The IOC called it “the most comprehensive evolution of the Olympic program in modern history”. The review process has been underway for two years.
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SURFER magazine noted that the surfing competition at the 2020 games will take place at an ocean beach about 40 minutes from Tokyo, with 20 male and 20 female competitors.
They are also innovative and exciting sports that are well supported in Japan and beyond. “They just want to make money off of something we love and live for”. After two Olympic cycles locked out of Olympic competition, both are heading back in 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics. Wednesday’s approval was for the Tokyo Games only.
The announcement is positive for Australia’s future Olympians with strong talent in skateboarding, surfing and softball in particular.
These sports “represent a combination of well-established and emerging sports with significant popularity in Japan and beyond”, the International Olympic Committee said in a statement, of what’s considered to be a bid towards attracting the interest of the world’s youth to the Olympics.
“Nations competing for the Olympic gold medal in baseball and softball, in Japan, will best showcase the nature and spirit of our global sport – and it will be the most covered and most exciting worldwide baseball/softball tournaments in history”. “This means so much to not only our USA Softball Women’s National Team program, but to millions of girls across the world”. The men’s baseball team claimed silver behind Cuba at Athens 2004. There are an estimated 20,000 competitive surfers in Australia with 3000 of those juniors.
But while the vote was officially unanimous, there were voices of dissent from the floor of the IOC’s 129th session, with several members pointing out that baseball’s best players are unlikely to attend as the American professional leagues have not agreed to suspend play and few expect them to.
The five were put forward for inclusion previous year by Tokyo organizers, taking advantage of new International Olympic Committee rules that allow host cities to propose the inclusion of additional sports for their own games. “I’d like to express our honest thanks to the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 for providing us with this incredible opportunity”, underlined Fernando Aguerre, president of ISA.
The IOC said the package presents a mix of the traditional and youth-focused sports.
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While South America’s biggest country is first and foremost a soccer powerhouse, surfing has rapidly become one of Brazil’s most popular sports, with Rio providing some of the world’s best urban surfing spots.
