Olympic officials on Wednesday reinstated baseball and softball, as well as karate, surfing, skateboarding and climbing for the 2020 Olympics.
Advertisement
In what has been described by the IOC as “the most comprehensive evolution” of the schedule in Olympic history, karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and baseball/softball were added.
Today the IOC (International Olympic Committee) unanimously approved five new sports for the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
Baseball and softball were last staged at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 and have since sought re-inclusion. Baseball had been played in the Olympics since 1992 and softball since 1996.
Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan each scored a goal as the US women’s soccer team defeated New Zealand 2-0 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in its debut at the Rio Games on Wednesday, getting off to a solid start in its attempt to win a fourth straight Olympic gold medal.
Baseball/softball return after last being in the Olympic programme in 2012, while karate came third time lucky after being rejected for 2012 and 2016. We think our appeal is not just to Tokyo, we think that surfing appeals globally and in that sense, our focus will be in making our appearance in the Olympic Games very memorable. The Tokyo Games organizers did their best to include such a wonderful activity into the OG 2020 menu.
Following decades where the status quo was roughly maintained until the reintroduction of golf and rugby sevens for Rio, a further five sports will be added to the programme for the next Olympics.
According to Surfer Magazine, the premier ocean board sport will not be taking place in artificial wave pools, but in the open ocean, which makes planning the event’s venues and scheduling a much more complicated task due to the unpredictability of swell conditions.
It will also be welcome news for fans of these sports, as baseball and softball had been in limbo with regards to whether or not they’d ever return to the Summer Games.
The five sports were put forward in July and received a unanimous vote from the IOC.
Having the Olympics rings associated with the sport will do wonders for those involved on a variety of levels, Timm said.
Should we expect to see our favorite major leaguers competing for their respective countries?
Advertisement
National team player James De Los Santos said that he would immediately begin preparing for the Games. These sports have been well established on the worldwide stage for a long, long time. “If you notice, some of these games are alternate sports – surfing, rock climbing – and the idea is that you generate more interest from a wider section of the population, the youth, and by doing that you generate more interest and if you generate more interest, sponsors want to get involved”.
