Pole Dancing Could Apply To Become Olympic Sport In Near Future
By Ty Duffy
NBC may soon have something to break up the breathless beach volleyball coverage. The International Pole Sports Federation is siphoning off the sex through stringent regulations, ahead of a potential bid to become recognized as an Olympic sport.
"“We’re trying to be stricter here and become respected as a sport,” said Florenza Pizanis, 43, a pole-dancing coach in Dortmund, Germany, and head of the International Pole Sports Federation’s technical committee, which wrote the rules and applied them for the first time at the London championships. Among the written regulations: no dancing “in an overtly erotic manner”—banned, for example, is “gluteal dance”—and no “hats, canes and anything that is not considered attached to the costume.”"
Removing the canes may upset the Pole Sports purists.
In an Olympic climate where wrestling must justify its continuation while “sports” such as short-track BMX riding are added, we give this a 50/50 shot. After all, mouth agape leering is 40 percent less skeevy with rules and form-fitting athletic wear.