The IOC unanimously rubber-stamped the decision taken by its executive board in June, approving the inclusion of karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and a joint baseball/softball bid, which is expected to significantly boost local support for the Olympics.
Advertisement
The five new sports will not be included in this year’s summer games, but rather the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The recommendation to give Organizing Committees the flexibility to propose new sports for their edition of the Games was meant to put even more focus on innovation, flexibility and youth in the development Olympic program.
“The additional sports in Tokyo will not impact the athlete or event quotas of existing Olympic sports or be binding on future host cities”. The IOC also voted to put skateboarding, sports climbing, karate and surfing on the roster.
Venues for the five sports will be decided at an International Olympic Committee executive meeting in December. These two events are skateboarding and surfing.
As for climbing, its fans had a campaign to promote the inclusion of the sport in Tokyo 2020-and several climbing organization have been quick to celebrate the victory. “This is really exciting for us, and something we’ve been waiting for since the day they took the sport out of the Olympics”.
The historic change stemmed from a proposal from the Organizing Committee of Tokyo 2020 submitted in September 2015. Now there are about 25,000 active baseball and softball players in upwards of 300 clubs under the DBV umbrella.
In the past, the International Olympic Committee introduced BMX riding to the Beijing Games and snowboarding to the Nagano Olympics to try and attract young athletes and viewers, according to USA Today.
“We are happy in the PKF – National Sports Association as well as the Philippine karate community since we have waited for this for so long. It will inspire young athletes to compete at the highest level around the world”, he said.
“Youth today has so many options for their leisure time that you just can’t wait for young people to come to sport.”
Advertisement
Women’s soccer and women’s softball are two hugely popular sports in the United States, and both have had global success. It must prove it’s a sport that truly captures the Olympic spirit.
