What are the special sports?

Currently, there are nearly 200 special sports that have been certified by various formal sports management organizations around the world and have independent event systems and training standards. The two categories that are well-known to the public are mainly summer/winter Olympic events and professional commercial events.

Don’t think that this list is fixed. In recent years, as private participation has increased, many once-minor leisure sports have been gradually included in special categories. For example, Frisbee, which was previously only a supporting game for outdoor camping, has been included in the official list of sports by the State Sports General Administration after the introduction of national unified events and rules in 2022, making it a real special sport.

I was talking to the physical trainer of the provincial track and field team a while ago, and he said that in the context of professional competition, the definition of "special event" is much narrower - it is not calculated by major events at all, but by the subdivided events that the athletes focus on, such as the head coach's 100-meter short sprint. For athletes who run, even the 800-meter race in the same track race is considered non-specialized for him. Even the adjacent 110-meter hurdles are very different in terms of technical movements and power generation patterns. They really can't compare to the young athletes who have practiced hurdles for half a year. To put it bluntly, specialized sports are like subdivided majors in universities. They belong to the same college, but the professional courses are very different. When I went to Qiandao Lake to participate in the amateur triathlon last year, I met a retired professional triathlete. He said that when he was in the team, he practiced swimming alone, Cycling and running can only be called basic ability training. Only by combining the three events to complete the 226-kilometer iron distance at the pace of the competition can we touch the edge of specialized training. Before, I thought that the triathlon was just three events put together, but after listening to it, I realized that was not the case at all.

The most controversial issue in the industry right now is whether e-sports is considered a specialized sport. Supporters point to the official certification from the International Olympic Committee and the State Sports General Administration. Now there are not only official national teams, but the Hangzhou Asian Games also lists e-sports as an official competition event. Whether it is the event system, training standards or competitiveness, it fully meets the requirements.； However, many traditional sports practitioners still do not agree. They feel that e-sports lacks the attributes of full-body physical activity, and long-term training may cause irreversible damage to the cervical spine and vision. It is contrary to the core attributes of traditional special sports to "improve physical fitness." Until now, the two sides have not completely reached a consensus.

In fact, for us ordinary sports enthusiasts, there is no need to worry about how to determine the official list. If you spend 3-4 days a week practicing skills and replenishing physical fitness, and participating in amateur events from time to time to compete for results, then even sports such as paddleboarding and flag football that are not included in the Olympics are exclusive sports for you. If you just play casually on weekends to sweat, then even old Olympic sports such as table tennis and badminton can only be regarded as leisure sports.