Tokyo 2020 Sports Program in IOC Hands

(ATR) Tokyo 2020 tells Around the Rings the Organizing Committee has no input on the final sports program decision for the next Summer Olympics.

Executives of the International Olympic Committee convene in Lausanne on June 9 to discuss the sports proposals submitted by International Federations, including the number of athletes, disciplines and medal events desired.

Originally scheduled for its Executive Board meeting in July, the IOC has moved up the discussion to its extraordinary EB meeting in June called to determine the feasibility of a dual 2024 and 2028 Olympics award this September.

"Now that we have a [EB] meeting on June 9 it makes sense to use this opportunity," the IOC said on June 2. "In addition, an early decision is clearly beneficial to all the parties involved."

Tokyo 2020 says this is where the final decision on the sports program will be made without their input.

"The decision on the events program purely belongs to the IOC Executive Board," a Tokyo 2020 spokesperson tells ATR.

Tokyo 2020 did have an initial say in the sports program for the Games. The OCOG was the first to be able to take full advantage of Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms that gave host cities input as to which new sports could be added to the Olympics on a Games-by-Games basis.

Organizers proposed the inclusion of baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing which was approved by the IOC at the 2016 Session in Rio de Janeiro.

The additional sports have added a bit of a challenge to the 23-member IOC Program Commission led by Franco Carraro. Carraro and his fellow IOC members have to balance the new sports with requests by the existing 28 Summer Olympic IFs to increase the number of disciplines, events and athletes. Carraro tells ATR he will give his report to the IOC EB before a final decision is made.

Among those requesting to change the Tokyo 2020 Olympic program are the IFs of basketball, canoeing, cycling, rowing, shooting sport and table tennis. Basketball is notably seeking to add the discipline of 3x3 while sports like rowing, canoeing and table tennis are seeking to add more women’s and mixed gender events.

The finalized sports program will be a big topic of discussion during the upcoming IOC Coordination Commission visit to Japan at the end of the month. Organizers and IFs will be able to ask questions specific to the approved program and begin to develop its final plans for the Games.

The CoComm will take place from June 28-30 led by IOC vice president John Coates.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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