IOC Executive Board looks at Olympic Programme

The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board (EB) meets at the end of the week in Berlin with new sports and new events for the Olympic Games at the top of the agenda. The meeting, led by IOC President Jacques Rogge, will propose two new sports to join the Olympic Games in 2016 and a number of new events which could see more women competing in London in 2012.

Proposal of additional sports for the 2016 Games
The meeting will decide which two of the seven sports vying for a position in the Olympic programme - baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby, softball and squash - will be proposed for inclusion in the programme for the 2016 Olympic Games. The proposal will be submitted to the full IOC Session for a final decision at its meeting in Copenhagen in October. Each of the seven sports gave presentations to the EB at its last meeting in June, and an extensive evaluation was conducted by the IOC Olympic Programme Commission of the potential added value to the Games from each of the seven sports.

New events for the 2012 London Olympic Games
The EB will also be deciding on new events for the 2012 Games in London
All of the new events had been requested by the relevant International Federations as part of the IOC’s systematic review of the sports programme. The changes reflect the IOC’s desire to continually refresh the Olympic programme.

The IOC received requests from 17 International Sports Federations for modifications of events for the Olympic Games in London in 2012 by the deadline of October 2008. The IOC Olympic Programme Commission analysed all of the requests based on established criteria and submitted its finding to the Executive Board.

Meeting Athletics
Also in Berlin, the IOC EB will be meeting with the Council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for their traditional meeting held every two years on the eve of the World Athletics Championships to be held from 15 to 23 August.