(ATR) The way is cleared for new flexibility to add or remove sports from the program of the Summer Olympics after a unanimous vote at the IOC Session in Guatemala City.
The changes approved call for the IOC to establish a core program of 26 sports for the 2016 Olympics, which would drop to 25 for the 2020 Olympics.
Beyond those core sports, the IOC would have the option, seven years in advance of each Olympic Games, to add sports, up to a limit of 28.
IOC President Jacques Rogge called the existing method of changing the Olympic program “a system that is not satisfactory” in urging his colleagues to adopt the changes. The changes have been a work in progress since the debacle of the 2005 Session when the IOC dropped baseball and softball from the 2012 program but failed to add any new sports despite five nominations: golf, karate, roller sports, rugby and squash. None of those five received the 2/3 vote of the Session required to join the sports program.
Under the changes to the Olympic Charter okayed today, a simple majority of the Session will be needed to add a sport to the Summer Olympics.
For 2016, the core of 26 sports will remain the same as the ones on the program for London Olympics.
It will be up to the IOC Program Commission and the Executive Board to decide which sport to drop from IOC Program Commission chairman Franco Carraro reports in Guatemala. (ATR)the list of 26, but that decision will be made in 2013.
Any additional sports for the 2016 Olympics will be brought forward in 2009; baseball and softball are both campaigning to regain their places.
Rogge says sports added to the program beyond the core group will be subject to review after each Olympics to determine if they should remain in the next Games. He cited the example of judo, added to the Games forWomen’s ski jumping could be added to the program of the Sochi Olympics in 2011. 1964, but taken off in 1968 only to return on a permanent basis in 1972.
The core sports on the program will also be reviewed after each Games, says Rogge. He said sports could be removed for a number of reasons, such as corruption, mismanagement or a loss of popularity.
No Changes to Winter Program, Hope for Women Ski Jumpers
The IOC also approved the program for the 2014 Winter Olympics, with no changes from the program for the 2010 Olympic in Vancouver.
In response to a question about the status of women’s ski jumping, IOC Program Commission chair Franco Carraro says as a discipline of an existing sport, the event could be added to the 2014 Games in Sochi in 2011.
The IOC rejected efforts to add women to the ski jumping events in 2010, saying the discipline did not meet the criteria for universality, citing the need for more world championships.
“There are no doubts that the Program Commission would be happy to add women ski jumping as soon as universality is proven,” said Carraro.
Carraro says the winter program will not be affected by the limits on size or number of events in place for the summer program.
On the scene coverage of the IOC Session in Guatemela continues through this week at www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only.
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