Olympic effort to get egg-throwing recognised as an official sport
EGG enthusiasts have launched a bid to crack into next year's Olympic Games.
This year marks the sixth year of the World Egg-Throwing Championships, which will be held in Swaton, near Sleaford.
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To mark the occasion, organisers have applied to have egg-throwing recognised as an official sport.
If successful, egg-throwing could be included as a demonstration sport at the London Olympics in 2012.
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The application has been sent to Sport England, the country's sports council, and a decision is expected within nine weeks.
Andy Dunlop, president of the World Egg-Throwing Federation, told the Echo he was confident the application would be approved.
He said: "We're very egg-cited about the application. It has taken a lot of work to get it ready, but we're looking forward to Sport England's acceptance.
"Egg-throwing is much more interesting than other sports.
"Javelin is just throwing a plated stick down a field – it would be much more interesting if it was a blunt stick with a dog.
"Football is just a team of 11 people chasing a ball. But we have people throwing eggs at one another. It's much more exciting than most of the football games you watch.
"And sports like hammer throwing and shot put are just a bloke in a cage lobbing a big lump of metal down a field.
"There were more than 20,000 fetes in the UK last year that included egg throwing in some capacity and the World Championships drew interest from TV companies across the world.
"It's estimated that four billion people had the chance to see egg throwing last year – and that's probably a better turn- out than the Olympics themselves."
Emma Tatlow, deputy chief executive of Visit Lincolnshire, backed the bid to have the World Egg-Throwing Championships recognised as an official sport.
She said: "Quirky and unusual events are a great hook for attracting media attention and visitors to the county.
"Last year, the World Egg-Throwing Championships won Visit England's best quirky event in the UK, gaining votes from all over the country.
"The competition has grown so much in popularity. If it was successfully granted official sports status, it has the potential to bring even more visitors and raise the profile of Lincolnshire."
Sport England refused to comment on the current status of the application.
The World Egg-Throwing Championships will be held on June 26.
Comments
by B. Hive, London 2012
Friday, February 18 2011, 6:14PM
“This sport should be top of the list for the olympics in 2012. . far more entertaining than such tedium as athletics and swimming - zzzzzz!
Bring on other sports such as Speed Eating, Sausage Hurling and Wellie Wangling!
Indeed stop building the stadium, cancel the thing being in London and hold it at Butlins in Skegness!”
by Shep, Lincoln
Friday, February 18 2011, 2:55PM
“Is this a yolk?”
by Sandi, Here & There
Friday, February 18 2011, 12:16PM
“Where are Rory and Paddy when you need them?”
by lynn, lincoln
Friday, February 18 2011, 10:19AM
“Egg throwing, a sport, don't make me laugh, it's like darts a pastime.”
by The bigger picture, try looking at it
Friday, February 18 2011, 9:37AM
“Colin, what do you think all those starving people in all those countries think of us wasting several billion pounds on a fortnight of athletics in the first place?”
by Michael, Lincoln
Friday, February 18 2011, 9:36AM
“Lighten up Colin - The whole thing is a bit of light-hearted fun that nobody except you ist taking seriously!!”
by Michael, Lincoln
Friday, February 18 2011, 9:34AM
“Lighten up Colin,the whole thing is a bit of light-hearted fun that nobody except you is taking seriously!”
by Colin Mair, Coningsby
Friday, February 18 2011, 8:27AM
“If this gets to be an olympic sport what do you think all those starving people in all those countries will think of us wasting eggs like this? A few hundred eggs wasted in a local and 'quirky' competition will become tens of thousands of eggs when many countries participate in an olympic event. I presume, by the way, that these eggs have been checked for salmonella and campylobacter.”