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ESL’s Michal “Carmac” Blicharz has been in the esports industry for 15 years, but at the IOC’s esports forum last month, his lone role was being what he referred to as a “humble delegate.”

Blicharz, who serves as ESL’s vice president of pro gaming, wasn’t put on any panels for the event. Instead, his attendance at the event was comprised of meeting people and being a part of discussions going on behind the scenes.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It’s very, very clear that you cannot shoehorn esports into an Olympic-style structure.”[/perfectpullquote]

“I had a lot of interesting conversations,” he said. “A lot of them actually were surrounding how we can align our worlds because structurally they’re very, very different.”

ESL didn’t send people to the event with any sort of agenda, according to Blicharz. Their primary objective was to listen and learn what everyone, from executives at Riot Games and Activision Blizzard to esports competitors and IOC members, was thinking.

“It’s very, very clear that you cannot shoehorn esports into an Olympic-style structure,” Blicharz said. “Where you’ve got your national Olympic committee, there’s sports organizations, federations, your athletic federation and then your national committees, and they all kind of go into that pyramid all into the top body there.”

Along with noticeable structural differences, the typically short lifespan of video games doesn’t necessarily fit the mold of the four-year model of the Olympics either.

Related Article: IOC and GAISF to Establish Esports Liaison Group

To combat that those differences, Epic Games co-founder and vice president Mark Rein used the forum to suggest that esports competition be structured similarly to the Paralympics. While the Paralympics are associated with the Olympic movement, they largely function independently.

Blicharz thinks that’s a smart move.

“[The Paralympics] use the Olympic brand and Olympic values they draw from that,” Blicharz said. “But for the most part, when it comes to structure they are able to benefit from being different.

“Because they are different they are able to approach it differently, and maybe because esports is so different, maybe the answer is to create another branch, if you will, under the IOC that would be the ‘esports Olympics’ or whatever you want to call it.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”…A lot of sports play out violence without crossing a certain line.”[/perfectpullquote]

This sort of structural freedom would also allow an esports Olympics to have the flexibility to adjust the games being played at the event, while maintaining an association with the Olympic brand.

Ultimately, it is that association that Blicharz believes is most important for the growth of the esports industry.

“If the IOC were to adopt video games in one way or another, I think that would be probably the final step towards the recognition of esports as something that is not in any way a waste of time, not in any way something that is negative,” he said.



Violence in games is a recurring issue for the IOC. Counter-Strike has been a staple of competitive gaming for over a decade, and is a particular passion of Blicharz—however its realistic military tone and terrorist vs. counter terrorist theme might automatically discount it from any esports-Olympic event.

“I’m here quite firmly on the same side as the Overwatch player Jake was,” says Blicharz. “He did it brilliantly in the conversation with IOC President Thomas Bach. He said ‘the sport you were a gold medalist in [fencing], it’s literally lethal in its origins.’ Whereas a lot of sports play out violence without crossing a certain line.”

Part two of our interview with Michal “Carmac” Blicharz will look ahead to the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2019—and how ESL acquired its first Major since 2016.