The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today approved several new events for the 2012 London Olympic Games. All of the new events had been requested by the relevant International Federations as part of the IOC’s systematic review of the sports programme. The changes reflect the IOC’s desire to continually refresh the Olympic programme and its commitment to increase participation by women.
The changes approved by the Executive Board include the following:
Women’s Boxing
The EB agreed to the introduction of three women’s events. The current 11 men’s boxing events will be replaced by 10 men’s and three women’s events, representing an additional two boxing events on the programme. The total number of boxers remains unchanged. The decision was a recognition that women’s boxing has made substantial progress in universality and technical quality of the athletes since the EB last considered the discipline in 2005.
Canoe Sprint
The EB agreed to the request made by the International Canoe Federation (ICF) for the replacement of men’s C2 500m with women’s K1 200m. The EB also agreed to replace the remaining three men’s 500m sprint events with 200m sprint events.
Modern Pentathlon
The EB agreed to the implementation of a new combined run-shoot format.
Handball
The removal of placement matches in the handball tournament was agreed.
Wrestling, Swimming, Cycling
[LEFT]The three Federations (FILA, FINA, and UCI respectively) submitted requests for new events. The EB informed them that this could happen, especially if the new events increase the participation of women at the Games and on condition that they replace events already on the programme. Additionally, current events can be replaced with new ones only if the total number of athletes is maintained.
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Tennis – Mixed Doubles
Furthermore, the EB agreed to consider the inclusion of a mixed doubles event pending guarantees from the International Tennis Federation that the top players in the singles rankings would be able to participate.
The EB will make a decision on the issue at its December meeting in Lausanne.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The IOC received requests from 17 International Sports Federations for modifications of events, quotas and competition formats for the Olympic Games in London in 2012 by the deadline of October 2008.
The IOC Olympic Programme Commission analysed all of the requests based on established criteria, and submitted its findings to the Executive Board. The key positive factors included whether the changes would increase universality, gender equity and youth appeal, and in general add value to the Games. Other considerations included the cost of infrastructure, and the impact on the overall quota and the number of events.
All modifications of events, quotas or competition format for the Olympic Games in London 2012 are provisional, and will be reviewed for the programme of the 2016 Olympic Games after the Games in London.
The sports on the programme for any edition of the Games are decided no later than at the IOC Session electing the host city for that edition of the Games.
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