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Looking back, looking forward: The Olympics of adding new sports
The Olympics are officially over. What sports will carry on to the next edition? How is it decided?
Paris 2024 Olympics – Athletics – Men's High Jump Final – Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France – August 10, 2024.
Shelby McEwen of United States in action. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
| Photo Credit: KAI PFAFFENBACH
On August 9, b-girls took to the floor as the first event of the new Olympic sport breakdancing at Paris 2024 got underway. On August 11, the final winners took to the podium. Ami Yuasa of Japan took home the women’s gold, while silver went to Lithuania’s Dominika Banevič.
In the men’s event, the gold went to Canada’s Philip Kim, while DANNY DAN of France took home the silver. Bronze medals went to b-girl Liu Qingyi from China and b-boy Victor Montalvo of the U.S.
But when, and how did a new sport get added to the Olympic roster? And will it carry on to the next edition?
Paris Olympics: Break dancing steers Games towards the youth
The Olympics is used as a catch-all phrase for sports and atheleticism, but which sport is worthy of inclusion is a fraught question.
Since the modern games kicked off in 1896, there have been a plethora of sports which have trooped in and trooped out of the Olympic schedule. Sports to be included in a specific edition are decided years in advance, by the International Olympic Council with the consensus of participating nations.
In the last summer games held in Tokyo, five new games were added or brought back: skateboarding, climbing and surfing, karate and baseball/softball.
While skateboarding, climbing and surfing were added permanently, and made a glorious return in Paris 2024, two were temporary – karate and baseball.
Olympics closing ceremony: Paris Games close with a star-studded show
And now, as the Paris Games wind down, the stage is already set for the next ones- in Los Angeles in 2028. And the Paralympics 2024 are yet to take place, in Paris (August 28- September 8).
Baseball and softball will be re-appearing in 2028 in LA, but breakdancing won’t. Here's a look at the history of which sports get picked for the Olympics, and which get left out.
Paris Olympics 2024: Full list of Olympics sports disciplines
The ones that stayed
The only sports which have been featured in all Olympic Summer Games since 1896 are gymnastics, athletics, cycling, fencing and swimming. This edition featured 43 events, in which 280 athletes from 12 countries participated. This included track and field events, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, shooting and tennis.
In the 1900 Paris Olympics, a few more present-day sports were added, including rowing, water polo and equestrian sporting event.
More additions followed in the following decades. The following games were added most recently- and have stayed.
1984- Artistic/synchronised swimming and rhythmic gymnastics
1988- Table tennis
1992- Badminton
1996- Beach volleyball and mountain biking
2000- Taekwondo, Trampoline and Triathlon
2008- Rugby and golf (reintroduced) (only new sports inducted in the 2010s)
2020/21- Skateboarding, climbing and surfing
Discontinued or temporary additions
Many sports have made a temporary appearance, only to never be seen again on the Olympics schedule. Some time honoured ones have disappeared, others have returned in a new form.
A notable example is tug-of-war, which was featured from 1896 until the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium, after which it was dropped.
A British staple, polo has featured on and off between 1896 and 1936. Lacrosse was played in 1904 and 1908, and saw the occasional return. It will make a triumphant return in LA 2028.
What’s new in Paris Olympics 2024?
Rugby unions (15-a-side) was an official Olympic sport for some early editions of the modern Olympics — in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924), before being dropped. The IOC considered adding it in 2005, but it didn’t receive the required 75% vote in its favour. But the sport found favour in 2009, when a version was reinstated by the IOC- rugby sevens– starting with the 2016 Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro.
Golf featured in 1900 (men’s and women’s event) and 1904 (team), before going on a 112-year hiatus. It, too, reentered the Olympics cannon with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, following an IOC vote in 2009.
A popular inclusion, tennis too took a hiatus for 13 games between 1928 and 1984 Another staple, archery, took a break for 10 Olympics, from 1924 to 1968.
Baseball and softball have seen a tumultuous Olympics journey as well. Baseball was added in 1992, and softball in 1998, before both were dropped in 2012. They made a return for Tokyo 2020, but were notable by their absence in Paris 2024. They will, however, make an appearance in Los Angeles– home to noted local teams such as the Dodgers.
