The Olympic Games are surely one of the most massive, international and broadcast events in the world.
This contest is based on the sporting events that the Greeks celebrated back in the 8th century BC. C. in the city of Olympia . If we could tell you that today more than 10,000 people gather to practice 28 (now more) sports from 200 different countries, you would not believe it.
The Olympic Games are undoubtedly an international sensation and in the next Tokyo Games, which will be in 2020, they will bring 5 new sports disciplines. Which of them do you like the most
The 5 new Olympic sports
Those in charge of deciding which sports are incorporated or not, compose the callThe General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee (IOC for short) . The assembly has decided to incorporate these 5 disciplines for the next Tokyo Games:
1. Karate
This widespread martial art will finally have its space in the next Olympic Games. The classification will be divided into three weights for each sex.
2. Skateboarding
The urban sport par excellence will have competitions for both sexes divided into two disciplines: street and park . Likewise, the competitors will be divided into men and women.
3. Sport Climbing
This explosive and surprising sport for those who contemplate it for the first time, will have tests of various types.
We will find tests of 3 types:Boulder (adaptation of the English boulder), refers to the climbing of “small” blocks of a maximum height of 8 meters without the help of other materials; speed and road opening.
4. Surfing
Surfing will be incorporated into water sports. Although at first the option of doing it in an artificial pool with waves was considered, the final decision has been to use the open sea .
Men and women will compete separately, all of them under the short board sub-discipline.
5. Baseball / Softball
Despite the differences that can be found between Softball and Baseball, there will be a category in the Olympic Games that will encompass both.
If we look back,We will remember that baseball/softball was present until the Beijing Olympics (2008) where it had its last edition just before its candidacy as an Olympic game was withdrawn.
As a novelty, it has been agreed that there will be 6 teams (6 male and 6 female) that will attend the event.
Selection criteria
Reading all this, a question assails us: what is taken into account to incorporate new sports in the Olympics?
Well, the International Olympic Committee takes into account quite a few points when it comes to including (or discarding) sports as possible bets olympic Over the years a large number of sports are proposed, but only a few make it through the selection to the final phase. In fact,this process takes a long time (sometimes years) until a final decision is made.
The main criteria are the following:
1. Number of practitioners
The number of people who practice the discipline in question at an international level, throughout the five continents, is very much in mind.
If the amount is not high enough, the game is not relevant enough to be part of the chosen games.
2. Olympic Spirit
This apparently abstract criterion refers to the essence of the Olympics . Olympic sports must be elegant, clean and respectful, even in the cases of martial arts.
transmit the image ofa united civilization that practices sports together beyond mere competition is essential.
3. Antiquity
The official federations distributed throughout the world of the same sport must have a long way to go, in such a way that the sports discipline is rooted in a large number of territories .
Therefore, this does not mean that a sport has been practiced for a long time in many parts of the world, but rather that it has long had solid official federations that defend and regulate its practice.
4. Economic power
Yes, although it sounds sad, one of the main factors is money. The sport must be attractive enough to move millions of dollars (or any other currency). It must sell (many) tickets, it must have a television audience and it must meet many other parameters that reflect that people are willing to pay to see it . A whole demonstration of how money comes first in this world.
5. Millennial Attractiveness
The evaluated sport must be highly attractive to the world, but especially to young people. This is because if young people bet on a sport, it will largely ensure the hegemony of that sport for a long period of years.
On the other hand, if a sport is not attractive to young people and is only attractive to people who are, for example, 50 or 60 years old, it will be a matter of a few decades before interest in it is lost.
2 issues for the future
We find two doubts that will be resolved in the coming years. They are the following.
Temporary Olympic sports
According to Franco Carraro (Italian politician and sports leader) the inclusion of these disciplines will only strictly affect Tokyo 2020, therefore, in the next deliveries it should be reviewed if these sports are maintained , or if on the contrary, they are maintained on the sidelines
The e-Sports
The already well-known as e-Sports continue to be a central topic of discussion among the bureaucrats of the International Olympic Committee. Many of us would like to be able to enjoy such a spectacle , but there are many questions to reflect on: are they really sports
? Why then is chess not incorporated first, for example
, how would video games be selected
? At the same time, create a Virtual Olympic Games to incorporate e-Sports, augmented reality, virtual reality and other new technologies that will broaden our sports horizons.
