The 5 new sports added to Olympics 2020 to be held in Tokio are skateboarding, karate, surfing, sports climbing and baseball/softball. The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously to add them in their last meeting.
Sports Added to Olympics 2020
The vote has been considered “the most comprehensive evolution of the Olympic programme in modern history,” as the IOC are placing emphasis on getting a younger generation of athletes excited about the Games.
“We want to take sport to the youth,” said IOC president Thomas Bach. “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. “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 inclusion of the package of new sports will afford young athletes the chance of a lifetime,” Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said. “To realize 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.”
Costa Rica is holding this next weekend the ISA World Surfing Games, which will also be the first World Surfing Championship looking forward to the next Olympic games.