Quick answer: competitive cheerleading, represented internationally by the International Cheer Union, received provisional recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in December 2016 and full recognition in July 2021. Recognition makes cheerleading eligible to be considered for the Olympic Games, but it is not the same as being included - cheerleading has not yet been added to an Olympic programme.
What Olympic Recognition Actually Means
International Olympic Committee recognition is a formal status granted to a sport's international governing body, distinct from a sport actually being included in the Olympic Games. Recognition generally reflects that a sport has an established, standardised international governance structure - it's a meaningful institutional milestone, but not the same as Olympic inclusion.
Why Cheerleading Pursued This
For a sport as widely practised as competitive cheer, with national federations, standardised levels and international competitions already in place through the International Cheer Union, formal recognition represents an important step toward being treated on an equal institutional footing with other internationally governed sports.
Where Things Currently Stand
The ICU was granted provisional IOC recognition on 6 December 2016, which came with IOC funding and a three-year review period. On 20 July 2021, IOC members voted at the 138th IOC Session in Tokyo to grant full recognition. This means the ICU is now a fully recognised international federation and can petition for cheerleading to be included in the Olympic Games and other multi-sport games. It has not yet been added to an Olympic programme - check the ICU's or IOC's own announcements for the latest position.
Why This Matters for the Sport
Regardless of Olympic status, formal recognition efforts have generally pushed competitive cheer's governing bodies toward greater standardisation of levels, rules and scoring internationally - part of the same broader trend covered in How Did Competitive Cheer Develop?.
A Note on Dates
Some early details vary slightly between sources. Where sources disagree, we give the most widely cited version and avoid false precision - the sources we used are listed below.
Sources: About the ICU (International Cheer Union); International Cheer Union (Wikipedia); IOC's Full Recognition Marks Another Milestone for Our Sport (ICU Europe)