Pickleball in the Olympics: Is it possible?
Pickleball’s road to Olympic inclusion is blocked not by popularity - it has 77 national members, and universal play already exceeds the IOC’s membership and universality thresholds - but by governance. To be recognized, the sport must be administered by a single, non-governmental International Federation whose statutes fully conform to the Olympic Charter (including formal adherence to the World Anti-Doping Code), recognize the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, have existed in its current form for at least five years, and hold GAISF membership. Today, pickleball remains split across multiple bodies (IPF, WPF, GPF, PIC), none of which is IOC-recognized, GAISF-affiliated, or fully compliant with anti-doping and arbitration requirements, meaning all key governance milestones currently sit at 0–30% estimated progress.
Unless these federations unite under a single, stable IF that demonstrates full Charter compliance, anti-doping enforcement, CAS jurisdiction, five-year longevity, and GAISF membership, pickleball’s Olympic dream will remain out of reach. However, with its already proven global footprint and growing momentum behind efforts like the recently formed Global Pickleball Federation, formal unification and rule alignment could feasibly pave the way for inclusion in future Olympic Games.
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
(Wikipedia contributors, 2025)
Below, we explore these requirements, where pickleball is standing right now, and check its progress toward Olympic inclusion.
Before we dive in, if you want to get to know pickleball more, you can check out our articles. We have a variety of topics, such as “What is Pickleball?”, “History of Pickleball,” and “Pickleball Terms“ .
1. IOC-Recognized International Federation
IOC Requirement: The IOC only recognizes one International Federation (IF) per sport. A recognized IF must be a non-governmental organization that administers the sport worldwide and whose statutes fully conform to the Olympic Charter (International Olympic Committee, n.d.).
Pickleball Status: Pickleball is currently governed by multiple international bodies; the International Pickleball Federation (IPF), World Pickleball Federation (WPF), Global Pickleball Federation (GPF), and Pickleball International Committee (PIC). None of these appear on the IOC’s official list of recognized IFs (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱] 0%
International Pickleball Federation (IPF)
(International Pickleball Federation, n.d.-a)
World Pickleball Federation (WPF)
(World Pickleball Federation, n.d.)
Global Pickleball Federation (GPF)
(Global Pickleball Federation, n.d.)
Pickleball International Committee (PIC)
Pickleball International Committee. (n.d.).
2. Adherence to Olympic Charter & Anti-Doping Rules
IOC Requirement: The IF must follow the Olympic Charter’s core values of fair play and no discrimination and enforce the World Anti-Doping Code. So, the athletes compete without banned substances. (International Olympic Committee, n.d.; World Anti-Doping Agency, n.d.).
Pickleball Status: None of pickleball’s governing bodies has formally signed the World Anti-Doping Code or submitted statutes demonstrating full compliance with the Olympic Charter to the IOC (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱] 0%
3. CAS Arbitration Jurisdiction
IOC Requirement: The IF’s statutes must recognize the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for resolving all sports-related disputes (International Olympic Committee, 2023).
Pickleball Status: Because no single pickleball organization is IOC-recognized, none has officially incorporated CAS arbitration clauses into its statutes as required (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱] 0%
4. Single Global Governing Body
IOC Requirement: The sport must be governed worldwide by only one IF; multiple rival federations for the same sport are not permitted (Elite Law, n.d.).
Pickleball Status: Originally, pickleball governance was fragmented among the IPF and WPF.
However, in 2023, USA Pickleball and nearly 30 allied nations officially launched the Global Pickleball Federation (GPF), positioning it as a renewed unifying international governing body for the sport (USA Pickleball, 2023; PickleballsUnTops, 2024).
That same year, the Pickleball International Committee (PIC) was founded as another global governance initiative, one that places particular emphasis on sustainability by seeking plastic-free pickleball materials and upholding the highest stakeholder standards (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Although they have yet to achieve formal recognition within the international sports community. (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [███▱▱▱▱▱▱▱] 30%
5. Federation Longevity (≥ 5 years)
IOC Requirement: The IF must have existed in its current legal form for at least five years before IOC recognition to ensure stable governance (Elite Law, n.d.).
Pickleball Status: Pickleball’s first international body, the IPF, was set up in 2010 (15 years ago), and the WPF in 2018 (7 years ago). The new combined federation hasn’t been around for five years yet; the GPF and PIC only started in 2023 (under 2 years old). (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱] 0%
6. GAISF (Sport Accord) Membership
IOC Requirement: The IF must be a member of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), demonstrating adherence to standard governance norms (Elite Law, n.d.).
Pickleball Status: None of the pickleball IFs (IPF, WPF, GPF, and PIC) is listed among GAISF’s member federations (Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱] 0%
7. Minimum National Affiliations
IOC Requirement: For summer sports, the IF must affiliate at least 50 national federations across a minimum of three continents to show broad international governance (International Olympic Committee, 2023).
Pickleball Status: The IPF reports 77 national members spanning five continents, and the GPF claims 52 members in four continental confederations, exceeding the 50-country, three-continent requirement (International Pickleball Federation, n.d.; Wikipedia contributors, 2025).
Estimated Progress: [██████████] 100%
8. Global Popularity (Universality)
IOC Requirement: To be included in the Summer Olympics, a sport must be “widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries on three continents” (International Olympic Committee, 2023, Bye-law to Rule 45).
Pickleball Status: With 77 countries in the IPF and co-ed participation globally, pickleball meets or exceeds both men’s and women’s universality thresholds (International Pickleball Federation, n.d.).
Estimated Progress: [██████████] 100%
Looking Ahead with PickleballGoats.com
Pickleball is not an Olympic sport yet; it still awaits a unified governing body and full charter compliance before it can carry the Olympic torch. While fans will have to wait another Olympic cycle or two, the dream becomes more real by the dink, drop, and rally.
And while you wait for the Olympic spotlight, you can still gear up like a champion. Find clever apparel, gear, and community spirit at PickleballGoats.com for players who dink different!
References
Elite Law. (n.d.). How a sport can become an Olympic sport? http://www.elitelaw.ch/how-a-sport-can-become-an-olympic-sport/
Global Pickleball Federation. (n.d.). About us. https://globalpickleballfederation.org/
International Olympic Committee. (2023). Olympic Charter (Bye-law to Rule 45; Rule 61). Lausanne, Switzerland: IOC. http://www.olympic.org/IOC-Charter
International Olympic Committee. (n.d.). International federations. http://www.olympics.com/ioc/international-federations
International Pickleball Federation. (n.d.). Member countries. http://theipf.org/membership.html
PickleballsUnTops. (2024, July 26). The Global Pickleball Federation: Quick history [Blog post]. PickleballsUnTops. https://pickleballsuntops.com/blogs/news/the-global-pickleball-federation-quick-history
USA Pickleball. (2023, November 3). USA Pickleball unites with nearly 30 countries to launch the Global Pickleball Federation [Press release]. USA Pickleball. https://usapickleball.org/news/usa-pickleball-unites-with-nearly-30-countries-to-launch-the-global-pickleball-federation/
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 20). International Olympic Committee. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olympic_Committee
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 20). List of pickleball organizations. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pickleball_organizations
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 20). Pickleball. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickleball
World Anti-Doping Agency. (n.d.). World Anti-Doping Code signatories. http://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/world-anti-doping-code/code-signatories
World Pickleball Federation. (n.d.). About the WPF. https://www.worldpickleballfederation.org/