This post is also available in:
Spanish
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games confirmed last night that Donkey Polo will be included in the London 2012 Olympics as a demonstration sport, and a team from Casa de Campo is expected to represent the Dominican Republic. A demonstration sport is a sport chosen by the host city, which is played in order to promote itself, with its medals not counting as ‘official.’ British Officials had been considering traditional Polo as a demonstration sport but with the growing costs of horses and transportation it is no longer financially feasible, and so Polo was substituted in favor of the more popular and accessible Donkey version. The decision was backed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who believes it would appeal to a much wider and younger audience than traditional Polo and was quoted saying “Donkey Polo represents a sport, not of kings, but of the average Joe, Jose, Ahmed or Abdul, as it were.”
Demonstration sports were officially introduced in the 1912 Summer Olympics, when Sweden decided to include glima, traditional Scandinavian wrestling, in the Olympic program. Most organizing committees since then have decided to include at least one demonstration sport, usually a typical or very popular sport in the host country, like baseball at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and taekwondo at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
In a surprising twist on this already bizarre news, we have discovered that Dr Lopez, the Director of Central Hospital, long-time Polo advocate and keen player is in fact the Captain of the Casa de Campo Donkey Polo team who will be playing in the 2012 Olympics. The Casa de Campo team first starting planning and training for this possibility over a year ago and are said to be ‘very excited’ and are describing the decision to go ahead with the competition as ‘groundbreaking.’
Feedback on this momentous decision has been varied, the British public is said to be thrilled at the decision, as is most of Latin America, whereas Colombian coffee tycoon Juan Valdez has condemned the sport, which he claims inflicts pain and suffering on an animal, who he describes as ‘loyal and passionate.’ The International Polo Federation (FIP) who have been fighting to get Polo back into the Olympic games are treating the decision as a small victory, a spokesman said “Polo has been featured in the Olympic games a total of only 5 times since it’s debut in 1900, we hope that the inclusion of Donkey Polo will bring this prestigious game to a level all can understand and enjoy, so that Polo be be included in future Olympic games.”
Polo is widely acknowledged to be the ‘sport of the kings’ while Donkey Polo is known as ‘the sport of the asses’ (a pun on ‘masses’ I believe), as its fun nature appeals to everyone. Donkey Polo is a team sport played on Donkeyback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Riders score by driving a multi-colored inflatable ball or beach ball into the opposing team’s goal using a broom. The sport of Donkey polo is played on a large grass field, each Donkey Polo team consists of four riders and their mounts.