Olympic committee adds five sports to summer games in Tokyo

Skateboarders, karate masters, climbers, surfers and baseball or softball players now have a chance to vie for an Olympic medal after five new sports are introduced in the summer Olympic Games in 2020.

The International Olympic Committee (OIC) has added Baseball/Softball, Karate, Skateboard, Sports Climbing and Surfing to the sports program for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

According to the IOC, the decision made during its 129th session in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is meant to bring the Olympic Games closer to the youth through urbanised sports.

“We want to take sport to the youth,” IOC president Thomas Bach said. “With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us. We have to go to them. Tokyo 2020’s balanced proposal fulfils all of the goals of the Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendation that allowed it. Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of established and emerging, youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games.”

The historic change stemmed from a proposal from the Organizing Committee of Tokyo 2020 submitted in September 2015.

“The inclusion of the package of new sports will afford young athletes the chance of a lifetime to realise their dreams of competing in the Olympic Games – the world's greatest sporting stage – and inspire them to achieve their best, both in sport and in life,” Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori stressed out.

#Tokyo2020: More events, more athletes

The existing program for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 consists of 28 sports. Following the IOC decision, the inclusion of five new sports will add 18 events and 474 athletes to the sporting event.

“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 current athlete and event quotas are unaffected,” the IOC clarified.

Discussing on the event program is still on going and it will be finalised by the IOC executive board by mid-2017.

Who wants to be #Tokyo2020 gold medallists in Baseball/Softball, Karate, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing & Surfing? pic.twitter.com/auL4a9myAV

— Tokyo 2020 (@Tokyo2020) August 3, 2016