This is a topic that comes up every 4 years or so, coinciding with the Summer Olympic games. Usually the debate starts out with the simple question "Why isn't chess in the Olympics?" and ends with "If Synchronised Swimming is there, why not chess?"
The agenda behind this debate (for certain countries) is that being an Olympic sport would mean that chess would receive recognition (and funding) as a sport. This is especially important in countries where chess is not recognised as a sport, and for cultural reasons, will probably never be recognised as a sport.
My own position on this topic has changed over the years. At one point I strongly pushed the line that chess was a sport, even lobbying (unsuccessfully) the Australian Sport Commission on behalf of the Australian Chess Federation. I even briefly discussed the matter with the then Sports Minister Graeme Richardson, who promised a further meeting, although none came about.
These days I'm more of the position that chess isn't a sport in the same way as swimming or athletics, but it is "something else". While I haven't quite decided what that "something else" is, in a practical sense it may not be important. Instead what is important is where it fits in with other sports.
I'm convinced that it will never be a part of the Summer Olympics, for the practical reason that there are already too many sports and the IOC isn't looking for more. I suspect the only sport that may be keen to see chess added is Synchronised Swimming, on the grounds that they wish someone else would be the butt of everyone's jokes. There was talk of having it part of the Winter Games (along with a number of other indoor sports) but this was only talk.
The model that I would like to see adopted is that there are 4 Olympic Games, 1 every year, and each type of Games held every 4 years. The Summer and Winter Olympics would remain of course, and the other 2 games would be Mind Sports (including Chess, Go, Bridge, Scrabble etc), and Extreme Games (Mountain Biking, Skateboarding, Nude Bungee Jumping etc).
Of course this would require the IOC to find 2 extra hosts cities, and obviously it isn't guaranteed that they would be flooded with bidders. And secondly, I suspect that this wouldn't solve the issue of chess as a sport , as National Olympic Councils would just tighten their membership to include only Summer and Winter Olympic Sports.
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Also there is a general misconception in the chess community that "sports" especially "olympic sports" receive a lot of money.
Certainly in the lead up to the Sydney Olympics a lot of money was thrown at all manner of sports but this has steadily been withdrawn.
High profile sports can do very well but many lower profile sports are not really any better off than chess when you look at stories like race walker Nathan Deakes (who had to withdraw anyway with injury) selling his car to help fund his trip to the Olympics.
Applying for grants is of course a good place to start. You are never in the race if you don't ask for the money and/or don't comply with the conditions for doing so. I was actively discouraged when I first satrted applying, by fellow "chess people" who would tell me not to bother because they'd been there and done that and they won't give money to chess. But strangely they did give money. When asked. Not every time but sometimes.
I'm of the opinion that "sport" is the attempt to attain a predetermined goal through physical expression. While the mental side may be crucial, the thing itself is resolved physically--that is, you perform well by using your body well. Mental and physical fatigue, while certainly adding to the challenge, are incidental.
Chess also causes mental and physical fatigue, but this too is incidental. You perform well in chess by using your mind well.
Of course, this raises the question: if it is physical, is it thereby sport? No, but physicality is a prerequisite.
Having said all that, a part of me insists that throwing a ribbon in the air and catching it, while judges watch, is less of a sport than chess...
How about these sports: shooting and archery in the Olympic?
They are less sport than chess :))
Golf is much better than those sports, at least they need to walk couple hundreds meters.
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