Social networking for inline skaters

how do we take inline-speed skating to the Olympic?

I have been thinking if inlinspeed skating is to become an Olympic game all the country/continent should be represented?? correct me if am wrong.
talking out of experience africa is more than willing to embrace the sport, some few country like Egypt, south africa and kenya are active and recognized by international body FIRS, where am i heading with this, some may ask?
there are major challenges the African speed skaters are facing and unless some of the issues are address inline-speed skating in the Olympic may be a dream that is still far from reality.
invariability of professional skating boot, wheels, bearings, helmet and speed suits is a major issue which believe can be solved if unity and love for surpasses any other reason.
would like hear from skaters all over how one can be part of the solution towards this issue so as to take the sport to the next level, the Olympic.

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Permalink Reply by Sharon K on June 23, 2009 at 6:45pm: Hi Joe,

I would love to see skating in the Olympics also, and it sure would be nice to try to globally unify skaters, including those in your country. It was nice meeting you in Columbus, Ohio last year, I commend you for your efforts to help make skating a strong sport in Kenya!

Sharon K.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rick Golla on February 12, 2010 at 8:31pm: Inline needs to become more popular in many countries, so that there is appeal to putting it in the Olympics, and good financial return as well. It is too unknown at this point compared to other sports trying to get into the Olympic agenda.

To do that, the sport needs more media coverage. I love inline racing and would like to watch a world event on television - but have never once been able to because they aren't covered by the media. Until we get to the point where common people can watch a few of the most popular world inline events, getting into the Olympics will never happen.

I live in Minnesota - and it was only in the 5th year of the Northshore Inline that I knew it even existed - and it is the largest inline event in North America - only a few hundred miles from where I live. This sport is just too obscure. Certainly people who are trying to get it into the Olympics know this.

At least inline skating was a part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim White on February 16, 2010 at 9:22am: "would like hear from skaters all over how one can be part of the solution"

Do what you can to make skating more popular where you live, and where you travel to. Help people to know about skating and how it is great. Help people start skating. Support skate events, such as races. Share your knowledge and enthusiasm on forums such as this.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robert Burnson on February 16, 2010 at 10:48am: Hey, Joe. Could you please explain what you mean by:

"invariability of professional skating boot, wheels, bearings, helmet and speed suits is a major issue which believe can be solved if unity and love for surpasses any other reason."

What is the issue here? Expense?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ld50 on March 7, 2010 at 10:53pm: I'd be happy to never see any inline skating sport or any other sport that I love in the olympics. I'd prefer to see them popularized and united by events that don't leave a billion dollar debt afterward. I'm very happy for the athletes who get a, sometimes, once in a life time experience to compete, but I'm not involved in any sport to make it big or make any corporation rich. It should be about the sport, not the money. It would be nice to see inline skating become more accessable, but not at the expense of a country and to the gain of corporations.

/rant; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rick Golla on March 8, 2010 at 8:25am: An opinion relative to the money aspect. Advertising money is needed to pay for a portion of the Olympics costs. So popularity comes into play in order to get sufficient viewers to make it worthwhile to the advertisers. That’s why ice skating did so well in the past Olympics. There are a lot of willing viewers.. so many that the early stage of the hockey schedule took a back seat to that even though hockey is very popular and the finals are highly watched. I heard on a sports show that more women watch Olympics than men. The men come for more of the traditional sports (hockey, etc.) – but the women think different – knowing that they can watch those same players almost daily throughout the winter sports season – and they want to see interesting new things. I don’t know how accurate that is, but I agree with the women. I don’t care for ice dancing, but watched all the ice speed skating and cross country skiing I could as they are not commonly televised on weekends. And even though I am a golfer, I would for sure watch Inline over golf for the same reason. Golf takes too long anyway – making it a poor Olympic choice. But you need enough Inline interest to attract advertisers to pay for air time during the Inline slots. So, although it is not “all” about money, the money element is necessary to make the events feasible/possible in the first place.

We should start by getting coverage of Inline events in local newspapers and sports reports. And the WIC folks should make a push to get a few of the top pro events televised and replayed. If that is not possible, there is little reason to think that it would be more possible in the Olympics.; ▶ Reply to This