is pickle ball the next great sport at the Olympics it’s one of if not the fastest growing Sports in the United States the biggest challenge to getting pickle ball into the Olympics actually is pickle ball the Olympic Charter requires one single governing body to represent and regulate the sport and pickle ball currently has three for the sport to become permanent per the charter it quote must be practiced by men in at least 75 countries and by women at least 40 countries across three continents currently it’s played in 60 countries but on six continents the sport has more than 13 million players in the us alone according to a 2024 report from the Sports and Fitness industry Association and the sport grew by more than 50% from 2022 to 2023 president of the world pickle ball Federation was quoted saying they know for a fact the ioc is very interested in pickle ball they’re in the process of negotiating a merger of the governing bodies and if that can happen they hope the ioc board members could push the sport through as soon as the 2028 games but for now they’re in a bit of a pickle