The resolution by the 129th IOC Assembly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was the most wide-ranging evolution of the Olympic program in modern history.
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Before the Tokyo organizers’ proposal for the new sports was voted on, the IOC Board members deliberated over issues pertinent to the sports’ inclusion in the 2020 Games, including those of gender equality as well as whether or not the sports being proposed would be popular with younger audiences and sports enthusiasts, local reports here said. “Indoor climbing has really taken off in the past few years and we will expect to see outdoor climbing grow in popularity too, which gives people a chance to get out into nature and keep fit”.
Baseball and softball, whose recommendation was widely expected given the popularity of both sports in Japan, will include two events – a men’s event comprising six teams and 144 athletes, and a women’s event comprising six teams and 90 athletes.
The International Olympic Committee voted Wednesday to accept a five-sport package that included baseball and softball in the 2020 Olympics at Tokyo.
The IOC announcement lists the five new sports as baseball/softball, karate, skateboard, sport climbing and surfing.
And just eight years after it banished baseball and softball from the Olympic games, the committee announced today that beginning in 2020, softball and baseball would once again become Olympic sports.
An online petition addressed to IOC president Thomas Bach stated, “Skateboarding is not a “sport” and we do not want skateboarding exploited and transformed to fit into the Olympic Program”.
The Philippine Karatedo Federation (PKF) welcomed the inclusion of karate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “The current athlete and event quotas are unaffected”, the International Olympic Committee clarified.
While the pro leagues in Japan and some other countries have agreed to suspend their seasons to allow their players to go to the Olympics, MLB has not.
National team player James De Los Santos said that he would immediately begin preparing for the Games.
The Tokyo Games will now feature 33 sports and about 11,000 athletes, compared to the typical 26 sports and 10,500 athletes. “We hope that the additional sports will stimulate the next generation and serve as a model for future Olympic Games”.
The sports climbing competition will be limited to 20 men and 20 women, but the British Mountaineering Council is already aiming high.
“I’ve always believed that if skateboarding was properly protected and supported, its appearance on the Olympic stage could change the world”, International Skateboarding Federation president Gary Ream said. As of now, the sports are currently slated to appear only in 2020. We’re gonna do it the right way.
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The professional baseball leagues in the United States, Japan and other nations are usually in full swing every summer, which could create scheduling conflicts with the Olympics.
