The idea that the sport of sheep shearing should be an Olympic sport has gone viral. The media response to the idea, mooted by Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre chairperson, Jeanette Maxwell has caused an international frenzy.

Ms Maxwell says she’s been giving interviews from all over the world.

“We had a bit of plug about the world championships coming to NZ in March and just as a sentence that went in about wouldn’t it be great if the sport could be a demonstration sport one day at the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics, and it has just quite literally gone viral.

"It’s been in Australia, BBC has picked it up, apparently in America stories have been run in papers in America... so yeah it’s just gone a bit viral!” 

Ms Maxwell believes that with the backing of SPARC, shearing has the chance to be recognized as a true sport.

Ms Maxwell says shearers have to be in peak physical condition to do the job and this was proven earlier this week when Kiwis Stacey Te Huia and Sam Welch destroyed a previous world shearing record that has stood for 16 years.

In front of a cheering crowd packed into a king country woolshed near Benneydale, the pair fleeced a combined total of 1341 ewes in 9 hours.

With a little recognition, Ms Maxwell says shearing could be a demonstration sport for the Commonwealth Games, or even the Olympics.

“There is a point and a time when the Commonwealth games I am sure will come to NZ and it would be an absolutely fantastic time to showcase it, because people always think of shearing as just a NZ or Australia thing but in actual fact it’s not.”

But promoting the sport won’t just have benefits for its athletes. The hype could have huge benefits for wool as well.

“Well one of the great things that I think about this whole story is the opportunity for some countries to understand that the sheep doesn’t die in order for us to harvest wool.

"So we get this fantastic renewable product, environmentally friendly year on year. So not only do we get the great sport of shearing but we also get this product that comes off the animal.”

Joining the 28 Olympic sports including equestrian, gymnastics and athletics, will be no small feat. Acceptance demands a grueling process to ensure that the sports activities follow the Olympic charter.

But as the Washington Post commented recently, ‘Never say never. Curling had to wait 78 years to get back in the mix, and suddenly everyone is watching it’.