What, More Sports?!

In just less than a year's time, the International Olympic Committee will whether they will add any new sports to the 2020 Olympic programme. This made me wander why the IOC want to add any more sports to their already saturated programme.

London 2012 was made up of 26 different sports, the smallest since 1996, when this figure was equalled. Not for one moment during these games did I think that the games were lacking Wushu or roller sports, in fact I think the addition of Golf and Rugby Sevens for 2016 is unnecessary considering both Golf and Rugby already have large international tournaments.

Worse still, if one of Climbing, Wushu, Karate, Squash or Baseball and softball, we will lose one of the current Olympic sports, or they will surpass the 28 sport limit. while we have little reason to fear over Athletics, Swimming, Cycling or Gymnastics, I am dreading the potential removal of sports such as Taekwondo, Fencing, Modern Pentathlon (The sport created for the Olympics) and Equestrian (My personal favourite).

Let's face it, none of the shortlisted sports truly embody the Olympic spirit; Baseball and Softball are the first two sports to be removed from the Olympics since Polo in 1936, while Karate bears too many similaries to Taekwondo. The only country that plays Wushu is China, and they don't really need more medals do they? Climbing would send all spectators to sleep, and Squash lacks international participation as does Roller sports.

These sports also lack the ability to draw in the crowds, I couldn't imagine many people that would spend their hard earned money watching someone climbing a wall or skating around in circles on roller blades.

More sports also make the games difficult to host, an extra burden for debt-ridden hosts to carry. Rugby Sevens for example needs a stadium of around 40,000 seats, and considering Rugby isn't too international, host cities will fork out for a new one, on top of the costs of other venues.

It is also noteworthy that not all Olympic sports are instantly popular; tennis, which was introduced in 1988 only managed to gain popularity as an Olympic sport in 2012, while basketball has remained dull since 1992 when NBA players could compete, unofficially giving the USA the gold for each games in both men's and women's.

I have to say if any of these sports deserves the legendary Olympic status, it would have to be squash, as it is truly individual as as sport, despite being hard to follow, and if any sports are to be removed from the Olympic programme it should be one of Golf or Rugby sevens, that really don't need the Olympic attention.