Fri, Oct 08, 2004 page22

• Uncertain future awaits traditional Olympic events

  OVERHAUL Olympic chiefs are planning to axe minority specialist sports and replace them with guaranteed crowd-pullers, such as golf and rugby

  • THE OBSERVER
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  They are the quaintest of sports which, despite boasting few players, only a handful of fans and no stars, help to give the Olympic Games their unique appeal.

  But the days of taekwondo, modern pentathlon and equestrianism being part of the world's biggest sporting festival are numbered.

  They are set to be punished for their lack of popularity by being dropped from the Games

  Olympic chiefs are planning to axe minority specialist sports and replace them with guaranteed crowd-pullers, such as golf and rugby, in a move which will outrage sporting traditionalists.

  Alarmed that the Olympics are increasingly seen as too staid, too out-of-touch and too dominated by the world's biggest countries, the International Olympic Committee is preparing a radical overhaul of the event intended to make it sexier, more global and better reflect sports which young people like.

  Baseball, softball and Greco-Roman wrestling are among the sports which may be axed, while golf, rugby sevens, karate, squash and even roller-skating are being lined up as replacements.

  The IOC president, Jacques Rogge, is keen to boost the image of the four-yearly summer Olympics, which he and other senior IOC figures fear is too staid and unattractive to younger people who are into newer, more demanding pursuits, such as dirt-biking and extreme sports.

  An IOC working group is drawing up plans to modernize the sporting programme for the summer Olympics. Whatever changes are agreed will be introduced at the 2012 Games.

  Last week, the IOC confirmed that it was writing to the world governing bodies of five sports that could potentially add to the quality and popularity of the Games: golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller sports. All five are desperate to join the Olympics.

  The IOC says that the popularity of the Games largely depends on the content of the sports programme, which must be "exciting, attractive, action-packed and athlete-focused. It must also reflect the constant evolution of public expectations."

  Rogge tried to axe modern pentathlon, baseball and softball in 2002, but those sports fought successful campaigns to thwart him. But the experience of the 2004 Olympics in Athens in August has convinced IOC members that a revamping of the schedule is needed.

  The IOC has decided that for every sport which comes in, one will have to go, as it intends to keep the maximum number of sports contested at 28.

  Golf and rugby are highly likely to be included, karate is tipped to replace taekwondo, but squash is unlikely to supplant any of the three existing racquet sports of tennis, badminton and table tennis.

  Roller-skating is seen as an outside bet for inclusion in 2012. Although a popular pastime, few people realize that it is also a competitive sport.

  However, the IOC has already agreed other changes intended to modernize the Games, such as substituting two BMX cycling events for two track cycling contests at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

  The IOC will decide which sports are in and which will go in July next year.
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