympics.
Hopefully we'll be accepted in a similar way to the outsider Jamaican bobsled team in Calgary.
