As the game of ultimate continues to grow in Canada and spread across the globe, some of the sport's biggest influencers are seeing Olympic rings in the future.
"Well that's kind of the golden ring there, people have been talking about it for some time," said Brian Gisel, who serves on the board of the World Flying Disc Federation, an international organization that oversees the direction of the sport.
Gisel, a Vancouver native who has been a pioneer of the sport and recently inducted in the Canadian Ultimate Hall of Fame, said the game has made huge steps on the world stage with it being included in the World Games, an international multi-sport event similar to the Olympics.
Gisel attended the 2009 World Games held in Taiwan where he said ultimate "was one of the most well-attended sports" during the event and he expects it to be an "anchor sport" in the 2013 World Games held in Colombia.
But one of the barriers ultimate has in becoming an official Olympic sport is the fact that it's played without referees. Instead players use an honour system.
"The argument against not having referees is that people will cheat to win without them," Gisel said.
However, Gisel added the lack of officiating hasn't caused any problems at the World Games and the concept would fit in well with the ideals the Olympics holds.
"The whole focus of ultimate is not to have somebody there to stop you from cheating to win, it's about playing a sport with honour and integrity and it's about playing as hard as you can and competitively as you can within the rules," he said. "And really when you strip that away that's perfectly in line with the what the Olympics is suppose to be all about."
--JG
