IOC Approves All Agenda 2020 Reforms
The Olympic Games are set for an overhaul following the approval of all 40 of the Agenda 2020 recommendations.
The exact details of how the change will happen, and what the full implications of the changes will be, are yet to be confirmed but the Agenda 2020 movement is set to have a major impact on the future that the Olympic Games.
The reforms were agreed a day ahead of schedule and even the IOC President Thomas Bach (pictured above) himself was surprised by the speed with which they were passed.
Changes include a new Olympic TV channel, as well as amendments that will see the Olympic programme being shaped by events rather than sports, allowing for events such as synchronised swimming to be removed instead of eliminating the entire swimming competitions.
Athletics also face having more events being removed to allow for new sports such as baseball and golf to be included at the Games.
These changes mean the IOC can avoid having to vote an entire federation out of the Games, and opens the door for previously excluded events to be elected onto the programme.
Potential host cities will also be allowed to develop and organisational and financial plan to include the additional events on the programme, but the number of athletes competing at the Games will remain capped at 10,500 for the Summer Games and 2,900 for the Winter Games, with approximately 310 events being retained.
The changes to the Games have potential to disrupt the preparations for the Tokyo 2022 Games as sports begin to lobby for inclusion in the event. The Tokyo Games are not obliged to make any changes, but the pressure to add new events, especially ones with which the Japanese markets connect, could potentially impact the Games.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the IOC’s meeting, Bach mentioned how the modernisation of the world is not something that the IOC can continue to ignore, and the Agenda 2020 changes would bring about a new, modern face of the IOC: ‘If we do not address these challenges here and now we will be hit by them very soon,’ he suggested. ‘If we do not drive these changes ourselves others will drive us to them. We want to be the leaders of change in sport not the object.’
