The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of achievement for many athletes, as it is the most important sporting event in the world. Unfortunately, padel is not yet part of the Olympic Games, and it may be many years before we see it for the first time. But if padel is one of the most popular and fastest-growing sports in the world, why can't it be part of the Olympic Games? We will explain why Olympic padel is not yet a reality.

Here are the 3 reasons why Olympic padel does not exist

For a sport to be included in the Olympic Games, it must meet certain requirements. It is true that padel has already met several of them, but not the most relevant ones. If we talk about approved requirements, padel meets the following:

• Have an international federation that establishes the general rules of the sport. This is already in place and is the International Padel Federation (FIP).
• Have an anti-doping system in official competitions.
• Not be a sport that requires propulsion, i.e., any type of machine to be practiced.

Despite meeting these requirements, padel faces other difficulties, which can be grouped into three main requirements.

It does not have the required global expansion.

This is undoubtedly the most crucial point, from which we must start. The International Olympic Committee stipulates that a sport must be established in 75 countries and 4 continents in total. When they say established, they mean that padel must be federated in these countries, i.e., have a Federation that legally governs it. Currently, there are 45 federations in total, so 30 more are needed. This is why a lot of effort is being made for padel to continue to grow in all corners of the world.

Padel does not have seniority as an Olympic sport

This requirement is also one of the most complicated, and can add considerable waiting time even if the first has been met. For a sport to enter the Olympic Games, it must have been an Olympic sport for at least 7 years. In other words, when padel is declared an Olympic sport, it will still take at least 7 years before it can be a candidate for the Olympic Games.

The number of sports participating in an Olympiad is fixed.

Even if a sport is already an Olympic sport and the minimum waiting period has passed, there is the difficulty that the number of sports participating in an Olympiad is limited. For example, at the last Tokyo Olympics, 33 different sports were practiced in more than 45 disciplines. However, since the number of existing Olympic sports is greater, it is almost always difficult to get a place. In many cases, it is easier for a sport to enter the Olympic Games when the competition takes place where the sport is most popular. So we could see a similar case when an edition of the Olympic Games takes place in a country where padel is a way of life, such as Spain or Argentina.