by Today marks the official start of the Olympic Esports Series (OES 2023), with qualifiers starting in the coming days and weeks for virtual variations in tennis, motorsports, archery, baseball, taekwondo, cycling, as well as dance and chess. The inaugural Olympic Virtual Series took place in 2021, but this year marks the first time the IOC-sponsored final rounds will take place in person between June 22 and 25 in Singapore.
To facilitate the games, the IOC partners with major video game and app developers for many of the events. Medals in motorsport, for example, will be determined internally Gran Turismo competitions, while the dance champions will be determined through Just dance scenery. Chess.com officials will also help with players’ opening moves and gambits. However, as The lip Notes, all OES contests are virtual representations of real contests, so don’t expect to see anyone Fortnite Battle Royales or Elden Ring speeders There are plenty of other places to get your fix of these.
(Related: Turn your iMessages into a checkerboard with this new add-on.)
Both eSports and professional table games often get a bad rap. It may not take a lot of physical strength to move chess pieces around a chessboard, but make no mistake, it is a sport in itself. Despite their quiet, contemplative stereotype, professional racing is quite physically demanding – games can last hours, stress levels are through the roof, and constant mental gymnastics require healthy diets and lifestyles to maintain energy and focus levels. required for victory. Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, for example, drinks a mixture of chocolate and plain milk during tournaments to “keep his blood sugar down,” as well as maintaining a largely vegetarian diet.
The same can be said for eSports players—despite some stereotypes, at least one study shows that gamers often weigh between 9 and 21 percent healthier than the general population, with many abstaining from smoking and drinking. “When you think about esports, there are often concerns about sedentary behavior and poor health as a result, and the study revealed some interesting and mixed results,” said author and researcher Michael Trotter when the study was released. “As part of their training program, elite esports athletes spend more than an hour a day doing physical exercise as a strategy to improve their game and manage stress.”
What’s especially fun about OES is that almost everyone is encouraged to compete. Entries for the various sports are available through the official IOC event portal if you think you have what it takes to take the gold. Maybe it will win you a trip to Singapore this June.
