The 2020 Tokyo Olympics

The 2020 Olympics, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan, may include five new sports. Baseball and softball, along with karate, sports climbing, surfing, and skateboarding are amongst the proposed sports. It would mean an additional 18 events would be added to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Japanese organizers made their recommendations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which will ultimately be the deciding vote. The IOC will not make their final decisions until August 2016, however baseball and softball are thought to be a shoo-in due to their popularity in Japan.

Under the new “Olympic Agenda 2020″ host cities are allowed to propose the addition of one or more sports for their games. The additional events must add no more than 500 athletes. The IOC strongly urged that any additional sports be appealing to younger audiences.

Twenty-six sports applied for consideration. The Tokyo organizing committee then narrowed these down to eight, which they announced back in June. Some sports that unfortunately ended up on the chopping block were bowling, wushu, and squash.

The layout that was proposed to IOC was as follows:

-Baseball: six teams and 144 players, Softball: six teams and 90 players

-Karate: 80 athletes, 8 events for each men and women

-Sports climbing: 40 athletes competing in 2 events

-Skateboarding: 80 athletes participating in 2 street and 2 park competitions

-Surfing: 40 competitors for 2 shortboard events

The new events would add 474 athletes to the Olympic roster. This would be within the IOC’s guideline of no more than 500 additional competitors. The events would also attract a younger and more diverse audience and most of the added sports have international appeal.