Changes may be coming to the Summer Olympics:

“Each of the 28 sports in the Summer Olympics will be put to a vote in July when the IOC decides whether to make changes in the program for the 2012 Games.

… The IOC is considering whether to drop any of the existing 28 sports and add any of the five sports hoping to get into the Olympics — golf, rugby, karate, squash and roller sports.

No sport has been cut from the Summer Olympics since polo in 1936. … No new sport will be added unless one is dropped.”

“Roller sports?” Will Olivia Newton-John be doing her routine from “Xanadu?” Wouldn’t you rather see IOC-recognized (but not Olympic) sports motorcyle racing or tug of war? How about underwater sports, bandy, netball, or korfball (note to self: start own Olympic sport)?

According to the article, baseball, softball, and modern pentathlon are assumed to be most at risk. Apparently table tennis and badminton (popular mostly in Asia) and shooting and archery (popular … where?) are safe.

This requirement that there be no increase in the total number of Summer Olympic sports sounds like a way to force the elimination of baseball and softball. After all, what’s the incremental cost to add Karate? It can be held in the same facilities as current sports Judo and Taekwondo.

Furthermore, the Olympics categorizes dozens of track and field events under the single sport “Athletics,” and all swimming and diving under “Aquatics.” Why not combine Judo, Taekwondo, Boxing, Wrestling, under “Martial Arts” or “Fighting Sports” and then add Karate for free?

While baseball and softball may have limited appeal outside North America, the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, and a few other outposts, are squash or roller sports really more appealing? Or shooting or archery? Or does the move reflect anti-Americanism, or an attempt to extract money from incumbent sports organizations, or payoffs to IOC members? Sadly, with the IOC’s recent history, all of these are possibilities.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 20th, 2005 at 12:26 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable, Weekend Edition / Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.