If archery can be an Olympic sport, why not darts?

Why can’t darts showcase itself at the Olympics? It’s a great game. I say game because the Olympic committee does not recognise it as a sport, therefore there is very little chance of seeing it at the biggest sporting event on the planet. Or perhaps there is.

The first ever recorded game of darts was (unsurprisingly) in Dartford. Origins of the darts and board are a bit sketchy, from using the cross section of a tree to the bottom of a barrel, but a more realistic explanation is that it derived from the French word “butte” meaning target, and soldiers started throwing small arrows at them.

Darts is very popular in the British Isles, Holland and Scandinavia as well as across the pond in Canada. Indeed, Sky Television has latched on to it and in association with the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) hold a number of successful televised events.

It’s a colourful sport and really quite tense and exciting. The current top male players are Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld. Nicknames also add to the fun, such as John "Old Stoneface" Lowe and Ted "The Count" Hankey, pointing to a game/sport that has a theatrical entertainment side to it.

Indeed, the players perform on a stage to entertain the audience. The atmosphere at the Lakeside Club for the World Championships is legendary. Yet there is always a downside. The average darts player is hardly a grand specimen of an athlete, and the game is mostly associated with the consumption of beer before, during and after the game. And that’s just the players! The audience is often completely pie-eyed by the end of the day.

So what, I say. If they can ban smoking and alcohol advertising whilst showing it on live TV then why not? Now there may be a very good opportunity coming up to be able to showcase darts at the London Olympics in 2012.

All host nations are allowed to promote a sport/game with origins from their own country. Attempting to convince the Olympic Committee that darts is a sport with enough "physical exertion" is another matter.

But archery is now an Olympic sport and the origins of darts are embedded in this "sport". The only physical exertion in archery is the drawing back of the string, which admittedly takes a fair amount of effort.

If darts is cleaned up a bit and dusted around the edges then I see no reason why it can’t be added to the Olympic schedule in London.