Lausanne (Switzerland): Breakdancing and three other sports have made the next move toward becoming medal events at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board Wednesday recommended adding breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing to the Paris programme when the full membership meets in June. A final decision must be made by the board in December 2020 after further monitoring of the four.
The IOC board also agreed Wednesday to continue helping North and South Korean athletes and officials work together despite diplomatic setbacks between the neighbouring governments in recent days.
Joint Korean teams are being prepared in four sports to try to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and a co-hosting bid for the 2032 Summer Games is a possible aim.
With those 2032 Olympics and the 2030 Winter Games in mind, a panel has been asked to look at ways of making an often expensive and politically unpopular candidate process ‘more flexible and more targeted’.
“The IOC may approach a city or a region and tell them, ‘Listen, isn’t it not a time for you now?’” IOC president Thomas Bach said at a news conference after the second of three days of board meetings.
Making the Olympic Games more affordable and responsive has been a key aim for Bach. He praised the four likely additions to the Paris medal programme as ‘more gender balanced, more youthful and more urban’. “These four sports also offer the opportunity to connect with the young generation,” asserted Bach.
Though breakdancing would be new in the Summer Games, the other three are already confirmed for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics lineup. All four sports will be assessed for how they are managed, and the integrity of competitions and judging, before being finalised for Paris.
Talking about the unified Korean teams for the 2020 Tokyo Games, the IOC president said that efforts would continue. “We will try to continue our efforts there with a view to helping and assisting the athletes and the (national Olympic committees),” Bach told reporters.
Combined Korean teams — in women’s basketball, women’s field hockey, mixed team judo, and men’s and women’s rowing — are preparing to enter qualification this year to compete in Tokyo.
AFP
