14 Jan 2017

Cheerleading in the Olympics

From The Weekend , 8:40 am on 14 January 2017

Could pom poms soon be on the podium? There's been a mixed reaction to the possibility of cheerleading being included in the Olympics.

Recently the Olympic Games' executive board voted to recognize cheerleading, bringing it a step closer to being an Olympic sport. But founder of the Southern Hemisphere's biggest cheerleading school based in Auckland, Kimberley Ramsay says the criticism levelled at her sport is unfair.

With viewer figures on the decline, and in a bid to attract younger audiences, the IOC has already added the likes of skateboarding and surfing to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. So is all this a step in the right direction for the Olympics.. .and for these sports?

Jesse Peters heads up new organisation Skateboarding New Zealand. He joins The Weekend from the RNZ Auckland studio, along with Kimberley Ramsay from the All Stars cheerleading group.