The Sports Examiner

The IOC adds some new 2022 Winter events, but is really thinking about 2026

TSX HEADLINES – for July 20, 2018: The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board approved the addition of seven events to the competition program for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China.

Even with the added events, however, the total number of athletes to compete in 2022 will now be less than in 2018. Part of this is due to the IOC’s campaign for gender equity in the Games, but a lot of it has to do with the shrinking number of bidders for the 2026 Winter Games.

Already, four possible hosts in Austria and Switzerland have said no and possible bids in Canada, Japan and Sweden could be in trouble. So, while the IOC brags about “Future Games Sports Programmes Full of Passion and Excitement,” it’s also saying “the 2026 Games won’t cost a penny more to run.”

There are other IOC activities underway to promote the Winter Games to wavering bidders; we have details in our Lane One commentary, plus previews and results from the worldwide carousel of sport:

(1) THE TICKER: The U.S. team at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Finland won the most medals, but still had a rough meet. A comparison of the marks made in Tampere vs. those at the USATF Championships shows how rough.

(2) THE BIG PICTURE: The IOC also released the day-by-day schedule for the Tokyo Games, with Athletics and Artistic Gymnastics scheduled for evening finals in Japan. But with help from FINA, the swimming finals will be in the morning – Tokyo time – a big win for U.S. broadcaster, NBC.

(3) ATHLETICS: This is a big weekend in the Diamond League, with the meet in Monaco Friday and the Muller Anniversary Games in London on Saturday and Sunday. We have a full preview of the London meet today, plus results of the Monaco shot put event from Thursday.

(4) CYCLING: Stunning, back-to-back wins in the Alps for Britain’s Geraint Thomas, who now wears the yellow jersey. But is he only holding it temporarily for his countryman and fellow Team Sky member Chris Froome?

(5) RUGBY: The biggest tournament in Rugby Sevens – the World Cup – comes to AT&T Park in San Francisco this weekend, with the U.S. in the hunt for medals in both the men’s and women’s divisions!

Plus a special edition of GLOBETROTTING by Phil Hersh, remembering Kazakhstan’s Olympic-medal-winning figure skater Denis Ten, tragically stabbed to death on Thursday.

This issue includes ON DECK previews of Athletics ~ Basketball ~ Hockey ~ Rugby ~ Sport Climbing; SCOREBOARD reports on Athletics ~ Cycling ~ Shooting ~ Tennis, plus AGENDA, our exclusive calendar of upcoming international events!

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