Kiwi esport executives are calling for virtual cycling to be taken more seriously, as the New Zealand Olympic Committee announces its inaugural event in Saudi Arabia.
Active virtual esports like indoor cycling will take place alongside gaming and simulator events at the Olympic Esports Games, to be held in late 2025.
Former Kiwi Olympic track cyclist Alison Shanks, who competed at the Beijing and London Games, told the Herald indoor cycling can “absolutely” be deemed legitimate.
Zwift is the official platform for indoor cycling tournaments, including the annual Olympic Esports Series since its launch in 2023. Athletes have the opportunity to qualify through the Zwift Grand Prix cycling series and the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.
“There’s always been an evolution of the sport and really what we’re seeing with Zwift is the next evolution, the next phase.
“The legitimacy of Zwift and of Esports has been confirmed by the IOC [International Olympic Committee]. Any sport that is being sanctioned by the Olympics is legitimised in that sense.”
Easily set up in your living room, bedroom, or garage, Zwift offers amateur and professional athletes a convenient way to achieve their workout goals from home.
It has revolutionised cycling by providing immersive and interactive ways to work out. Instead of staring at a wall, you can cycle with a smart device in front of you and connect with millions of other athletes worldwide through the Zwift app.
Amateur and expert cyclists can enter events, complete workouts, race against others, collect PowerUps, and study tactics to improve their fitness.
Shanks, who is a committee member at the New Zealand Esports Federation, said a lot of her work revolves around trying to break down the perception that Esport is just video gaming.
“When we think about esports as a real continuum from gaming on one end, but then we come back to simulators and then virtual sports – which is essentially where the likes of Zwift stand and there’s a real physical component to it still ... For me, like that’s absolutely why Zwift belongs in the Olympics.”
Shanks likened virtual biking to her early career experience in 2012, when she was part of the first women’s team pursuit. What was once groundbreaking has now become the norm.
“Where everyone is always slightly averse to change, but when you look back and actually we’re always evolving and [Zwift today] is just another aspect of the evolution.”
Wes Sulzberger, a former pro cyclist turned Australia and New Zealand manager for virtual cycling platform Zwift, explained the concept as “an opportunity to engage people into sport from any age”.
“From grassroots to anyone keeping active and trying to live a healthy lifestyle. My father’s 73 and with my mum, they both jump on Zwift.”
Indoor cycling involves attaching a road bike frame to a smart trainer. By connecting a smart device, cyclists can access various modes through platforms like Zwift. These modes include global racing events, structured workouts and casual rides, offering diverse options for indoor training.
Sulzberger described how screen time gets a whole new meaning when it’s helping people get active.
“For younger generations [indoor cycling] may be something you enjoy more or maybe more used to with the digital side of things, online and social – which may lead to them to grabbing a bike [outside] as well as riding with Zwift.”
Conor English, president of the New Zealand Esports Federation, told the Herald they are currently working through what qualifying for the Olympic Esport Games will look like, but regardless he’s excited to see the E Blacks finally compete on the world’s biggest stage.
“The Olympic Committee have said that it’s a legitimate sport to the extent that we’re going to have its own Olympic Games. There’s been discussion for a few years about ‘is digital competition a legitimate sport or not?’” English questioned.
“It absolutely is, the Olympic committee have said it is.”
The safety of cycling indoors was what attracted Kiwi Commonwealth Games athlete Ella Harris to Zwift.
Harris won the Zwift global stationary trainer competition in 2018, which earned her a contract with Women’s World Tour’s Canyon-SRAM team.
The Christchurch-born athlete went on to have a competitive road cycling career, including winning the national Under-23 time trial in 2020 and competing at the 2022 Birmingham Games.
However, after a career riddled with injury, Harris told the Herald she’s considering a move back to Zwift racing.
“[E-biking] is just simple and it’s safe and you know what you’re going to get with Zwift because any situation when you’re riding your bike outside, there are so many different variables and things that you can’t control,” Harris said.
Whereas when you’re riding indoors, you don’t have the possibility of distracted drivers crashing, or other people doing things that cause you harm, she said.
“You’re in control of your own destiny.”
With high-performance competition experience, Harris confirmed racing on a stationary bike isn’t easy.
“There are so many in-game features that you need to learn and these aren’t features that don’t require any physical exertion.
“It’s an extreme physical test and it’s exhausting. It’s brutal. The physiology of people who compete on Zwift is insane because you basically have nowhere to hide.
“It’s almost like your physical ability is amplified because you are taking out of the equation many other variables that you might have on the road, like being able to position yourself in the peloton, and being able to physically handle your bike.
“Overall, the discipline is a lot more weighted towards your physical ability. You can’t necessarily just take a rider from the road and expect them to do well because you have to know the little, subtle nuances of the game ... And learn the actual craft.”
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Fever podcast, and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.
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