Olympic sports

Olympic sports are sports contested in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The 2012 Summer Olympics will include 26 sports, with two additionall sports due to be added to the 2016 Summer Olympics. The 2014 Winter Olympics will include 7 sports.[1]

Contents

Olympic sports definitions

The term "sport" in Olympic terminology refers to all the events that are sanctioned by one International Sport Federation, a definition that may be different from the common meaning of the word sport. One sport, by Olympic definition, may be divided into several disciplines, which are often regarded as separate sports in common language.

For example: Aquatics is a Summer Olympic sport that includes five disciplines: Swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, water polo and open water swimming, since all these disciplines are governed at international level by the International Swimming Federation.[1] Skating is a Winter Olympic sport represented by the International Skating Union, and also includes five disciplines: figure skating, ice dancing, speed skating (on a traditional long track), short track speed skating and synchronized skating (the latter is non-Olympic discipline)[1]. The sport with largest number of Olympic disciplines is Skiing, with six: Alpine Skiing, Cross country skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic combined, Snowboarding and Freestyle skiing). Other notable multi-discipline sports are gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic and trampoline), cycling (road, track, mountain and BMX), volleyball (indoors and beach), wrestling (freestyle and greco-roman), canoeing (flatwater and slalom) and bobsleigh (includes skeleton). On some occasions, notably in the case of snowboarding, the IOC agreed to add sports which previously had a separate International Federation to the Olympics on condition that they dissolve their governing body and instead affiliate with an existing Olympic sport federation, therefore not increasing the number of Olympic sports.

An event, by IOC definition, is a competition that leads to the award of Medals. Therefore, the sport of aquatics includes a total of 46 Olympic events, of which 32 are in the discipline of swimming, eight in diving, and two each in synchronized swimming, diving and open water swimming. The number of events per sport ranges from a minimum of two (until 2008 there were sports with only one event) to a maximum of 47 in Athletics, which despite its large number of events and its diversity is not divided into disciplines.

Changes in Olympic sports

The list of Olympic sports has changed considerably during the course of Olympic history, and has gradually increased until the early 2000s, when the IOC decided to cap the number of sports in the Summer Olympics at 28. There is no such cap for the Winter Olympics, but no additional winter sport is currently eligible.

The only summer sports that have never been absent from the Olympic program are athletics, swimming, fencing, and gymnastics (only artistic gymnastics).

The only winter sports that were included in all Winter Olympic Games are skiing (only nordic skiing), skating (figure skating and speed skating) and ice hockey. Figure skating and ice hockey were also included in the Summer Olympics before the Winter Olympics were introduced in 1924.

For most of the 20th century, demonstration sports were included in many Olympic Games, usually to promote a non-Olympic sport popular in the host country, or to gauge interest and support for the sport.[2] The competitions and ceremonies in these sports were identical to official Olympic sports, except that the medals were not counted in the official record. Some demonstration sports, like baseball and curling, were later added to the official Olympic program. This changed when the International Olympic Committee decided in 1989 to eliminate demonstration sports from Olympics Games after 1992.[3] An exception was made in 2008, when the Beijing Organizing Committee received permission to organize a wushu tournament.[4][5]

A sport or discipline may be included in the Olympic program if the IOC determines that it is widely practiced around the world, that is, the number of countries and continents that regularly compete in a given sport is the indicator of the sport's prevalence. The requirements for winter sports are considerably lower than for summer sports since many fewer nations compete in winter sports. The IOC also has lower requirements for inclusion of sports and disciplines for women for the same reason. Following the addition of women's boxing in 2012, and women's ski jumping in 2014, there will be no Olympic sport for men only in those Games, although women are still barred from several disciplines (but on the other hand, there are women-only disciplines, such as rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming).

Sports that depend primarily on mechanical propulsion, such as motor sports, may not be considered for recognition as Olympic sports, though there were power-boating events in the early days of the Olympics before this rule was enacted by the IOC.[6][7]

These criteria are only a threshold for consideration as Olympic sport. In order to be admitted to the Olympic program, the IOC Session has to approve its inclusion. There are many sports that easily make the required numbers but are not recognized as Olympic sports, mainly because the IOC has decided to put a limit on the number of sports, as well as events and athletes, in the Summer Olympics in order not to increase them from the 28 sports, 300 events and 10,000 athletes of the 2000 Summer Olympics. No such limits exist in the Winter Olympics and the number of events and athletes continue to increase, but no sport has been added since 1998.

