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The success of the Women’s World Cup won by England on Sunday and watched by millions around the globe has propelled cricket closer to a return to the Olympic Games in 2024. The International Cricket Council is determined to capitalise on recent advances in the women’s game and push on with a bid for Twenty20 competitions, for both genders, to be included. Agreement with the Games is considered closer than ever.
After the World Cup the ICC recognises how cricket featuring in the Olympics would give the women’s game even greater profile and open up new funding from national governments. There is stronger support for the concept among the ICC’s 104 members than ever before, recognising the opportunity that the Olympics presents.
T20 would be the format played, with no appetite among either the ICC or International Olympic Committee for a different concept, such as six-a-side cricket. At this stage it is most likely that, after regional qualification to determine the participating teams, both the men’s and women’s events would feature eight nations, competing in two groups of four with the top two in each advancing to semi-finals.
It is understood that the IOC has suggested that sports included in the 2024 Games will also feature in 2028, making it more urgent for the ICC to commit decisively to the concept.
The French Olympic Committee is understood to be sympathetic to calls from France Cricket for cricket to feature in the next Paris Games – as it did in the Paris Games of 1900, cricket’s only appearance in the Olympics. Paris is expected to host the 2024 Games, with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The host cities for the 2024 and 2028 Games will be announced on 13 September. A final decision on the sports selected for 2024 is expected early next year.
Perhaps most significant for cricket’s chances are recent signs that attitudes from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to the Olympics are changing. A special general meeting of the BCCI, to be held on Wednesday, is expected to discuss whether to support joining the Games, which India has long staunchly opposed. However, recent changes in personnel in the board have removed some of the most ardent opponents of the concept, and relations between the BCCI and the Indian Olympic Association have improved.
More importantly the BCCI is increasingly recognising the potential of the women’s game. Before Sunday’s final defeat by England all squad members received a bonus of 50 lakh rupees (£59,500) – more than three times the annual salaries previously received by top women players – and the board is keen to be more supportive. While India’s men are in little need of the extra profile that the Olympics would provide, inclusion would be a huge boon for India’s women.
Additionally India’s government has begun discussing whether to make a bid for the 2032 Olympics. There would be an obvious attraction in the inclusion of cricket, for its popularity and the realistic prospect of India winning two gold medals. For the IOC, meanwhile, cricket could improve TV audiences for the Games in subcontinental Asia, which have historically been underwhelming compared with those in other regions.
Rejoining the Olympic Games has long been advocated by the ICC’s Associate members but resisted by some of the wealthiest boards – notably England and India. England have changed their approach in recent years, leaving only India among the 104 ICC members in opposition. If the BCCI does now announce support, there appears to be no other major obstacle to cricket’s inclusion.
The ICC has been particularly struck by the Olympics’ impact on rugby, which returned to the Games in 2016. Since rugby’s return was confirmed in 2009, the sport has been included on school curriculums in countries including Brazil, China and the USA. The effect has been particularly significant for the women’s game: participation in women’s rugby has risen by 200,000 to 2.2m since 2009. The ICC has long felt that cricket’s best opportunity of growing in China is through the women’s team – who are ranked significantly higher than the men’s side – performing well in the Olympic Games or in the qualifying tournament for it.
Extra funding for Associate nations would be another benefit. In Germany, who currently receive around £150,000 a year from the ICC, cricket would receive £750,000 a year simply by dint of being an Olympic sport. Since rugby’s return to the Olympics at least £25m has been invested in the sport by national Olympic committees, in addition to extra funding by local governments and sponsors.
Cricket’s inclusion in the Games would bring complications but none is considered insurmountable. Participating teams would be different from international cricket – West Indies would compete as their constituent nations while Great Britain would play instead of England and Scotland individually.
Johnny Grave, the West Indies CEO, said: “We are supportive of cricket joining the Olympics. We see it as a crucial step in growing the game globally – especially in our region [the Americas] as well as the major ‘markets’ of the USA and China. We hope that the T20 format and growth of the women’s game strengthens cricket’s case for rejoining the Olympics.”
The cricket calendar would also be impacted. Were cricket to return to the Games in 2024, it would necessitate moving the World Twenty20 to a four-year cycle beginning in 2022, in effect bringing the 2024 WT20 tournament forward by two years. It is felt that holding two WT20s over a four-year cycle, in addition to an Olympic T20 tournament, would be excessive.
(THE GUARDIAN)
