Bowling at the Summer Olympics

The first multi-sport event in which bowling was part of an official multi sport was the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.The sport was removed from the program in the following edition in 1982 Games in Delhi, India and 4 years later in Seoul 1986, the sport returned to the Asian Games program. The public interest in this edition of the Games was resounding, as result the bowling industry lobbied long and hard for bowling to be recognized as a potential olympic sport and a demonstration sport for future Games, but the outcome was not successful. A negative factor is that bowling lacks inexpensive or easy access for youth in the underdeveloped world to acquire skill and proficiency.[1] However, after its first demonstration appearance five years earlier at the Americas-exclusive 1983 Pan American Games[2] in a similar manner to how it was accepted at the 1988 Seoul Games, for the first time anywhere, on August 2, 1991 in Havana, Cuba, the tenpin bowling sport earned full "medal status" in an international multisport competition: the eleventh competition of the Pan American Games, at which all the nations of the Americas compete every four years. The medal-level competition has been held at every Pan American Games since then, and was a part of the 2019 Games held in Lima, Peru.

On 22 June 2015 it was announced that bowling made the cut from the 28 sports to the last eight to become a new sport for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The shortlist of these sports for consideration was based on applications from 26 international sport federations, many of which have applied for inclusion in previous Olympic tournaments.[3] However, in September 2015 it was announced that bowling, together with wushu and squash, were left out for 2020. The 2020 Olympic Committee wanted sports that appeal to youth and would not require building new facilities to reduce cost.[4]