SINGAPORE: Earlier this week, it was confirmed that five sports would be added to the programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The sports – cricket, squash, baseball-softball, lacrosse and flag football – were proposed for inclusion by LA Games organisers and received approval at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Mumbai.
CNA looks at how sports are selected for the Olympics:
What are the criteria that sports need to meet?
First, the sport needs to be recognised by the IOC, and must be governed by an International Federation.
Only sports that comply with the Olympic Charter, the World Anti-Doping Code and the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competition are eligible to be in a Games’ programme.
Under the current IOC rules, each host city can propose the inclusion of several sports for their edition of the Games. This started at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the host nation’s organising committee proposed sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing, baseball-softball and karate, all of which were approved.
A list of 35 criteria were used when the IOC evaluated these new sports proposed. They cover five main themes: Olympic proposal, value added to the Olympic Games, institutional matters, popularity and business model.