ALL EYES ON...
THE NEW FIVE
In 2016 five sports celebrated wildly when they were added to the Tokyo 2020 programme – but the COVID-19 pandemic and the exclusion of two of them for Paris 2024 has threatened to kill the mood. Michael Houston reports as the new quintet prepare to take the stage.
A
record 33 sports will be part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics - five more than there were at the Rio 2016 Games. As part of a bid to stay relevant, the International Olympic Committee has reformed its programme, making the Olympics “event-based” rather than “sports-based”. Tokyo 2020 was allowed to suggest its own sports, and duly added five to the schedule.
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Baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were approved at the 129th IOC Session in August 2016, before the start of the Games in Rio. This gave the sports four years to prepare for their introduction or, in the case of baseball/softball, reintroduction, to the grandest of all stages. COVID-19 has of course meant it has not been that straightforward. Last year should
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have been the climax to a long journey, but everything was put on hold as the pandemic’s waves caused governing bodies to abandon ship and cancel or postpone events. When the IOC postponed Tokyo 2020 to 2021, it felt like a lifeboat for the five new sports which would have an extra year to fine-tune their preparations. However, COVID-19 has continued to ensure that it will not be that simple.
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