Olympic Bowling?

Roger Dalkin is optimistic that bowling will become an Olympic sport, possibly by 2016. The United States Bowling Congress CEO said his organization would push the world governing body to drop its amateur-only rule in meetings in Monterrey, Mexico, in August. That's important because the International Olympic Committee has mandated that Olympic sports must include the best athletes in the world. "One of the biggest stumbling blocks we have is that the World Tenpin Bowling Association has an amateur-only rule on the international stage," Dalkin said. In 2004, an amendment to eliminate the amateur-only rule lost by one vote. "We're going to make it extremely clear again - and there are a lot of countries that support us - that the WTBA needs to open up the program," Dalkin said. "(PBA Tour stars) Norm Duke and Walter Ray Williams may not try out for Team USA, but we have to make that an option for the IOC to even talk to us." For years before the 2004 merger that created the USBC, USA Bowling lobbied the IOC to be included in the Summer Games to no avail. "We did everything above board and below board," Dalkin said. "We were getting frustrated and we finally said, 'Tell us what you're looking for.' So the IOC came out with a 35-point list of things. "Sift through everything and it comes down to three things: Either you have to have very high TV ratings worldwide, you can fill huge stadiums with tons of people or you bring huge sponsorship to the Olympic Games. Bowling does none of those three. We can't meet the IOC's requirements, so we said, 'OK, we understand. That's not us.' "So then they took out baseball and softball because of political issues and they came back to us and said, 'Are you still interested?' " Though bowling doesn't meet some of the IOC's criteria it does satisfy others: 50-50 participation among men and women; the sport is scored and not judged; and it is not dominated internationally by the United States. "The IOC said, 'We'd like you to consider coming back. Pitch us,' " Dalkin said. "If the WTBA votes to eliminate the amateur-only rule, we've cleared the first hurdle."
The United States Olympic Committee chose Chicago, long a bowling hotbed, as its bid city for the 2016 Summer Games. If Chicago gets the Games, Dalkin said, bowling has a chance to be included. "If it happens," Dalkin said, "I should be long retired and enjoying it as a spectator."