The head of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) believes that sport is facing an uphill struggle against gaming among today's youngsters.

IOC President Jacques Rogge notes the great attraction for young people in the Internet and video gaming and realizes that for this reason it is difficult for sport to compete with such a form of entertainment and amusement. It is reported that the IOC head would like to see sport as a more attractive pursuit among youngsters rather than today's reality in which the youth concentrate more efforts on the computer and video gaming.

According to a report in "The Times" while the average age of a participant in the Olympic Games is 24, the average age of the Olympic viewer differs greatly and stands at 46. In addition, the average age of the typical IOC member is approximately 61. It seems that due to this par in the ages and in an attempt to generate more interest in sport and in the Olympic Games amongst younger spectators, President Rogge has planned to recruit the assistance of future young athletes. The idea has been raised that athletes competing in the first Youth Olympic Games, scheduled for 2010, will be asked to create personal blog entries at networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. In an attempt to move youngsters away from the screen in order to participate in a more active sport, President Rogge will try to use the modern technological methods to get the message noticed.

It should however be noted that in spite of this call for youngsters to rally round and become more involved in sports rather than in video gaming, there is an official video game for the Olympic Games at Beijing. The video game named Beijing 2008 is expected to be released in July 2008, on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.