Martial arts have been included in various editions. Karathe was considered in 2005, but it did not win the required 75% favorable vote. But it was included in the Tokyo 2020 Games. In 2009, the IOC voted to add women’s boxing to the 2012 programme.
Some early inclusions were not sports at all: for 35 years the Olympics Games also included arts. Literature, music, painting, architecture, and sculpture were part of the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. More were added in the following years, before all arts events were dropped during the 1948 London Olympics.
The 1900 Paris Olympics saw a plethora of odd inclusions, such as live pigeon shooting, a 200 m swimming obstacle race, and the horse long jump. Less eclectic events which were later discontinued include croquet.
The 1908 Olympics in London even saw a competition in water motorsports. The 1912 Stockholm Olympic saw pistol duelling as an inclusion. A curious addition in later years was solo synchronised swimming- added in 1984, 1988 and 1992, and later discontinued.
Countries often included sports they were good at in the editions hosted in their cities, winning inaugural medals. Examples included boxing in 1904 in St. Louis, handball in 1936 in Berlin, and Judo in 1964 in Tokyo.
The Paris Olympics inclusion, breakdancing, will not be included in LA 2028, but efforts are on to bring it to the next Games, to be held in the Brisbane Summer Games in 1932.
New introductions in LA 2028 include flag football and squash. Other sports either making a debut or return are cricket, softball/baseball and lacrosse.
Breaking- the current addition and its victors
Breaking or breakdancing, the new inclusion during the Paris Olympics, is a street dance originating from the South Bronx of New York City during the ‘70s. It forms part of one of the four core elements of hip-hop: the other three are DJing, rapping/MCing, and graffiti art.
The event was held across two days at the Place de la Concorde at the end of the Champs-Elysees. A total of 16 men and 16 women competed for the two gold medals; the women’s final was won by Japan’s Ami Yuasa on August 10, and the men’s final by Philip Kim of Canada on August 11.
Breaking was announced as part of the Paris Olympics on December 7, 2020, so as to reach out to younger audiences. This followed after its success as part of the programme during the Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in 2018.
Do the Winter Olympics see any inclusions?
The next edition of Winter Olympics is set to take place in 2026, in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
The programme for the Winter Olympics sees sports played on snow or ice. This includes bobsledding, sledding, skeleton sledding, skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, curling, luge, the biathlon, ice hockey, and ice skating (figure skating and speed skating).
Skeleton sledding, in which a sled consisting of iron runners and a platform is ridden in a headfirst and prone position first appeared during the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics, before being reintroduced during the Games at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2002.
Curling was first introduced as a demonstration in the first Winter Olympic Games held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Curling has been described by the World Curling Organisation as follows: “a team sport, played on ice, where two teams take it in turns to slide stones made of granite towards a target – known as a House.“
After being a demonstration sport in 1932, 1988 and 1992, the sport gained medal status during the Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan in 1998. An additional event, the mixed doubles, was added in 2018, along with the existing men’s and women’s events..
The Original Olympics
The modern Olympics, of course, is a revival of the Games held in Greece during ancient times. The Ancient Games were a one-day event till 684 BC. They were later extended to three days, and then to five days in 5th century BC.
The events which formed part of the Ancient Olympics were:
Running, including the stade race, which was a 200m sprint, the diaulos, which covered two stades, or 400m, and the dolichos, which covered anywhere between 7 and 24 stades.
Jumping, the precursor of modern day long jumps, albeit with stone or lead weights called halteres to increase the distance of a jump.
Discus throw, similar to the freestyle discus throw of today, with the discus being made of stone, then progressing to iron, lead or bronze.
Equestrian events, including horse races and chariot races, held in the Hippodrome.
Shot put and javelin
Wrestling and boxing
Pankraton, a primitive martial art which combined wrestling and boxing. Legends attributed its creation to Theseus as he fought off the Minotaur in the labyrinth.
The Pentathlon, a precursor to today’s modern pentathalon, became an Olympic sport after wrestling was added in 708 B.C. It included running, jumping and discus throw.
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