Baseball, Softball To Return To Olympics For 2020 Summer Games In Tokyo

Action sports took a giant leap onto the world stage Wednesday when the International Olympic Committee announced they would be including skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

‘We want to take sport to the youth, ‘ International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach is quoted on BBC Sport. The five sports will be innovative combinations of established and emerging youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games.

The six sports will also add 18 more medals and almost 500 new athletes to the 2020 Olympics, according to Sports Illustrated.

International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously to accept the five-sport package, which also includes skateboarding, surfing, karate and sport climbing.

The Olympics is the leading global sporting event presenting summer sports competitions participated by thousands of athletes worldwide.

However, sports such as skateboarding and surfing are known for their younger audience.

Baseball/softball returns after last being in the Olympic programme in 2012, while karate came third time lucky after being rejected for 2012 and 2016. The organizing committee approved the idea of these five sports being added for the Tokyo 2020 games.

The Olympics often fall right in the middle of Major League Baseball season, as USA Today points out, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league was “excited” about baseball’s restoration as an Olympic sport and that the league would cut games to allow players to attend.

The only event not making its debut at the Tokyo games is baseball.

It makes sense, then, that some of the world’s most notoriously “cool” sports ― surfing and skateboarding, in particular ― made the cut.

Surfing’s inclusion at the Olympics has always drawn mixed support.

“The organisation of sport means in essence that the world has changed”, Bach said.

Janine Beckie’s record-breaking goal in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Australia on Wednesday was nine seconds faster than Oribe Peralta’s strike for Mexico in the men’s gold medal match against Brazil four years ago in London.

“It’s good news not only for Thailand but also the whole world that skateboard has been included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games”. “Skateboarding just took one more step toward being a lot like gymnastics or figure skating”, said another.