Exactly what that means is not yet clear, but it raises the possibility that future Olympiads could include teams of lithe young women building human pyramids or standing on the shoulders of muscular young men while shouting, “Gimme a D … gimme an A
… gimme a … “
The cheerleading in question, presumably, is of the amateur variety practiced by young people, not the jiggly kind flaunted at pro football and basketball games by Victoria’s Secret wannabes. (Why that even is called cheerleading, rather than hoochie-coochie dancing, is a mystery to me. I’ve attended literally hundreds of pro football and basketball games and not once did I see the scantily clad women on the sidelines lead anything remotely resembling a cheer. At best, they generated group ogles.)
But, back to REAL cheerleading.
As a traditionalist (read: old guy) the thought of cheerleading as an Olympic competition initially struck me as an affront to an event originally created for sweaty, muscular men (and, later, sweaty, muscular women). What’s next, I scoffed. Olympic ballroom dancing? Olympic kite flying? Olympic cornhole? Besides, I wondered, do they even HAVE cheerleading in other countries? Are there cheerleaders at cricket games in England yelling “de-fense?” Or would that be “de-fence?” Do soccer teams in Argentina have cheerleaders on their sidelines exhorting “vaya equipo vaya?” And how do you say “rah-rah-rah, sis-boom-bah” in Farsi?
But I since have discovered there’s an International Cheer Union which includes 107 members, including Burundi, Kyrgyzstan and the Isle of Man.
Still, cheerleading is a mostly Western activity dating back to the 19th century. Many notable Americans have been cheerleaders, including Meryl Streep, Katie Couric and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It’s certainly not hard to imagine Katie Couric as a cheerleader, but picturing Justice Ginsburg jumping up and down on the sidelines in a little pleated skirt requires a much more elastic imagination. At last count, there were 3.46 million American cheerleaders, which would give us a distinct advantage in the Olympics over the Isle of Man, where the entire population is 89,021.
But if the Olympic games are continually evolving (surfing and skateboarding are on the 2020 Olymplcs menu) why not cheerleading? Cheerleaders generally are terrific athletes as compared to, say, golfers. And what they do certainly is more physically demanding than, say, 50m pistol shooting.
So, in case the IOC is looking for input, I hope cheerleaders someday will have the opportunity to shake their pompoms in the Olympics.
Which, I guess, makes me a cheerleaders’ cheerleader.
About the Author