After decades of fruitless campaigns, multiple rejections and false hope – squash is finally an Olympic sport.
The decision to include squash in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic programme was officially ratified on Monday at the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai – along with cricket, lacrosse, flag football, baseball and softball – ending the sport’s 30-plus year search for a place at the Games.
As Niccolo Campriani, the sports director of LA 2028, said on Monday, squash has been “for too long the bridesmaid but never the bride”, referencing the numerous failed bids and near-misses the sport has gone through.
Many of the sport’s top stars had given up completely on the idea squash would become an Olympic sport, which begs the question: what changed and why now?
Egyptian world No 2 Nouran Gohar was the athlete representative at the official presentation made by squash executives to the LA 2028 committee as part of its bid to be included in the Games.
Joined by Professional Squash Association (PSA) CCO Tommy Berden, World Squash Federation (WSF) CEO William Louis-Marie and president Zena Wooldridge, along with US Squash president and CEO Kevin Klipstein, they gathered at Philadelphia’s Comcast Center on September 30, 2022, to make their case.
“Each one of us spoke from their own perspective,” Gohar told The National. “As an athlete, I explained how it is an exciting sport, how you can feel the connection between the crowd and the players and the excitement of it.
"Watching a squash match on TV is something, and watching it in reality is something else. It deserves to be an Olympic sport and it has everything to make it an Olympic sport. It was about time that we became an Olympic sport.
“It was a virtual meeting but it was very professional and very well-prepared. We had many rehearsals beforehand. I just felt we were very prepared and we also had the support of important people.”
One of those “important people” is Mark Walter, an American businessman and co-owner of Chelsea football club and NBA and WNBA teams the LA Lakers and LA Sparks. He is also the chairman and controlling owner of baseball franchise LA Dodgers.
Walter began investing in squash in 2015, injecting money into the Windy City Open and later in the World Championships.
This year in May, in a game-changing deal for the sport, he acquired a stake in Squash Media & Marketing (SMM), a commercial entity created and managed by the PSA. His investment is meant to be used to optimise the structure of the PSA Tour, making way for more events with a view to increasing player compensation and improving the fan experience.
As one of the most influential people in sports in Los Angeles, Walter buying into the tour surely played a big role in squash’s successful Olympic bid.
“I think someone like Mark Walter, having him involved in PSA now – I don’t know the exact number but he invested something like $80 million into the sport. So obviously having this financial support is huge for us,” Gohar said.
“Someone like him is not going to get involved in something like this unless there is some benefit behind it.”
Walter’s fellow Dodgers co-owner, the legendary tennis player Billie Jean King, attended the Windy City Open in Chicago last year and called for squash’s inclusion in the Olympics.
“I think we were missing this part. You need people like this to push your sport to grow and get into big stages like the Olympics. So having that support definitely helped big time I think,” Gohar added.
Another key factor behind the successful bid has been the general increase in the popularity of squash in the United States. There are currently four American women ranked in the top 15 in the PSA world rankings – two in the top 10 – and three American men inside the top 50.
Last week, Amanda Sobhy and Olivia Fiechter reached the semi-finals of the US Open, marking the first time two American women had reached that stage in the tournament's history.
Sobhy, the world No 6, believes squash is growing rapidly in the US, which greatly helped make the case for including it in LA 2028. She noted how more accessible the sport is becoming, adding that “it’s no longer just played in private country clubs and private high schools”.
“It’s being able to play across the masses, people from all kinds of backgrounds, which I think is huge,” Sobhy told The National last week.
“The concentration is not just in the north-east anymore. So you’re seeing squash is growing hugely on the west coast also, Houston, Florida now as well, and you have the mid-west too.
“So it’s hitting all aspects of the US. At the same time, the US in general is developing a lot of players from the pro side to the junior side and we’re getting the results and proving to ourselves that the US is becoming a powerhouse for squash, and I think that’s huge.”
Both Gohar and Sobhy believe squash becoming an Olympic sport will have a major impact on the game. They feel it will attract more investment, boost participation, increase television coverage and urge governments to support national programmes and grassroots initiatives.
One country, in particular, that is surely celebrating this news is Egypt, the most dominant nation in the sport. Currently, four of the world’s top five women in the rankings are Egyptian, along with five of the top 10 on the men’s side.
“Obviously it is great for Egypt,” Gohar, 26, said. “But I think with the Olympics it’s always about selection and always about diversity. So you’re not going to find like 10 Egyptian players playing in the Olympics. It’s going to be very selective. But obviously, it’s great news.”
While Egypt will be an obvious medal contender, it will be interesting to see if other countries will boost their investments in the sport in an effort to challenge the Egyptians.
Players, past and present, are all excited by the idea of competing in an Olympic Games.
“Some people who retired approached me and were like, ‘how is the selection going to be made?’ because they retired already and want to come back to play the Olympics,” said Gohar.
“On my side, for now, I didn’t think that I was going to retire before five years, so it’s perfect. Maybe it’s going to be good to end my career on a high note with the Olympics, you never know. But I’ll keep on playing until the Olympics for sure.”
Sobhy had been skeptical up until the last minute about squash’s inclusion, admitting she didn’t want to get her hopes up until it became official.
“It got to a point where a lot of us gave up hope,” said the 30-year-old American, who vowed she will be sticking around until at least 2028 to compete in the Olympics, on home soil.
“I just told my coach and my fitness coach today that if squash makes it to the Olympics in 2028 then you guys are stuck with me for a little bit longer. Retirement has just been extended by a few more years.
“Squash is a fantastic game and the fact that we have the Olympics as an opportunity to really showcase how beautiful our sport is, is amazing.”
