How a Sport Becomes an Olympic Event
Irwin Kishner was quoted in Forbes regarding the process for how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adds new sports for future Olympic Games. The IOC recently added baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, sports climbing and surfing for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. “Many sports want to get Olympic recognition because it is a way for public demonstration to the world, and a surge of interest often follows,” Kishner told the publication. While the traditional path to Olympic inclusion is for a sport’s international federation to petition the IOC, Tokyo is the first Games to allow local organizing committees to introduce popular local sports, provided they have an international federation and appeal to millennials. “The IOC is being very proactive in recognizing the importance of that audience,” Kishner said. “They don’t want to allow competitors like ESPN’s X Games to challenge the sanctity of the Games.”