A petition to make Yu-Gi-Oh an Olympic sport is getting a lot of attention and has almost hit its goal of 10,000 signatures.
The Olympic Games are currently in full swing in Tokyo, something that has raised the ire of many around the world considering the ongoing severity of the pandemic. It went ahead regardless and has welcomed a handful of new sports to its slate this year. Skateboarding, baseball, sport climbing, surfing, and karate are all appearing at the Olympics for the first time in Tokyo.
The rotation of sports comes around with every Olympic Games, and fans of a certain card game are hopeful their passion will be considered in the future. A petition to have Yu-Gi-Oh added to the Olympic slate has not only been started at Change.org, it is starting to get a lot of attention.
At the time of typing this, the petition has amassed 9722 signatures, less than 300 shy of the next big milestone, 10,000. “It is an absolute injustice that the game of Yugioh: The Trading Card Game is not a legitimate sport in the Olympics,” Xiran Jay Zhao, the creator of the petition writes. “I now call on the International Olympic Committee to add Yugioh as an official Olympic sport .”
Xiran claims Yu-Gi-Oh's card game tests an athlete's strengths in similar ways to any other Olympic sport. Dexterity through drawing cards, athleticism through playing them, and endurance when in a round of ten of a Yu-Gi-Oh Championship Series. Even if the petition is ackowledged by the Olympic committee, Yu-Gi-Oh fans will still face a long wait before the card game is even considered for elevation to Olympic sport status.
For example, breaking, or competitive breakdancing, while already approved by the Olympic committee will not debut at the games until 2024. That means the best-case scenario for Yu-Gi-Oh fans is their beloved game debuts at the Olympics in 2028. Best start training, and there has been no better time to do so. Konami recently announced three new Yu-Gi-Oh games will launch in the coming months.