Previous Olympic Games included sports which are no longer present on the current program, like polo and tug of war.[1] In the early days of the modern Olympics, the organizers were able to decide which sports or disciplines were included on the program, until the IOC took control of the program in 1924. As a result, a number of sports were on the Olympic program for relatively brief periods before 1924[6]. These sports, known as discontinued sports, were removed because of lack of interest or absence of an appropriate governing body, or because they became fully professional at the time that the Olympic Games were strictly for amateurs, as in the case of tennis[6]. Several discontinued sports, such as archery and tennis, were later readmitted to the Olympic program (in 1972 and 1984, respectively). Two other discontinued sports, golf and rugby, are due to return in 2016. Curling, which was an official sport in 1924 and then discontinued, was reinstated as Olympic sport in 1998.

Since 1936, the only sports that were excluded from the Olympic program are Baseball and Softball, which were both voted out by the IOC Session in Singapore on July 11, 2005[8] a decision that was reaffirmed on February 9, 2006.[9] These sports were last included in 2008, although officially they remain recognized as Olympic sports in the Olympic Charter. Therefore, the number of sports in the 2012 Summer Olympics was dropped from 28 to 26.

On August 13, 2009, the IOC Executive Board proposed that golf and rugby sevens be added to the Olympic program for the 2016 Games.[10] On 9 October 2009, during the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, the IOC voted to admit both sports as official Olympic sports and to include them in the 2016 Summer Olympics,[11] The IOC voted 81-8 in favor of including rugby sevens and 63-27 in favor of reinstating golf.[11] thus bringing the number of sports back to 28.

The latest winter sport added to the Winter Olympics was curling in 1998.

The Olympic Charter decrees that Olympic sports for each edition of the Olympic Games should be decided at an IOC Session no later than 7 years prior to the Games.

Recognized international federations

Many sports are not recognized as Olympic sports although their governing bodies are recognized by the IOC.[1] Such sport, if eligible under the terms of the Olympic Charter, may apply for inclusion in the program of future Games, through a recommendation by the IOC Olympic Programme Commission, followed by a decision of the IOC executive Board and a vote of the IOC Session. When Olympic demonstration sports were allowed, a sport usually appeared as such before being officially admitted.[2] An International Sport Federation (IF) is responsible for ensuring that the sport's activities follow the Olympic Charter. From the moment their sport is recognized the IF become official Olympic sport federation and can assemble with other Olympic IFs in the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (for summer sports) or Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (for winter sports).[1] Many such non-Olympic sports have become part of the schedule of the World Games.

The governing bodies of following sports, though not contested in the Olympic Games, are recognized by the IOC:[12]

Those sports marked with an asterisk are not eligible to be included at the Olympic Games because the Olympic Charter specifically bans sports with an element of motorization from eligibility.

Summer Olympics

At the first Olympic Games, nine sports were contested.[13] Since then, the number of sports contested at the Summer Olympic Games has gradually risen to twenty-eight on the program for 2000-2008. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, however, the number of sports will fall back to twenty-six following an IOC decision in 2005 to remove baseball and softball from the Olympic program. These sports retain their status as Olympic sports with the possibility of a return to the Olympic program in future games.[8] At the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen on 9 October 2009, the IOC voted to reinstate both golf and rugby to the Olympic program, meaning that the number of sports to be contested in 2016 will be back up to 28 again[14]. The IOC has put a limit of 28 sports in the Summer Olympics, therefore no further sports may be added unless existing sports are removed. The IOC has also decided that in the future (starting from 2020), the program of the Summer Olympics will include 25 core sports (yet to be selected) and additional 3 sports that will be decided for each Summer Olympics.

In order for a sport or discipline to be considered for inclusion in the list of Summer Olympics sports, it must be widely practiced in at least 75 countries, spread over four continents. Women's sports or disciplines may be considered if practiced in at least 50 countries.

Current summer program

The following sports (or disciplines of a sport) make up the current Summer Olympic Games official program and are listed alphabetically according to the name used by the IOC. The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport contested at the respective Games; a bullet (•) denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport.

