Every four years the question of what should or should not be an official Olympic sport is raised. And of course the International Olympic Committee (IOC ) decides and dictates the answer. Now I understand that the committee's job is not to determine what is or is not a sport, but to decide what should be in the Olympics. But some of the omissions seem strange in light of some inclusions.

This year I noticed that some of the Olympic events in London have cheerleaders. Which prompts the question, has the IOC awoken to the fact that cheering is clearly a competitive sport in the same vein as gymnastics, diving and ice skating —and even boxing in most amateur cases— where judges use a point system to rank the competition.

I had not seen cheering of any kind at an Olympics before this year, but according to eonline.com, Olympic cheerleaders are not new this year, just more visible. The site cites that cheer leading was also part of the opening ceremonies at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and states that “squadrons” of them actually cheered on the athletes in Beijing in 2008. I must have gone to the fridge, or just forgotten. In between those games, in 2000 and 2004, apparently cheerleaders had to rest or just used unusually quiet cheers—or I went to the fridge or forgot.

Although legal cases have been brought to decide whether cheer leading can be a sport for Title IX (the federal gender-equity law) purposes, the legal answer in general is no. The NCAA does not list cheer leading as a sport, but it no longer list boxing either. In other words the controlling bodies control the list, but the essence of what makes a sport a sport will always be determined by those who participate and-or support it.

Neither American nor Canadian football makes the IOC cut. And even as international a sport as golf is still waiting to tee off on the Olympic stage. I can understand why non money makers, i.e., events that attract few spectators or cannot accommodate large crowds are easy to exclude. But it would seem to behoove the committee to recover expenses, maybe even make money by holding more arena-based events like baseball, softball, football and yes, cheering.

Maybe I’m biased having been exposed to nieces who cheered. Especially more recent generations who had to commit hours a day to it as a sport for many months of each year if not year round.

Cheering is obviously a combination of art and athletics, hence the need for judging in competition. Of course if you are a multi-millionaire NBA star playing in the Olympics, you can afford to bring your own cheerleaders as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and their fellow 2012 dreamers have.

Now the good and bad news for those hoping to see competitive cheering at the Olympic level soon is: “Don't hold your breath —But...”

Answers.yahoo.com says that cheer leading is not now on the 2016 games event radar set for Rio de Janeiro but that sports are added and dropped on a yearly basis—ask softball—so it’s possible.

And though there are more cheerleaders than ever at the London games, they still don’t have competitive cheer leading as an Olympic sport for these 2012 games, most of them if not all are part of a British cheer-for-charity group called the Ascension Eagles. But they were not and are not team cheerleaders in the U. S. tradition rooting for a particular team. From all-male collegians in the early days (The University of Minnesota claims to have had the first official cheerleader leader, Johnny Campbell who is credited with inventing organized cheerleading for the Golden Gophers in the 1880’s according to cheerunion.org) to more modern coed and all-female squads — making the squad in the states was and, at most schools and club gyms, still is just as competitive for the individual trying out as any more mainstream walk-on athlete.

So, it looks like it may be a while before cheering is acknowledged as an Olympic sport by the IOC. But when they do, I just wonder, who will cheer for the cheerleaders? Stay in shape Ascension Eagles, Rio may be calling. Or maybe LeBron and Kobe will pick up the pom poms.

They can sure pick up the tab.