AP Photo/Jae C. Hong – Mark Blinch/COC

At the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, nine sports were featured and 43 events were contested by 241 athletes (all men). On the other hand, 32 sports will be presented at Paris 2024 totaling 329 events which bring together a total of 10,500 athletes (with gender parity!).

Obviously, many aspects of the Olympic program have evolved over the century of development in sport. There are sports, disciplines and events that everyone associates with the Olympic Games, such as the marathon, by virtue of their historicity and their relationship to the Olympic heritage. But at Tokyo 2020, sports like surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing have been included in the Olympic program in the hope of striking a good balance between the pole of history and tradition and that of innovation and youth. At Paris 2024, break racing will make its debut as an Olympic sport.

So how are new sports added to the Olympic program?

Before answering this question, take a step back to clarify certain things.

In the Olympic universe, each sport is governed by a single international federation. Therefore, the aquatic disciplines, which are governed by World Aquatics, represent a Seoul sport. Within the sport are disciplines that most people consider separate sports – swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming. He observed the same thing in winter sports. Anything under the umbrella of FIS, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, is considered a sport. However, this sport includes six different Olympic disciplines: alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping.

In 2014, the IOC created Olympic Agenda 2020 with the aim of protecting the Olympic values ​​and strengthening the role of sport in an ever-changing world. This notably led to the resolution that the OCOGs (Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games) be able to offer new sports only for their edition of the Games. The aim was to promote the involvement of young people, gender balance and innovation.

Tokyo 2020 was the first OCOG to be able to take advantage of this measure, which allowed the return of baseball/softball to the Olympic program as well as karate, skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing to make their debut games. The OCOGs make their proposals four to six years before their Games are held. Although the OCOGs can offer additional sports, they do not have the authority to remove sports from the Olympic program.

Only sports that adopt and implement the World Anti-Doping Code and are governed by an international federation can be integrated into the Olympic program. The proposed program is examined by the IOC Olympic Program Commission, which has the following responsibilities ::

• Develop a sports program that maximizes the popularity of the Games while moderating costs and organizational complexity;
• Ensure that the Olympic program interests young people while respecting tradition and history;
• Evaluate in depth the sports offered and their international federations;
• Respect the principles of the Olympic Agenda.

Sports are evaluated based on 35 criteria which are grouped into five categories ::

• Olympic proposal
  • Competition format, number of athletes and officials, facilities
• Added value to the Olympic movement
  • Legacy, level of interest of youth
• Institutional issues
  • Compliance with the WADA code, establishment of an international federation, number of World Championships held
• Popularity
  • Ticket sales and media interest at previous World Championships, investment from the host country population
• Business model
  • Potential costs, additional revenue expected for the Olympic Games

Once this review is complete, the next step is to get the IOC Executive Board to support the proposal and then present it at an IOC Session for consideration. one last vote. In terms of timeline, Tokyo 2020 presented its proposal in September 2015 and received approval from the IOC Session in August 2016.

When a sport is added, it does not necessarily mean it gets a permanent place at the Games. For example, softball/baseball and karate were included in the Tokyo 2020 program, but were not proposed for inclusion at Paris 2024. The OCOG decided it wanted to bring back skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing, in addition to offering the addition of the station wagon. The proposed inclusions and exclusions are primarily based on the levels of popularity and interest in these sports found in the host country.

Other sports that we are used to seeing at all Games are included as “main sports” and are generally not subject to being removed from the program. It is unlikely that we will ever see an Olympic Games without swimming, athletics or gymnastics, for example, all of which are sports that were originally contested in Athens 1896.

What may change is the program of events within these main sports. This is how Paris will achieve gender parity. Over the last decade or so, the event programs for the Summer and Winter Games have been gradually modified to ensure that there is a balance between the men’s and women’s events.

For example, as recently as Rio 2016, sprint canoeing had eight men’s events and only four women’s events, while there were three men’s events and just one women’s event in slal ohms canoeing at Tokyo 2020. , we balanced everything to six speed events and two slalom events per gender and the women were finally able to compete in canoe events. There will be a further change at Paris 2024 as the speed program has been reduced to five events per gender to allow for the addition of the thrilling kayak cross event within the men’s and women’s slalom program.

TO READ : From yesterday to today: Paris 1924 compared to Paris 2024

Here’s how to add sports to the Olympic Games! What sport do you think should be offered next?