Planning for its next three Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday added seven medal events to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, published a 2020 Tokyo Olympics schedule with no agreement on when to race swimming finals and set a timetable to add new sports to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
The next Winter Olympics are now to include women’s monobob, Big Air freestyle skiing for men and women, as well as mixed team events in short-track speed skating, ski jumping, ski aerials and snowboard cross.
The addition of gold medals to a 109-event program was combined with a reduction in how many athletes are to compete.
In an attempt to cut organizing costs, amid recent failures of potential bidders in Europe for the 2026 Winter Games, there should be no additional venues required and 41 fewer athletes in Beijing than the 2,933 competitors at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February.
Changes for Beijing were “really sending a strong message about controlling the size of the Olympic Winter Games,” IOC sports director Kit McConnell said.
Sports losing athletes from their Olympic quota include 41 in skiing disciplines, 26 from skating and 20 fewer in biathlon.
Women’s ice hockey is to grow by two teams to become a 10-nation lineup, adding 46 athletes.
An improved gender balance would see 45.4 percent female athletes in Beijing, an increase from 41.1 percent at the Pyeongchang Games, McConnell said.
A women’s Nordic combined event — mixing cross-country skiing and ski jumping — will not join the Olympic program, because the overall quality of competition and number of countries taking part was not “at a level appropriate to being included,” he said.
Two years and one week before the Tokyo Olympics open, the IOC published a detailed schedule of when competitions will take place.
However, it lacked any breakdown of events at the Olympic Aquatics Center, which hosts swimming, diving and synchronized swimming.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in a time zone one hour different to Tokyo, swimming finals and semi-finals were raced in morning sessions so they could be broadcast live in the US’ late evening.
The US’ National Broadcasting Co is the single biggest contributor to Olympic revenues.
However, swimming is also a core attraction for the host nation’s viewers, with Japan winning seven medals, including two gold, at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
A swimming sessions schedule should be finalized inside two months, with the IOC, Tokyo organizers and the International Swimming Federation seeking a balance to ensure “each of the key time zones have some of their key sports live,” McConnell said.
Paris organizers have an uncertain wait to discover if new sports they propose next year for inclusion on the 2024 program would be approved.
The IOC plans to make interim decisions on the Paris preferences at a meeting in Milan, Italy, in October next year, then review again after seeing how other sports perform at the Tokyo Olympics.
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