Top Ad
I DIG Radio
www.idigradio.com
Listen live to the best music from around the world!
I DIG Style
www.idigstyle.com
Learn about the latest fashion styles and more...

Breaking news: Squash legends label the Olympics “a mockery”

Written by 
Published in Squash
Thursday, 10 December 2020 06:21

Squash fans have taken to social media to suggest that Welsh international Peter Creed, seen here leaping to his feet from a prone position without using his hands, might make the Olympic Games …. to compete in the breakdancing

Squash legends label the Olympics “a mockery”
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

Former world champions Nick Matthew, Laura Massaro and Michelle Martin have all attacked the IOC for “making a mockery of the Olympics” following this week’s confirmation of breakdancing being added to the events programme for the Paris Games in 2024.

Many top professionals and squash fans have joined a chorus of support on social media. From now on breakdancing is to be known as “breaking”. But many people in squash refuse to acknowledge it as a genuine sport. It takes its place in Paris alongside surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing, with squash overlooked yet again very early in the process. The French hosts were keen to bring in more activities that appeal to youth culture in the hope of generating significant commercial revenues. 

English stars Matthew and Massaro won the world championship three times and once respectively. They told The Times that they fail to understand how squash continues to be ignored by the IOC despite meeting all the criteria for selection.

World champions Laura Massaro and Nick Matthew pictured at Canary Wharf

Matthew said: “I think we are going further and further away from the Olympic ideals of ‘faster, higher, stronger’. We knew squash was going to miss out but I believe we are drifting away from sport towards entertainment.

“You saw it with skateboarding coming in for the delayed 2020 Games and now you have breakdancing for 2024. I’m amazed and in awe of what is done in those but we are talking about the Olympic Games here.

“Other sports have been accepted without ticking all those boxes — the Olympics is not the pinnacle of golf, I’m not sure you can call rugby truly global and baseball is back in despite having a terrible anti-doping record,” he said.

Massaro revealed: “I’m sure breakdancing is fun and great but the feeling you have been topped by that doesn’t feel good — squash in the Olympics would have been such a massive deal.

“We have done such an amazing bid, it really is a global sport, and there is more equality arguably than any other sport, that’s what’s frustrating. The IOC clearly sent a message, and it feels it’s now just become commercialisation — the next thing will probably be gaming.”

Martin, the three-times world champion from Australia, expressed her anger and bewilderment at the decision in an interview with the Australian Associated Press agency, which was picked up by numerous news outlets across the world.

Martin told AAP: “You just look at the whole thing and you just go ‘where’s the Olympics going?’ I know some people say breakdancing’s a sport but … I don’t understand.

“The Olympics was all about a score, or it was a running race. There was a definitive answer and results to sports.

“You bring in all these judging things and it just gets so corrupt and so out of control. I just don’t get it any more.”

In support of numerous previous bids, leading squash players including Ramy Ashour, Nicol David and Martin’s fellow Australian Sarah Fitzgerald have stood on various podiums around the world to lobby hard for squash’s inclusion in the Olympics.

Those campaigns have even found significant support from tennis legend Roger Federer, who grew up playing squash in Switzerland and frequently acknowledges the sport for teaching him the movement required for some incredible lunges around the baseline to reach and retrieve seemingly unplayable shots.

Last weekend, he was pictured in the crowd watching the final of the Sihital Classic squash tournament in Langnau, Switzerland, one of the few PSA World Tour events to be held since the global lockdown restrictions began in March.

The image of Federer, standing in the wings to the side of the bleachers, letting the kids go in front and hoping to catch a glimpse of the action, was something of a metaphor for squash and the Olympics. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The 53-year-old Martin says has lost all hope of squash ever becoming an Olympic sport. She added: “It’s sort of making a mockery of what the Olympics is. 

“What does the Olympics stand for these days? I don’t really know. The Olympics has lost what it was. Yes they’re trying to move with the times but it’s creating a mockery of the thing.”

Martin, who won six British Open titles, spoke about the phenomenal fitness and agility of leading professionals who deliver top-class entertainment at the highest level.

She could also have mentioned the sell-out crowds that watched the squash events in the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games competitions in Glasgow and Gold Coast.

Clearly bewilderd by the whole process, she concluded:  “They (the IOC) have obviously got something against squash, because it’s been rejected in the past. It just keeps getting overlooked.

“I don’t know why. I don’t know what more to say.”

Squash and the Olympics: Related articles

Why Japan chose skateboarding over squash

Breakdancing: Tears and fury as squash misses out again

WSF and PSA demand answers from the IOC

How America killed the Olympic squash dream 

Posted on December 10, 2020
Read 452 times

Soccer

Leicester sack women's boss for breach of conduct

Leicester sack women's boss for breach of conduct

EmailPrintLeicester City manager Willie Kirk has been dismissed from his position after an internal...

Davies' agent blasts Bayern's contract 'ultimatum'

Davies' agent blasts Bayern's contract 'ultimatum'

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe agent of Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies has criticised the...

Wrexham owe Reynolds, McElhenney $11m

Wrexham owe Reynolds, McElhenney $11m

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsWrexham, the Welsh team bought by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds an...

2026 FIFA


2028 LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC

UEFA

Basketball

Hornets shut down LaMelo (ankle) for season

Hornets shut down LaMelo (ankle) for season

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsCharlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball will not play again this season...

Lawyer: Ex-G Leaguer won't face death penalty

Lawyer: Ex-G Leaguer won't face death penalty

EmailPrintFormer G League player Chance Comanche, who was charged with the murder of a woman whose b...

Baseball

Scherzer encouraged by rehab, eyes earlier return

Scherzer encouraged by rehab, eyes earlier return

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsARLINGTON, Texas -- As the Texas Rangers begin defense of their fir...

Sources: Rays' Franco on administrative leave

Sources: Rays' Franco on administrative leave

EmailPrintTampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was placed on paid administrative leave through Jun...

Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

About Us

I Dig® is a leading global brand that makes it more enjoyable to surf the internet, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.  Today I Dig® attracts millions of users every month.r

 

Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: www.idig.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affiliated