Espresso Knowledge #53 - Olympics moving ahead with the times by focusing on younger audiences

Surfing, skateboarding, and karate will be new sports in Tokyo 2021 Olympics.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will include the hip-hop dance form breakdancing.

Sports have always been added to or dropped from the Olympics - golf and rugby, for example, were part of the Olympics in the 1900s, then dropped for decades, before being added back in.

The reason for some of these changes traces to the International Olympic Committee's 2014 policy to modernize the games by focusing on more youth-oriented sports, sports that can ensure more gender balance and are television-friendly.

Olympics are constantly seeking relevancy amongst younger audiences. but purists remain unenthusiastic.

While the Winter Games have added new sports, growing rapidly, summer games have grown gradually - they have more participating athletes and require more purpose-built venues.

The 2024 Paris Games will also aim to reach a 50-50 gender balance for the first time.

Original article:

Breakdancing in the Olympics? The Games have a long history of taking chances, from pesapallo (yes, it’s a sport) to kite flying