Paris. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) believes it is necessary to introduce new sports and more urban and spectacular venues to attract a younger audience and ensure the survival of the Olympic Games.
The IOC revised the process for adding sports to the Games a few years ago, removing a seven-year waiting period and introducing several new sports for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, including surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding.
The Paris 2024 organisers kept all three and added breakdancing to try to attract that sector of the population and also open up new opportunities for sponsors and television networks.
“If we don’t get young people into sports, we won’t be here much longer,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday.
“We have to lure them out and go where they are… or we’re basically dead.”
Many of these sports and other disciplines are being organised in temporary outdoor facilities in central Paris to bring them closer to the general population, rather than being held in traditional sports venues.
3×3 basketball, skating and breaking will be held at La Concorde in the heart of the city. The swimming marathon and triathlon will be held on the River Seine, which runs through the centre of Paris – pollution permitting – while French Polynesia will host the surfing competition, with a spectacular visual backdrop of the Pacific.
“All these sports, the formats, the way of presenting them… we have to keep changing. It’s either change or be changed. We like to lead change and not be led by it.”
The IOC also recently signed a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia to host the esports Olympics, in another attempt to reach out to a younger audience and eventually attract them to the Olympics.
“We’re getting into esports, that’s where the younger people are and we need to figure out what drives them to it and how we can bring the benefits of sports to them and combine the benefits of esports with sports,” Adams said.
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– 2024-08-02 16:49:01