Seven of the 26 sports consist of multiple disciplines. Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:

     Aquatics –      Canoeing/Kayak –      Cycling –      Gymnastics –      Volleyball –      Equestrian –      Wrestling
For equestrian and wrestling, the figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport, and not for each discipline separately.

Sport (Discipline) Body 96 00 04 06 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12
 
Diving FINA 2 1 2 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8
Swimming 4 7 9 4 6 9 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 13 15 18 29 29 26 26 29 31 31 32 32 32 34 34
Synchronized swimming 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2
Water polo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
 
Canoe/kayak (sprint) ICF • 9 9 9 9 7 7 7 7 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
Canoe/kayak (slalom) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
 
BMX UCI 2 2
Mountain biking 2 2 2 2 2
Road cycling 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4
Track cycling 5 2 7 5 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 5 6 7 8 12 12 10 10
 
Artistic FIG 8 1 11 4 2 4 4 9 8 11 9 9 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14
Rhythmic 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2
Trampoline 2 2 2 2
 
Volleyball (beach) FIVB • 2 2 2 2 2
Volleyball (indoor) • 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
 
Dressage FEI 3 5 7 5 6 5 6 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Eventing
Jumping
 
Freestyle FILA 1 8 4 10 5 10 13 13 14 14 16 16 16 16 16 16 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 16 18 18 18
Greco-Roman
 
Archery FITA 6 6 3 10 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Athletics IAAF 12 23 25 21 26 30 29 27 27 29 29 33 33 33 34 36 36 38 37 38 41 42 43 44 46 46 47 47
Badminton BWF • • 4 5 5 5 5 5
Basketball FIBA • • 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Boxing AIBA 7 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 13
Fencing FIE 3 7 5 8 4 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 10 10 10 10 10
Field hockey FIH 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Football FIFA 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2
Handball IHF 1 • 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Judo IJF 4 6 6 8 8 7 14 14 14 14 14 14
Modern pentathlon UIPM 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2
Rowing FISA 5 5 6 4 4 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14
Sailing ISAF 10 4 4 14 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 8 10 10 11 11 11 10
Shooting ISSF 5 9 16 15 18 21 10 2 3 4 7 7 6 6 7 8 7 7 11 13 13 15 17 17 15 15
Table tennis ITTF 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Taekwondo WTF • • 8 8 8 8
Tennis ITF 2 4 2 4 6 8 5 5 • • 4 4 4 4 4 4 5
Triathlon ITU 2 2 2 2
Weightlifting IWF 2 2 2 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 15 15 15 15
 
Total events 43 89 96 78 110 102 156 126 109 116 129 136 149 151 150 163 172 195 198 203 221 237 257 271 300 301 302 302

Discontinued summer sports

The following sports were previously part of the Summer Olympic Games program as official sports, but are no longer on the current program. The numbers in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport that were contested at the respective Games; a bullet denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport.

Sport 96 00 04 06 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08
 
Baseball • • • • • • • 1 1 1 1 1
Basque pelota 1 • • •
Cricket 1
Croquet 3
Golf 2 2
Lacrosse 1 1 • • •
Jeu de paume • 1 •
Polo 1 1 1 1 1
Rackets 2
Roque 1
Rugby union 1 1 1 1
Softball 1 1 1 1
Tug of war 1 1 1 1 1 1
Water motorsports • 3
 
Figure skating 4 3 Rescheduled during winter games
Ice hockey 1

Demonstration summer sports

The following sports or disciplines have been demonstrated at the Summer Olympic Games for the years shown, but have never been included on the official Olympic program:

Gliding was promoted from demonstration sport to an official Olympic sport in 1936 in time for the 1940 Summer Olympics, but the Games were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II.[15][16]

Winter Olympics

Before 1924, when the first Winter Olympic Games were celebrated, sports held on ice, like figure skating and ice hockey, were contested at the Summer Olympics.[17] These two sports made their debuts at the 1908 and the 1920 Summer Olympics, respectively, but were permanently integrated in the Winter Olympics program as of the first edition. The International Winter Sports Week, later dubbed the I Olympic Winter Games and retroactively recognized as such by the IOC, consisted of nine sports. The number of sports contested at the Winter Olympics has since been decreased to seven, comprising a total of fifteen disciplines.[18]

A sport or discipline must be widely practiced in at least 25 countries on three continents in order to be included on the Winter Olympics program.[6]

Current winter program

The following sports (or disciplines of a sport) make up the current Winter Olympic Games official program and are listed alphabetically, according to the name used by the IOC. The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport that were contested at the respective Games (the red cells indicate that those sports were held at the Summer Games); a bullet denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport. On some occasions, both official medal events and demonstration events were contested in the same sport at the same Games.

