The FIAS (International Sambo Federation), WAKO, (World Association of Kickboxing Organizations) and Muay Thai Federation have finally obtained provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition by the Executive Board.

Other sports include cheerleading, lacrosse, and American football. These three fighting sports have been announced on the agenda, reviewed by the International Olympic Committee, and may be fully recognized in the next Olympic cycle in 2024.

Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and sambo have received provisional recognition by the IOC. A path to the 2024 Olympics could be paved.

— Blaine Henry | The Fight Library (@BlaineHenryTFL) June 13, 2021

Sambists hope that the sport will become part of the Olympic lineup by 2024, eventhough provisional recognition does not guarantee participation.

FIAS President Vasily Shestakov said of the development in a press release:

“Today the dream of sambists from all over the world came true…Currently there are several developing disciplines in sambo: sport sambo for men and women, combat sambo, beach sambo, demonstrational sambo, which proves that this is a truly popular public sport available to almost anyone. Sambo stars such as Fedor Emelianenko and Khabib Nurmagomedov are the idols of millions of people worldwide. Today we have accomplished the big and perhaps the most difficult step forward.”

WAKO interim President Francesca Falsoni stated:

“All our hard work, focused attention on development, patience and a dedicated and competent teamwork has finally paid off. When everything is settled we will raise the bar and reach for new and higher goals…it is also important to dedicate this recognition to Borislav Pelevic that supported and approved all the work done, not to say to Ennio Falsoni that founded the WAKO we see today.”

The Olympic Games and combat sports have a long history. There are already boxing, wrestling, taekwondo and judo, and the most recent combat sport karate has been added to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu being included in the Olympics is the dream of many practitioners and fans, but it is still far from reality.

Last year Abu Dhabi’s UAEJJ Federation (Which organizes the World Pro) teamed up with The Ju-Jitsu International Federation (JJIF which is the internationally recognized federation for sports Ju Jitsu) in the goal to work towards bringing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the Olympic games.

The UAEJJ and JJIF then laid out an action plan with a goal to push the drive towards the ultimate dream of including Jiu-Jitsu in the Summer Olympic Games, starting with Asia and the Asian Games. Source: Alittihad.ae.

After a successful debut at the fourth Asian Beach Games, Jiu-Jitsu has also been included in the inaugural World Beach Games in 2017. Now it has gone a huge step forward by being included in the 2018 Asian Games, in Bali, Indonesia.

The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a Pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.

In an interview with Tatame, André Galvão, multiple times world BJJ and ADCC champion and leader of the Atos, commented on the subject. According to him, there are many things which are preventing Jiu-Jitsu from being included, but there are solutions.

It’s hard (For Jiu-Jitsu to be included in the Olympics) maybe due to the rules, which are very complex, or because there aren’t many black belts in some countries. I think we should have No Gi grapping in the Olympics, because it’s something more dynamic and judokas, wrestlers and others who compete, could participate. It would be more or less following the ADCC rules, but without the negative points in the finals. There shouldn’t be long matches. They would have to have short, dynamic matches, with five to six minutes time limits. I think there is no need for Gi Jiu-Jitsu entering the Olympics, just like surfing is not an Olympic sport and its ‘s a success. The same thing is with Jiu-Jitsu …

Our sport is becoming very professional, without the need to be in the Olympics. Nowadays, we have many good Championships, super fights. I think if the Jiu-Jitsu was in the Olympics, these events would end and even many gyms would close. It’s a subject that I can speak about for hours, but this is my summary.

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