Katie Coates is a pole dancer who founded the International Pole Sports Federation which aims to decrease the stigma around pole dance by making it a sport
Katie helped initiate the push for pole dance to be included in the Olympics to further decrease the stigma and stereotypes
She has fought to raise safety and heath standards in the pole community to help protect the dancers
She created the first fitness program for pole as well as the first coaching program for pole dance
Katie found a way to make pole dance competitive and able to be scored by trained judges
In 2006, she created a petition to include Pole Dance in the Olympics. The petition reached 10,000 signatures which lead to the creation of the International Pole Sports Federation and subsequently the 1st pole sports world championship being held in 2012
As a result of her hard work, in 2020 pole dance was officially recognized as a sport, making it eligible to be in the Olympics