"The chance to make darts Olympic has passed" - Darts Commentator does not believe darts will have a place at Olympic Games

The Olympic Games are currently in full swing in Paris. Darts is not currently part of it, and Dutch darts commentator Jacques Nieuwlaat does not expect this to change any time soon either.

Many darts fans in recent weeks saw images of shooting and archery, among others, wondering why those sports have a place in the Olympics and darts does not hit the Olympic program. "In archery, you don't see singing fans with mugs of beer in their hands," Nieuwlaat told Omroep West. "The uniqueness breaks up the sport of darts in that respect, although I should add that people are also hugely successful at it."

Traditionally, at the darts, images of thousands of loudly singing fans, decked out in the craziest fancy dress outfits and more often than not, enthused with an alcoholic drink. Nieuwlaat therefore does not think the International Olympic Committee is keen for that aspect of darts to join the Olympic programme. "That does not fit at all with the sports we see at the Olympics," he explains.

Raymond van Barneveld once expressed his opinion that darts has no place in the Olympics because it is reserved for trained athletes. "I watched clay pigeon shooting the other week. Those aren't all trained athletes either. So I don't really think that's an argument," Nieuwlaat fires back though. Moreover, the complex situation with different federations in the darts world does not make it any easier to be admitted to the Olympics.  "You have two federations. The World Darts Federation (WDF), which includes the national federations. That organization runs on volunteers. Then you have the PDC which includes all the professional players. There they are only busy making money and that is not for them to get at the Olympics."

Nieuwlaat therefore sees the necessary obstacles if darts is to have a place at the Olympics after all. "Then they might have to make the venues in which the sport is played alcohol-free. They have no interest in that. That's part of the profit model. Just like how the sport is portrayed on television. Where else do you see that audience so rabid? The atmosphere around ice skating in Thialf is hearty, but still different from darts."

Nor does the Nieuwlaat see the WDF taking on that role. "You have to participate in a huge number of procedures and meet many requirements if you want to become an official sport within the IOC. There is not the manpower for that within the WDF. That process is in general enormously time-consuming and that becoming an Olympic is actually not a priority within the darts federation either."

The discussion of making darts Olympic flares up every four years or so, but Nieuwlaat thinks the opportunity has passed. "In darts they are not good at politics. Twelve years ago was probably the last chance. The upcoming Games are in Los Angeles and Brisbane. The United States and Australia are not darts nations. So the darts followers won't get to see their sport there."