Olympics would transform squash, says Nicol

Peter Nicol says getting squash on the Olympic roster would transform the sport.

The former World Champion, world number one and four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.

The 40-year-old is in Bermuda for the Axis Squash Challenge currently being played at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Assocation and will play an exhibition against fellow Brit John White at the club’s showcourt on Saturday night.

He took time out to talk to the Bermuda Sun about how squash’s profile would explode if it was included on the 2020 Games roster. Last month, it was shortlisted along with baseball/softball and wrestling.

Nicol said: “It would be huge. Think of all the countries that don’t have programmes at elite level. To do that you need to have a grassroots to bring them through, which means they’ll need courts, which means there’ll be interest in the country – it will change just because of the Olympics. It would give them potential gold medallists.

“The countries right now that would have gold medallists are Egypt and Malaysia, Ramy Ashour and Nicol David — she’s been number one for seven years so how many golds would she have won?

“Other counties will see that and think it’s not just the domain of US and Russia, the major countries, anyone can have a gold medallist and I think they would put a lot of funding and support towards squash, which will make the sport much bigger.”

Nicol is well aware of the media attention medallists bring. Despite being the top player in the world for a total of five years and awarded an MBE at 24, he never received the recognition his accomplishments deserved.

He remains philosophical, aware of the position of squash behind the likes of tennis, football, golf and rugby, but believes his sport’s inclusion into the Olympics would alter that.

He said: “Before the Olympics in London, the England Squash and Racquetball got 30-40 calls from the press and media asking who their top player was and what their prospects were and can we interview them?

“They had to be told ‘we’re not in the Olympics’ – it’s a misconception, everyone thinks we’re in.”

He added: “The Olympics was never on my radar in 2005 – even then I new I wasn’t going to be playing I was just helping the bid.

"It was never a consideration – I was world no1, World Champion and then once the Commonwealth Games came in that was the main focus because that was the biggest multi-sport games other then the Olympics.

 “That was exciting for me and that’s why I chose the Commonwealth Games in Australia to be my last proper event — the one I wanted to win.

“But for the younger guys and girls now they’re thinking about the Olympics because it’s in their conscience.”

 Now happily retired and preparing to move to New York to take up coaching roles, Nicol has no regrets over his career or how he flew under the radar in his home nation in terms of media attention.

He said: “The frustrating thing for me is sometimes there are sports that deserve attention because they generate money – football, rugby,  golf — but there are other sports that an editor likes that are shown and their results get published.

“I understand squash’s position, I understand it’s hard. In terms of media coverage, I probably didn’t the attention I deserved but I understand why it wasn’t covered.

“From the establishment I feel I got a lot of recognition. I got an MBE at 24 and looking back I feel like ‘wow’. They saw there was value in terms of what I was achieving and how I behaved and that felt really good, especially as I felt I never got that recognition externally.

“You choose the sport you choose – you know what you’re getting into and I love my sport, that’s the main thing.

“I was happy with what I achieved and I’m happy with my life now. That’s the only way you can look at it.”