Olympic Status

Inline speed skating is not an Olympic sport, and prospects that it will gain such status are dim. Attempts by the world governing body for roller sports, the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS), to gain Olympic status for any of its disciplines were distinctly insufficient in the closing decades of the 20th century. Most notably, it failed to capitalise when rink hockey (a form of roller hockey) appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Efforts by FIRS to obtain Olympic status become more coherent from 2000, with inline speed skating promoted as the roller sport best suited for the Olympics. However, the federation faces competition from approximately 20 other sports also seeking entry into the Olympics, while at the same the president of the International Olympic Committee has expressed a desire to reduce the size of the summer Olympic Games.

Because inline racing does not have Olympic status, a number of inline speed skaters have switched to ice speed skating in order to have a chance at attending the Olympics. The first of these was KC Boutiette in 1993. This migration to ice proved successful in 2002 when three former inline speed skaters from the United States won five medals in long track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. They were Derek Parra, Jennifer Rodriguez and Joey Cheek. In late 2002, American inline champion Chad Hedrick similarly switched to ice, and in February 2004, he won the World Allround Speed Skating Championships. He was the first American to win that event since Eric Flaim in 1988.