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No sports, disciplines or events were cut from the Brisbane 2032 Olympic program at the International Olympic Committee Executive Board meeting that concluded on Thursday.
At a news conference following the meeting, it was explained, however, how the cutting will be done.
By disciplines.
In the technical administration of sports on the program of the Olympic and Winter Games, there are sports – such as cycling – and disciplines within sports, which for cycling include road, track, mountain bike, BMX Freestyle and BMX Racing.
It is the disciplines rather than the sports which will be the method by which the 2032 Brisbane program will be shaped. IOC President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) has convened a special Session of the IOC for 24-25 June, and explained:
● “The process in which we are going right now is really identifying, and in June, we will be voting on criteria, that we would have worked through with the International Federations, that they would have agreed, that could be very transparent in trying to analyze the sports as we move forward.
“That’s where we are and that’s sort of a phased approach, right; so we need to get that part first.”
● “As we get closer to June, we will not be deciding on the 2032 program in June but we do want to try and ensure that we have a decision made in Q4 of this year or Q1 early, at the latest, for 2032.
“I do think the size [of the Games] will change. I’ve said it numerous times; in L.A., we have 36 sports and … I think it’s fair to say that in Brisbane, we don’t expect to see 36 sports, and even in their Host City Contract, it’s not what they are required to deliver.”
IOC Sports Director Pierre Ducrey (SUI) explained that using a definition of a “discipline” as a unit of competition which requires its own field of play, the Olympic programs look like this;
● Olympic Games: 18 single-discipline sports, 10 multi-discipline: 47 total disciplines
● Winter Games: four single-discipline sports, 3 multi-discipline: 20 total disciplines
If approved by the IOC Session, it appears that cuts to the 2032 program will be made primarily at the discipline level. Ducrey noted:
“We are looking at breaking down the program into disciplines … to try and understand how we can de-complexify and reduce the size of the Games by using units which are very closely connected with one of the elements that creates the most challenges when it comes to delivering the Games and that’s the venue.
“So the very focus of the work we are doing is grounded into having the complexity of the Games as part of the analysis.”
Less venues means less sports, less transportation, media, technology, staff, volunteers and so on. Ducrey emphasized that the responsibility of the Olympic Program working group is to “control the size of the Games,” and to establish a clear and understandable “pathway” into and out of the Games program, a process which is anything but clear.
So the framework comes first, then the cuts.
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Coventry did confirm that the program for the 2030 French Alps Winter Games will be voted on at the June Session, “but we have taken the decision: no summer sports and no crossover sports will be in that program, and so it will just be snow and ice [events].”
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The future of the Youth Olympic Games is now in question, as Coventry reported on the working group studying the “YOG,” especially concerning a potential host selection for 2030:
“We took the decision, based off of a number of data points, especially being the one in and around the last and most recent survey that we have done with our International Federations, and with our National Olympic Committees, asking them how they feel about the YOG, what they see, how they view it, is it a pathway?
“And we got some inconclusive results back, really. And what we then decided is, we need to pause and have a real reflection on why we are doing the Youth Olympic Games?
“And we realized that across the Movement, it’s very disjointed. There’s not a true ‘North Star’ why we are doing the Youth Olympic Games, so the EB decided to pause the 2030 process right now, so there will not be an election in June, and rather, we need to take a step back and develop a youth strategy.
“This is extremely important. We want to engage with young people, we want to learn from them, we want to be able to encourage them to take part in sport. And we want to be able to engage with young people that allow for them to really give us good feedback on our Movement, and right now, the Youth Olympic Games is not answering a number of those questions.”
Ascunion (PAR), Santiago (CHI) and Bangkok (THA) were finalists for the 2030 YOG, an event which may never be held. Coventry confirmed the IOC’s support for the upcoming 2026 YOG in Dakar (SEN) and for the 2028 Winter YOG in Italy.
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