For Japan's Mai Sato, watching all those gold medals being handed out in Vancouver is a bittersweet experience.
Sato knows the demands of being the best. In her world, blisters are the rule, bruises a way of life. And the training — five hours a day, five days a week.For Japan's Mai Sato, watching all those gold medals being handed out in Vancouver is a bittersweet experience.The world champion in her sport, Sato is as athletic, dedicated and competitive as the Olympians representing their nations. And she thinks it's high time her discipline, too, got some real recognition.Still, pole dancing? In the Olympics?
Absolutely, say thousands of pole dancers and the rapidly growing number of international and national federations transforming what was once the exclusive property of strip clubs and cheap bars into a respectable — and highly athletic — event.
"I could definitely see pole dancing in the Olympics," said Sato, who, a dancer since the age of three, out-twirled a bevy of athletes from 11 countries at the second International Pole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo two months ago. "I would love to win a gold medal."
If cricket can't make it ...
It's admittedly a high bar.
Established sports such as squash and cricket have failed to make the Olympic cut, baseball and softball were recently given the ax, and the International Olympic Committee's decision to end its support of nonofficial, demonstration sports after the Summer Games in 1992 has made gaining a foothold, the way judo and taekwondo did, all that much harder.
Plus, pole dancing needs to first gain IOC recognition as a sport — an uphill battle if ever there was one.source
Would pole dancing be a good sport for Olympics, if pole dancing were to be integrated a lot of more hot chicks(possibly not sure, would participate) thus resulting in people paying more attention to Olympics...
Sato knows the demands of being the best. In her world, blisters are the rule, bruises a way of life. And the training — five hours a day, five days a week.For Japan's Mai Sato, watching all those gold medals being handed out in Vancouver is a bittersweet experience.The world champion in her sport, Sato is as athletic, dedicated and competitive as the Olympians representing their nations. And she thinks it's high time her discipline, too, got some real recognition.Still, pole dancing? In the Olympics?
Absolutely, say thousands of pole dancers and the rapidly growing number of international and national federations transforming what was once the exclusive property of strip clubs and cheap bars into a respectable — and highly athletic — event.
"I could definitely see pole dancing in the Olympics," said Sato, who, a dancer since the age of three, out-twirled a bevy of athletes from 11 countries at the second International Pole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo two months ago. "I would love to win a gold medal."
If cricket can't make it ...
It's admittedly a high bar.
Established sports such as squash and cricket have failed to make the Olympic cut, baseball and softball were recently given the ax, and the International Olympic Committee's decision to end its support of nonofficial, demonstration sports after the Summer Games in 1992 has made gaining a foothold, the way judo and taekwondo did, all that much harder.
Plus, pole dancing needs to first gain IOC recognition as a sport — an uphill battle if ever there was one.source
Would pole dancing be a good sport for Olympics, if pole dancing were to be integrated a lot of more hot chicks(possibly not sure, would participate) thus resulting in people paying more attention to Olympics...