Three out of the seven sports consist of multiple disciplines. Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:

     Skating –      Skiing –      Bobsleigh

Sport (Discipline) Body 08 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14
 
Figure skating ISU 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5
Speed skating   5 4 4 • 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 12
Short track speed skating   • 4 6 6 8 8 8 8
 
Ice hockey IIHF   1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2
Curling WCF   1 • • • 2 2 2 2 2
 
Cross country skiing FIS   2 2 2 3 3 4 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 10 10 10 12 12 12 12
Alpine skiing   2 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Ski jumping   1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4
Nordic combined   1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3
Freestyle skiing   • 2 • 4 4 4 4 6 10
Snowboarding   4 4 6 6 10
 
Biathlon IBU   1 •1 •1 •1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 6 6 6 8 10 10 11
Luge FIL   3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4
 
Bobsleigh FIBT   1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3
Skeleton   1 1 2 2 2 2
 
Total events 16 14 14 17 22 22 24 27 34 35 35 37 38 39 46 57 61 68 78 84 86 98

1 As military patrol, see below.

Demonstration winter sports

The following sports have been demonstrated at the Winter Olympic Games for the years shown, but have never been included on the official Olympic program:

Military patrol was an official skiing event in 1924 but the IOC currently considers it an event of biathlon in those games, and not as a separate sport. Ski ballet, similarly, was simply a demonstration event falling under the scope of freestyle skiing.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Olympic Sports". International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Sports/. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 
  2. ^ a b "Demonstration Sports at the Olympic Games". Top End Sports. 2007-01-26. http://www.topendsports.com/events/discontinued/demo.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  3. ^ "Albertville 1992". International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Albertville-1992/. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
  4. ^ "Wushu to be part of Beijing Olympic Games". News Guangdong. 2005-10-14. http://www.newsgd.com/culture/culturenews/200510140032.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  5. ^ "Rogge says wushu no "Olympic sport" in 2008". Xinhua News Agency. 2005-10-16. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/16/content_3621265.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  6. ^ a b c d "Olympic Sports, Disciplines & Events". HickokSports.com. 2005-02-04. http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olsports.shtml. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  7. ^ What Events are Olympic? Olympics at SportsReference.com. Accessed on 15 Aug 2008.
  8. ^ a b Associated Press (9 July 2005). "They'rrre out! Olympics drop baseball, softball". NBC Sports. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/8504326/site/21683474/. Retrieved 15 August 2008. "Rogge has basically conspired against the sports to get them removed" 
  9. ^ de Vries, Lloyd (9 February 2006). "Strike 3 for Olympic Baseball". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/09/sportsline/main1300205.shtml. Retrieved 15 August 2008. 
  10. ^ Wilson, Stephen (August 13, 2009). "Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2009656175_apolyiocnewsports.html. Retrieved 2009-08-14. 
  11. ^ a b "Golf & rugby voted into Olympics". BBC. October 9, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/8292584.stm. Retrieved 4 January 2010. 
  12. ^ http://www.olympic.org/ioc
  13. ^ "Athens 1896". Olympic Games. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/Athens-1896/. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 
  14. ^ Klein, Jeff Z. (August 14, 2009). "IOC Decision Draws Cheers and Complaints From Athletes". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/sports/14sports.html?pagewanted=print. 
  15. ^ Welch, Ann (1980). The Story of Gliding 2nd edition. John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-3659-6. 
  16. ^ "DFS-Olympia-Meise". Deutsches Museum. http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/flugwerft/collections/sailplanes/olympia-meise/. Retrieved 2008-03-25. 
  17. ^ "A History of Winter Olympic Games: Celebration and Contrariety". WorldWeb Travel Guide. 2000. http://www.saltlakecity.coolattractions.com/history.html. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  18. ^ "Charmonix 1924". Olympic Games. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Chamonix-1924/. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 

External links

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Winter Games
1 Discounted ex post facto by the IOC. 2 Cancelled due to World War I. 3 Cancelled due to World War II.
Sports at the Olympic Games
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Past sports
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Former Olympic sports
Part of the 2016 program