Olympics To Be Reduced To 25 Sports By 2020

The Olympics will be reduced from 28 sports to 25 by the time of the 2020 Games
while the voting procedure to ensure sports’ Olympic status has been altered.

Following a two-day meeting in Kuwait, the IOC agreed that a majority of
votes will be needed to bring in a sport compared to the current two thirds and
the new system will come into affect next year.

The IOC said the changes would make the process of introducing new sports
more exciting.

‘This will be more interesting for sports wanting to come in,” said IOC
Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli. ‘It will make the process less
conservative and more flexible.’

The reduction in the number of sports in the Olympic line-up will be a
gradual process. 2008 Beijing Games will be the last to feature a core of 28
sports as the decision had already been taken to remove baseball and softball
from the London Games in 2012.

For the 2016 Games, the IOC will have a core of 26 with the possibility of
introducing two more but by 2020 only 25 sports will feature.

The reduction in the number of sports with Olympic status is aimed at
lessening the logistical cost of staging the Games, thus enabling a greater
number of cities to viably bid to host the Olympics.