IOC votes in favour of two host countries and new sports

Global Olympic body in the process of finalising sweeping reforms.

MONACO: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted yesterday to allow Olympic Games to be co-hosted by two countries and to add new sports as part of sweeping changes to the world’s biggest multisporting event.

The measures are part of a campaign by IOC president Thomas Bach to make the Summer and Winter Olympics cheaper to stage and more attractive to the public as it battles increased competition for audiences.



Bach has proposed 40 reforms, known as Agenda 2020, to be voted on Monday and Tuesday at a special session of the 104-member IOC in Monaco.

The first set of measures were unanimously passed and Bach called them ‘a major step forward in the organisation of the Olympic Games’.

The votes allowed for future Games to be hosted by two cities, or two countries for ‘sustainability’ and ‘geographical’ reasons.

Bidding for the Games should be cheaper as the number of presentations will be cut and the IOC will pay more of the costs.

Sports increased but number of athletes limited

In a new bid to increase the attraction of the Games, host cities will be allowed to suggest a one-off extra sport, which would have to be approved by the IOC.

But the number of athletes will be capped at 10,500 for the Summer Olympics and 2,900 for the Winter Games, which means that if new sports are added, other sports will have to cut the number of medal events.

Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Games may be among the first to profit from the change. They are pressing for the inclusion of baseball and softball.

There were 26 sports at the London Olympics in 2012,  but Franco Carraro, who led the working group on sports, said there could be up to 30 sports at future Games.

Bach warned that the IOC had to bolster its credibility and transform the Olympics with ‘important and far-reaching changes’ because of a major shift in attitudes toward the Games. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th,  2014.

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