Angela White, the wife of top yard and utility dog trialler and Kelpies breeder Gary White, raised the idea in 2021 and said she had received overwhelming support from dog triallers on social media.

But when the International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS) offered little support, and subsequent letters to politicians and the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Organising Committee failed to receive any reply, the project was put on pause.

At a recent three-sheep trial in Victoria, however, White said she believes the idea of Olympic inclusion has still got legs as the sport had international support and could meet the necessary criteria.

Strath Gordon, Head of Public Affairs for the Australian Olympic Committee, told Sheep Central that any new sport would need to demonstrate that it has an international governing body and complies with the Olympic Charter.

It would also need to run men's and women’s competitions (gender equality) and be able to maximise the popularity of the Olympic Games (audiences & revenue) while containing costs and complexity, as well as being relevant to young people and capable of attracting new audiences.

He said the Organising Committee Board for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games (OCOG) is new, has very few staff and there are no application forms as yet, nor people to evaluate applications and make recommendations to the Board.

"For now I think the sport needs to do some due diligence so that any future application contains all the necessary ingredients for success," he said.

"At this stage, the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee is not yet ready to begin assessing any applications for new sports, but that will come in time."

White maintains dog trialling is a popular, international sport, where men and women compete equally, and it is attracting new younger entrants, including from urban working dog owners taking an interest in herding workshops.

"We just came back from Sweden, Switzerland and Norway and they all are keen working dog people, so it’s all over the world," she said.

"I definitely think there would be great interest."

She added that the number of people watching the 2023 Australian Sheepdog Championship at Koroit and the Commonwealth Championship Sheep Dog Trials in Port Fairy were an indication of strong public interest in the sport.

A recent Facebook post of the White’s Kelpies Facebook page "Bush kelpies seeing the beach for the first time" received 4,700 likes, 123,000 views, 223 shares and 321 comments, she said, concluding: "That’s insane."

White believes three-sheep trials were probably more popular than yard trials internationally.

"It would be better off to be a three-sheep trial, whether it is a combination of UK, New Zealand and Australian rules, whatever, it would be awesome," she said.

"This is an opportunity going to waste."

She insists that the running of an Olympic three-sheep trial would be able to use existing infrastructure - in the form of an overall - with little expense and that she would continue to lobby the ISDS for its support.

She emphasises that men and women compete in the sport equally worldwide, which she believes would add to the popularity of the Olympic Games and attract young triallers.