Three years out from the Rio Games, 3-on-3 basketball and BMX freestyle are competing in an alternative Olympic contest, trying to win selection to the programme.
The International Olympic Committee is now assessing possible extra events, teams and athletes for Brazil after the successful London Games, with one of the deepest wish-lists sent in by swimming’s governing body.
IOC Sports Director Christophe Dubi told The Associated Press on Monday that the Olympics sports federations have been“extremely creative” with their requests.
“All of them believe that adding something will be fantastic for their sport,” Dubi said. “We look at it from the other angle: will that bring, or not, an added value to the Olympic Games?”
The IOC executive board will decide on August 9 in Moscow which events to add after studying reports from Dubi’s department. Currently, the Rio Games programme is scheduled to award 306 gold medals across 28 sports with a maximum of 10,700 athletes.
Dubi said the IOC wants to make the same impact with new additions as they made in London, which awarded 302 medals in 26 sports. Golf and seven-a-side rugby join in Rio.
“Women’s boxing was incredibly successful, and in mixed doubles of tennis, the quality of the field was extraordinary,” the Swiss official said.
The IOC has options to add “radically new events” in Rio, Dubi said, with some designed for youth audiences.
Three-a-side half-court basketball successfully debuted at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore, and the International Cycling Union proposes adding street-style BMX and a mountain bike eliminator, which is a sprint race involving four riders.
“You have new properties that are not mainstream yet outside of the Olympics, but where the Olympics could give a boost,” Dubi said.
Traditional sports also are competing and swimming body FINA suggested 50-metre medal events in backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly for men and women, plus 800 freestyle for men and 1,500 free for women.
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