Skateboarding: NOT An Olympic Sport(滑板与2012伦敦奥运会无缘)

Looks like skateboarding won't be in the Olympics after all. From a Web site on the business of the Olympics called Around the Rings...(continue reading for more info...)
从一个叫做“Around the Rings”的奥林匹克商业网站获悉，滑板将不会在2012年的伦敦奥运会中出现...(终于可以长出一口气了..., 继续阅读全文，查看详情)

Half-pipe skateboarding had been under consideration for addition to the London Olympics.

Plans to bring skateboarding to the program for the 2012 Olympics are headed for a crash landing, sources tell Around the Rings.

Discussions have been underway for months between the International Cycling Union and leaders of the nascent International Skateboard Federation about forming an unlikely marriage.

In a bid to increase youth appeal for cycling the UCI wants to add half pipe BMX to the London program, joining the motocross discipline which will debut in Beijing. As part of a play to make maximum use of the BMX half pipe track, UCI was also willing to consider bringing skateboarding into the federation for a double-barreled shot at attracting younger sports fans for the Olympics.

UCI's ardor for skateboarding has cooled, however, in the face of a number of issues, several of them involving breaches of established rules and requirements for adding sports and disciplines to the Olympic Games.

UCI sports director Olivier Queguiner, who met recently with IOC officials to discuss the situation, now tells Around the Rings that the "no decision about skateboard" will take place during the UCI Congress in Stuttgart later this month.

A vote of the UCI Congress is a must to bring a new discipline into the sport of cycling. Failure to act this year effectively kills the chance of adding skateboarding to London.

High-level sources in Lausanne say the IOC will take no action on skateboarding until it hears from the UCI. One source indicates 2016 is a more likely start for skateboard.

But before the sport can make it to the Olympics, organizational issues have to be addressed, including whether riding along with cycling is the proper way to join the program. A number of federations which meet IOC requirements to join the program were said to be concerned over what they saw was a backdoor effort to bring skateboarding to the Olympics.

Who represents the sport is also a divisive question. The U.S. - based International Skateboarding Federation has yet to stage a world championship and is way short of the number of national federations needed to be considered for the Olympics. Efforts to reach the federation for comment for this report have been unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the International Roller Sports Federation, which is planning to stage a world championship in 2009 for skateboarding, remains committed to seeking a spot in the Olympics for traditional speed skating, not skateboarding.

And there seems to be as little enthusiasm among serious skateboarders for representation by the IRSF as there is for the current leadershipof the International Skateboarding Federation.

Skateboarders are also apparently divided on what event to stage in the Olympics, with the majority of top boarders believed to be in favor of a street-style event, not the half-pipe proposed by UCI.