WILL POLE DANCING BE AN OFFICIAL OLYMPIC SPORTS?

Japan's Mai SatoPole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo

Carolyn Braid, owner of Pole Dancing Winnipeg



Pole Dancers around the world are seeking a spot on the list of Olympic Sports. The campaign started July last year as Carolyne Braid, owner of Pole Dancing Winnipeg and other pole dancers invaded the world wide web in order to gain much ordeal in the luck of gaining the attention of Olympic officials.

Japan's Mai Sato,champion of the second International Pole Dancing Fitness Championships in Tokyo two months ago, said that like most gymnasts, pole dancers spend more than five hours of practice just to get the right routine. She said that "blisters are the rule, bruises a way of life, and the training — five hours a day, five days a week."

Pole dancers said that the only way to erase the sexual connotation to the sports that they love is to get the attention of the Olympics and be one of its renowned sports.

KT Coates, a leading pole dancer in Britain and director of Vertical Dance, is leading the effort to make pole dancing a "test" event in 2012 and foresees a more formal pitch in 2016, when the Olympics go to Rio de Janeiro. So far, the petition has about 4,000 signatures. Coates is shooting for 5,000.

Watch this video of Felix, 2009 World Pole Dance Champion here.

by: Sheila M. Pelaez